Fairy lights ‘can wreck your wi-fi’

...and so can the baby alarm and microwave

THEY may add a bit of sparkle to your Christmas tree... but fairy lights could also be wrecking your wi-fi, it has been claimed.

About six million households and offices around the country suffer slower wireless broadband than they should – and often for the strangest of reasons.

According to research by Ofcom, the communications watchdog, Christmas lights are among myriad household gadgets interfering with Britain’s internet connections. Microwave ovens are on the list, along with baby monitors, refrigerators, stereo speakers and electric lamps.

Many of these gadgets emit radio waves, which can interfere with the radio signals transmitted by wi-fi devices.

However, they are not the only culprit for slow internet connections. According to Ofcom, tangled and coiled cables can also interfere with the flow of data.

Many homes and offices also have difficulty sending emails because their neighbours are piggy-backing off their service, or because they have failed to set up their wireless networks correctly in the first place. Now the watchdog has launched a new ‘Wi-fi Checker’ app that enables people to find out if their connection is more sluggish than it should be, and – if it is – helps them to fix it.

Sometimes they will need special boost- ers to improve their broadband connection, but often the solution will be as simple as moving their internet router at least three metres away from other household gadgets.

Sharon White, Ofcom’s chief executive, said the app would help households make the most of their internet services. ‘Mobile and broadband have become the fourth essential service, alongside gas, electricity and water,’ she said. ‘There’s been a technological revolution over recent years, with 4G mobile and superfast continuing to extend across the country.

‘Our challenge is to keep supporting competition and innovation, while also helping to improve coverage across the country – particularly in hard-to-reach areas, where mobile and home internet services need to improve.’

The research also revealed that more than a quarter of UK households now had ‘superfast’ broadband, offering speeds over 30MB per second.

But these were likely to be city dwellers. Half of households in rural areas could not access the internet at speeds faster than 10MB a second, and just 37 per cent could sign up for superfast services.

According to Ofcom’s report, a 10MB per second connection was the ‘tipping point’ above which customers rated their broadband as ‘good’.