“Fancy a prosecco?” Getting your nearest and dearest together on New Year’s Eve is, for many, a highlight of their year, which, yes, is cutting it a bit fine! But with large numbers of people descending on your house, all of whom potentially want to record the joyous entry to the new year, you can quickly find your broadband is victim to a major overload of drunken selfies, videos, and FaceTimes, all using up your precious bandwidth.
Finding the best broadband deal early can be an easy fix to this, but if you’re stuck in the midst of an underperforming broadband package that you’re locked in for two years, you might feel a bit underpowered before your big party.
If you’re wondering what broadband is best for you to solve this, or are simply looking for the best way to accommodate for your guests, we’ve put together some top tips to ensure you keep your connection secure and speedy for those who need it. And if you’re looking to sort your solution as soon as possible, we’ve even recommended our top choice for just how to give your guests the best New Year’s Eve experience on your connection.
Create a guest network
Keeping your home connection secure can seem tricky when large numbers of people are using it, but an easy solution to this can be found in the form of a guest network.
Guest networks create a separate access point for guests, enabling them to connect to the internet without sharing a connection with your household devices. Were your guests to connect to the same network as your household devices, it would make it possible for them to maliciously impact your devices, whether they intend to or not.
Guest networks can be set up in a matter of minutes, all you need to do is access your router settings (the best method for which can be found via your provider), and create a name and password for your guest network that is easy to remember and different to that which you use to connect to your main Wi-Fi.
Optimise your router location
Whether you’ve got a superfast Gigabit broadband package or a simpler and slower fibre broadband deal, the quality of connection you get can be drastically hampered by the simple choice of where in the house you put your router.
The simple rule to follow with choosing where to put your router is the fewer barriers the better. By this, we mean that the fewer things your Wi-Fi signal has to go through to get to your device, the better. This could mean doing things like taking your router out from the cupboard, from behind the sofa, or from any of the other random hiding spots we all like to put it in. Instead, make sure your router is somewhere open.
If you live somewhere with multiple floors, the best way to tackle this size increase is by aiming to have your router as close to the centre of the house as possible, again, not covered by any kind of cupboard or surface. By doing this, you are giving your Wi-Fi signal less distance to travel as well as reducing the number of obstacles between your router and the device you want to connect.
Check your devices
Is your oven eating your Wi-Fi? Okay probably not, but with the rise of smart tech, as well as our generally increasing reliance on phones, tablets and the like, the amount of background bandwidth usage going on in your home is likely a lot more than you think.
This means that unless you are on a slightly beefier broadband plan, you could run into dilemmas sooner than you think as soon as you start inviting guests to your house, as with every guest likely comes both their phone, and maybe even their smartwatch, all of which could add up to an absurdly overloaded broadband connection.
An easy solution is to take a few minutes before guests arrive to turn off any unnecessary devices, close all those Chrome tabs of recipes for your hors d’oeuvres, and get rid of the range of apps and software you might have open on your phone, tablet or computer. This will free up some of that crucial bandwidth to help your guests connect and enjoy being connected.
So, what’s the best way to solve this?
So, you want a strong broadband connection, with options to create a guest network, and speeds capable of handling your thriving guest list? I’ve got just the thing! 5G broadband.
That’s right, just because this time of year is a time of tradition, doesn’t mean your broadband has to be traditional. With 5G broadband, you can access speeds up to 265Mbps, with no cables, no installation, and no setup fees. 5G broadband uses a SIM card to access the 5G network which then gives you your Wi-Fi signal, this means you only need a standard plug socket to plug your router into, and your SIM card, and then you can get connected right away.
What’s more? Since you do not need to connect to any underground cabling, if you’re unhappy with where your router is placed, or need to move it to optimise your signal, you can! Simply unplug it, and move it to your preferred location where you have an available socket. Plus, many 5G broadband providers offer an app to help you find the optimal location in your house to get the strongest signal.
If you’re looking for a great 5G broadband deal, the best option currently is one of Three’s 5G broadband deals. With Three 5G home broadband, you can access the UK’s fastest 5G network, with download speeds up to 265Mbps, and latencies as low as 30ms, all for only £22 per month on a 24-month contract. Don’t fancy signing up for the long term? Three also offer 1-month-rolling contracts which give you the freedom to try their service and cancel whenever you choose, a great alternative if you need a short-term broadband solution.