Netgear Wireless LAN RouterI had to run a colleague through some diagnostics recently. The home Internet connection was running so badly; speeds up and down, intermittent drop-out, low signal wireless signal strength.

While your first inclination may be to ring your service provider, you have to have done your research and have your fact straight before you waste your time and money on phone to technical support. A poor connection could be down to any or all of the technical issues on the list we worked through:

1. Your computer's network speed - devices and drivers
2. Your home network set-up - broadband router, wireless (end of Part One)
3. Software - social networking, file-sharing, mal-ware and viruses
4. Your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) broadband Internet service

Starting at the beginning. Try your connection with just one machine accessing the connection; leaving aside the other users for a moment (of course, nobody else hogs the Internet at your house, right?), you need a controlled environment in which to work. If the speed varies according to the time of day, then it's probably not hardware - hang fire for Part Two. Read more of this post