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A Guide to Boosting Your Broadband Speed

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A lot turns on the strength of your broadband speed.

If you’re a business, the strength of your broadband determines how quickly you’re able to download and transfer files, how long it takes to process data, and the quality of your communication with your clients.

Faster connections will allow your team to carry out tasks efficiently, and guarantee smoother customer engagement on your contact channels. Slower connections could affect the pace of work and dampen the quality of your interaction with customers.

Unless you remedy the issues arising from slow broadband, your clients could seek better service elsewhere. This could in turn reduce your sales and shrink your revenues.

If you are struggling with less than optimal broadband speeds, you should find this article useful. Here we’ll note some of the possible causes of your slow internet speed, and present practical steps you can take to fix this problem.

First, let’s answer a few questions about broadband internet, so we get a sense of where we’re headed.

What is Broadband Speed?

Broadband speed refers to how quickly you can upload or download data with your internet connection. It’s measured in megabits per second (Mbps) and kilobits per second (Kbps). These days, we also hear talk of speeds reaching several gigabits per second (Gbps).

A kilobit is a thousand bits; a megabit is a million bits. One gigabit refers to a billion bits.

A bit is the smallest unit of data on your computer.

If your broadband speed is 20 Mbps, this means you’re able to transfer up to 20,000,000 bits of data per second over your internet connection. This is faster than a broadband speed of, say, 20 Kbps, or 20,000 bits per second.

How Fast Should Your Internet Be?

The answer to this question depends on what you’re using your internet for. If you routinely transfer heavy files between computers, you will need much faster broadband than someone who only uses their internet for simple text emails.

Some video streaming services require speeds of at least 5 Mbps. If you’re working with a speed of 50 Mbps, you could download a 2 GB file in about five minutes.

Things that May Be Slowing Down Your Broadband

Many people tend to blame their Internet Service providers (ISPs) for their slow broadband. But it’s not always the ISP’s fault; a lot of other factors could contribute to slower internet connection. Some of them are explained below.

  • Quality of Your Hardware: If your cables and router are old, they may cause your broadband to slow down. It’s advisable that you check your connection hardware and replace it with new equipment if they have aged.
  • Distance from Network Centralizer: The farther you are from your service provider’s broadband centralizer or access points, the slower your internet is likely to get.
  • Obstructions: Network signals could weaken if there are walls or other things standing in its path.
  • Spyware and Viruses: Spyware may affect your broadband speeds by interfering with your browser. Computer viruses may also multiply to weigh down computing power, and impede normal functioning.
  • Router Location: Routers need to be placed in a central, elevated location, or at least at a point that lets signals travel unimpeded to your computers. When it’s not positioned this way, broadband speeds will be lower.
  • Several Devices and Users: Access speeds may drop if there are several users and multiple devices using a single network.
  • Heavy or Outdated Applications: Applications that have not been updated can affect internet speeds. They may also slow things down if they use a lot of bandwidth.
  • Peak Time: Think about internet traffic as a stream of vehicles on a road. There’s usually more traffic during peak periods, so movement—or internet speeds –could be slower at those times. Peak period for internet connections is usually somewhere between morning and evening. Off peak periods may last between 2 AM and 7 AM, when there are fewer people using the internet.

How to Check Your Broadband Speed

You can find out what how fast or slowly your broadband is working by conducting a broadband speed test. It’s simple and takes just a few steps:

  1. Link your computer to your router with an Ethernet cable
  2. Go to your browser
  3. Search for a speed testing platform (examples include speedtest.net, fast.com, and speedcheck.org).
  4. Follow the instructions on the site you choose.

Note that the broadband speed displayed may be slightly lower or higher than what your ISP says it provides. This isn’t necessarily a problem. You only have cause to be concerned if the speed test consistently shows results that are much lower than what your ISP claims to be supplying you.

How to Speed Up Your Broadband

You could take these steps to make your broadband faster:

  1. Protect Your Connection

It might be that your internet connection has no password protection, and other users are linking up to it without your knowledge. As we noted earlier, having multiple users on your connection at once may affect your internet speed. By restricting access with a password, you could reduce the possibility of this happening.

  1. Change Your Router’s Location

Place your router in a more central location so that it achieves broad coverage. Or just make sure that the paths between it and your computers are not impeded by walls or other obstructions. Ideally, you should put it in an elevated place, like a shelf or high up a wall.

  1. Close or Remove Bandwidth-Consuming Applications

Some applications could start and run without your knowledge, consuming bandwidth and stifling access speeds. Make sure to shut down these applications, or remove them if they aren’t important to you. You should also delete old files and wipe your browsing history clean to free up space and allow quicker computing.

  1. Scan Your System with an Antivirus

Combat bandwidth-shrinking malware with up-to-date antivirus. You can set your antivirus to scan your systems for spyware or viruses on a regular basis.

  1. Change Your Service Provider

If other measures don’t help, the problem may well be from your service provider. In this case you will have to try some other ISP and see if they can offer you a faster connection.

Get Fast, Reliable Broadband for Your Business

If you’re looking to solve your issues with broadband speed, you can speak to the experts at Layer3. They will assess your needs and recommend changes besides the few mentioned here.

Layer3 also provides secure, stable and fast broadband service. Its broadband package guarantees low latency to the internet, routable IP addresses, and multiple connections to the internet backbone via submarine cables. It’s exactly what your business needs to maintain a high standard for its operations.

Find out how these features can benefit your organization. Get in touch with the Layer3 team and request a demo today.


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Telecom

Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

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Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.

Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.

Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.

The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.

However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.

MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.

In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.

Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.

Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.

Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.

“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.

 


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Nigeria, Others Achieve 84% Adult Mobile Phones Penetration

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The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.

The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”

The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.

A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.

This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.

According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.

However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.

There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.

These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.

According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.

“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.

“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”

It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.

“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.

For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.

“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.

It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.


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Sophos Secures Leadership Spot in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection

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Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.

Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.

Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).

Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.

Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.

“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”

Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response

Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.

Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.

The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.

Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.


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