Internet connection playing up? Your fancy fish tank could just be to blame!

MIRRORS, Christmas lights and even fish tanks can interfere with Wi- Fi signals, experts warned yesterday.

Instead of buying new equipment, households could speed up their connections by moving their router.

Windows, microwaves, baby monitors and even large groups of people can also cause interference that makes it harder to get online. Two in five house- holds suffer from a slow internet connection, according to a survey by Post Office Telecoms.

But half of them had no idea how easy it might be to do something about it.

Instead 12 per cent of households said they had gone as far as buying new devices to try to improve their connectivity. ‘We are increasingly reliant on the internet for so many aspects of our lives and it’s therefore important that we can trust in the reliability of our service,’ said Meredith Sharples, managing director of Post Office Telecoms.

‘However, 40 per cent of the public told us they suffer from a slow internet connection, have had their connection drop at random times (38 per cent) and experience a poor Wi-Fi connection in certain rooms (22 per cent). We also learnt that many are not aware of the simple steps they can take to ensure their home is optimised to receive the best broadband connections possible.’

Experts recommend plugging the Wi-Fi router into the master socket – usually found where the phone line enters the home. This reduces the likelihood of domestic wiring interfering with the connection.