All UK broadband users are being urged to check their routers today as the country is braced for searing temperatures that could send the mercury soaring to over 40 degrees. Although some might enjoy the record-breaking sunshine the devices in your home definitely won’t with experts warning that the hot weather could wreak havoc with home Wi-Fi.
Just like tablets, laptops and smartphones, broadband routers hate getting too warm. In fact, once they overheat things become far less efficient meaning speeds can slow and downloads take longer.
If things get extremely hot, the router may shut down completely leaving owners without any internet at all. If you’re working from home that could be a nightmare you don’t want to experience but luckily there is a very simple solution.
Moving your router away from a window will help things stay cool and keep the web whizzing around the home. “Although we test our Hubs carefully at a range of temperatures, they are better off out of bright sunlight, just like your phone or laptop,” Virgin Media recently told customers in an email.
Now, before you take your router off of a window ledge and stick it in a cupboard that’s also a bad idea.
Anything that blocks the signal could also mean slower speeds. The best place for a router is out in the open and away from other electrical items such as cordless phones and baby monitors.
If you can, you should try and raise the router off of the floor and always keep it upright so its signal gets the best chance of beaming out to other rooms in the house.
If your broadband is struggling then touch your router to see if it’s hot, placing a fan nearby will help to reduce the temperature and hopefully bring those speeds back to normal.
If you’re unsure about where to pop your router, here are Virgin’s top router tips and remember, as the weather gets hot this week try and keep your broadband cool.
• Don’t hide the Hub away, place it upright somewhere it can breathe.
• Always keep the Hub indoors in a cool place, out of bright sunlight.
• Keep the Hub at least 1m away from cordless phones or baby monitors, and as far as possible from big obstructions like cupboards and fish tanks.
It’s not just broadband users that need to be on red alert today with phone owners also being urged to take care. When smartphones get too hot they can go into shut down mode until the temperature cools but rushing this process can cause permanent harm.
If your device is left in the sun, don’t even think about popping your phone in the freezer to speed up the cooling process as this could seriously damage it. Although both Android and iPhones can cope with very cool temperatures the rapid swing from hot to cold can cause condensation to build up under the screen and cause permanent damage.
If you’ve left your smartphone in direct sunlight and it’s burning hot, carefully move it to a shaded part of your home and leave it to gently cool.
