French Property News – August 2019

http://www.completefrance.com August 2019 French Property News 63

EXPERT ADVICE

service up to the DTI box, the first socket into
the house installed by them. This could be
located almost anywhere – the kitchen, lounge,
living room, next to the utility meters or even
in the attic! It’s a bit inconvenient, but plug
your modem directly into this box – if it works,
the fault is in your wiring and you are
responsible for fixing it. If you have more than
one socket, try using a different one so you can
use the service while making arrangements for
your wiring to be repaired. If it does not work
at the DTI box, you can report the fault as
clearly the telecom company is responsible and
has to repair the service.
Nearly all modems have an energy-saving
mode. This is activated automatically when the
service has not been used for some time. The
usual modem lights go out, but you need only
press a button to bring them back.
If you’re interested, the various lights can tell
you a lot about your service. In addition,
modern modems allow your supplier to
remotely test if it is working and look at other
things that help them respond faster than ever.

Extend your wifi
If you have a large property, you can use a wifi
extender to reach parts of the property a
modem cannot. This can bring a better signal
to all parts of your property, especially those on
the other side of thick stone walls.

Switch off your device
The greater the number of
devices connected to your
modem, the slower the service
will be, even when they are not
in use. Given that most homes
have, on average, six wifi-
connected devices (possibly
more in a holiday home with a
large group), this can make a
big difference. If there are a lot
of devices in use, remember to
tell the group that the speed
can be improved if everyone
disconnects from the wifi once
they have stopped using it on
their device.
Now everyone can get online
and get the fastest speed!

Use a cable
While it is not always
convenient and many handheld
devices cannot be connected in
this way, your broadband speed
will always be quicker if your
device is connected to your
modem via an ethernet cable.

Change channel
One less frequent reason for the
wifi being slower than expected
can be that the wifi channel
being used by your modem is
the same as many others
nearby. Modems come with the
option of using one of many
wifi channels, but when

installed, they are usually set to the same

channel. This can easily be rectified by asking

your provider to change you to a different

channel, which can be done remotely while

you are on the phone with them.

Security codes

It can seem that modem passwords (clé de

sécurité wifi) are designed by those who enjoy

making life difficult! They are often very long

and impossible to remember, making it a pain

to connect devices. You can always ask your

provider to change your password to something

more memorable, and they can do this

 The greater the

number of devices connected

to your modem, the slower

the service will be, even when

they are not in use 

remotely during your call. Try to follow good

security advice by avoiding passwords such as

123456 or your favourite football team. This

personal code will be lost if you reset your

modem, so you will have to ask for this to be

reset. There is information on the web that you

can use to do this for yourself. 

Bob Elliott is Commercial Director

at UK Telecom Ltd

Tel: 0805 631 632

uktelecom.net

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