Switching Broadband - how do I choose?

[allofthetings]

This is going to sound really stupid as I feel I should know this.

I'm with Zen internet, paying about £30 pm.
Been with them just over a year, thought by paying a bit more I would get decent broadband - but it's still not great.
For example I often have to switch off WiFi on my phone to look at MN on the app, I also can't chromecast movies etc as the connection is too slow.
There are 3 of us on the house and pretty much when we are all in (pretty much all the time now!) we are all on separate devices, using it for WhatsApp and streaming etc.

When I'm shopping around for faster broadband how do I know I'll be getting a better speed - one that doesn't make me tear my hair out?
I live in a fairly populated area, in a large town, not rural.

Sounds as though this may be a wi-fi problem rather than poor broadband.
Can you can do a speedtest (preferably through a wired connection rather than wifi) which will show your download speed.
Which magazine provide a speed checker here
tinyurl.com/y5xxp4tz
The results should be at least 10Mbps upwards.

I agree it could be the router.
What speed were you promised?

You could also think about fibre broadband if it is available, we've just moved over from reasonable broadband at 40mbps to fibre at 300mbps and it's amazing :)

First you need to look at your usage.

Do you have fibre?

Changing suppliers might make no difference it will most likely be Openreach infrastructure regardless.

If you have a smart tv attached they are real hogs. Consider a direct internet cable to your tv. This can be done via power point connections.
www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PA4022PKIT-2-Ports-Passthrough-Powerline/dp/B07J652QRY/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=electric+wiring+internet+connectors&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1601116907&sr=8-8

Not helpful I know but I thought Zen were amongst the best for support?

I've never contacted Zen to ask them, as I assumed they wouldn't be able to help.
There's no smart TV - I used to just chromecast or mirror - I don't bother to even try these days.

The router is only 1 year old and I've always had this problem.

I don't think we can get fibre where I am - I've looked before & the neighbourhood WhatsApp group would light up with that info!

Stick your phone no and postcode in here availability.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker , will tell you what's available and likely speeds.
If you're on adsl, not fibre, you'll be lucky to run multiple devices at the same time unfortunately.

If casting from your phone see if you have the option to use the 5ghz band from the router which will give you a stronger signal.
A simple wi-fi repeater will increase the wireless coverage around the house.

Theres 3 types of BB connection in the UK.
Copper wire house to phone exchange
Copper wire to local BT box then fibre to exchange
Fibre from house to exchange.

The copper wire house to exchange is the slowest, you won’t get over 20 Mb , sounds like you’re on that.
We’re on the copper&fibre, we get up to 60Mb which is just about ok for 4 adults in the house though we have slowness when everyone is watching YouTube/iPlayer/Netflix.

I also switch the router off for a minute once a week, it seems daft, but it did feel more responsive than just leaving it on day after week after month.