5 Internet checks that could help us men cope with the Christmas shopping

You've seen them a few days before Christmas wandering aimlessly around department stores with a panicked look in their eyes and expressions that alternate between grim determination and pathetic hopelessness. They are the men that have left buying their loved ones those all important Christmas presents right to the last minute in the reckless hope that some inspirational stroke of genius will enter their retail-challenged brain cells and all will be well.

It is for the countless numbers of those lost souls that the Internet has become the ultimate salvation when it comes to solving the annual Christmas present conundrum.

And lets face it with an estimated 71% of Christmas shoppers buying presents via the Internet home broadband needs to be completely on the ball.

So here's five quick checks to make sure your router is getting a fair chance to help with those all important Xmas purchases.

What broadband speed are you actually getting?

We all know that broadband providers are prone to exaggerating the speed you are going to get from them so before getting involved in any of the following find out your actual speed. There are plenty of on-line speed checkers and choose one that will tell you your download speed, upload speed and ping factor. And remember the lower the figure for ping the better your router connection is.

Don't forget those all-important filters

All of the telephones in your house should be fitted with a microfilter. These are a crucial way of stopping interference from other connected phones around the house. If you have these fitted but still think your broadband speed is not up to scratch then you have to go around the house and unplug them all and then by a process of elimination identify any faulty ones.

Get an accelerator

These are available from BT and fit onto your BT master socket, unless you have a very old one and then they wont which may indicate you need to get upgraded to a modern master socket.

Accelerators will minimise electrical interference from phone lines in your house. They also help improve both the speed and stability of ADSL connections, it is thought that as many as 7 out of 10 homes could benefit from this low cost device.

BT says speeds can increase by up to 4Mbit, although they admit that 1.5Mbit were found to be more typical in a survey of 36, 000 filtered lines.

Get tough and go hard-wired

There is no doubt that the very best speeds are achieved by using a wired connection and this may be the best solution if you are having really irritating issues with your wireless connection.

Connect your router and laptop using an Ethernet network cable. You can get a cable up to 100 metres long so you're not limited to sitting right next to your router.

Remember some of the old tricks. They may work

We probably all know these tried and tested broadband speed remedies but it's worth jogging as few memories. Check for viruses on your computer. They can play havoc with broadband speed. Move your router so it's centrally placed in your house and keep it away from large metal objects like central heating boilers. Don’t put it on the floor but it on a table or desk and never anywhere near power points.

Finally, and this really is the oldest trick in the book, try re-booting your router but makes sure its switched off for at least 2 minutes before you start it up again. Finally, if your router has been slaving away constantly for the past three or four years, it may be time to bite the bullet and get a new one….for Christmas!

That's it. Happy Christmas shopping.