Phone and Tablet Tips

Identify your W-fi’s strengths

If you notice that your Skype calls keep dropping or that videos you’re streaming take a while to load, then you should install the free ‘Ofcom Mobile and Broadband Checker’ app. It analyses the strength of your Wi-fi signal and tells you what it’s ideal for based on six categories (see screenshot above right).

Open the app (Android www.snipca.com/24356; IOS www.snipca.com/24357), tap Next three times, tap ‘Run a test’, ‘Broadband & Wi-fi test’, then ‘Begin test’. The app will now analyse your Wi-fi speed. You’ll see a tests results page with one of three icons beside each of the six categories.

A green circle with a tick indicates that you can carry out that particular task without any problems. A yellow triangle with an exclamation mark indicates that the function will work but you may experience problems intermittently, and a red square with an X indicates the function may work but problems are highly likely.