Ofcom on Tuesday included Christmas fairy lights in a rogues’ gallery of household items that can affect the performance of home WiFi networks.
According to the U.K. telco regulator, approximately 6 million homes and businesses suffer from WiFi issues, many of which can be attributed to the way the WiFi has been set up.
"It could be down to something as simple as interference from other electronic devices, such as a microwave oven, baby monitor, a lamp – or even Christmas fairy lights," Ofcom said.
To help consumers get to grips with the issue, the watchdog has launched WiFi Checker, an app that tests the WiFi connection and provides troubleshooting tips in the event it uncovers any performance problems.
The app was launched alongside Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2015 report, which revealed that superfast fixed broadband – with a connection speed of at least 30 Mbps – is available to 83% of U.K. homes, up from 75% a year earlier. In rural areas, 37% of homes have superfast broadband coverage.
When it comes to ultrafast broadband, which Ofcom defines as a connection speed of at least 300 Mbps, services are available to approximately 500,000 housholds.
Take up is growing too, with approximately 7.5 million homes subscribing to a superfast broadband service, compared to 6 million a year ago.
Ofcom said there is still plenty of work to be done though, with 8% of homes still unable to receive broadband speeds any faster than 10 Mbps. This jumps to 48% in rural areas.
"A 10 Mbps connection remains the tipping point, after which most people rate their broadband experience as ‘good’," Ofcom said.
The regulator said it is pushing the government to give consumers and businesses a legal right to request a broadband speed of at least 10 Mbps by the end of the current parliament, which will be dissolved in April 2020.
On the mobile side, Ofcom said 4G services from at least three of the country’s four mobile operators are available to 73% of premises, up from 44% last year. 46% of premises enjoy 4G coverage from all four operators.
"Ofcom expects this to increase significantly in the coming year, and has put in place rules to ensure that 98% of premises can receive a 4G signal indoors by 2017," Ofcom said.
However, geographic voice coverage has remained flat at 55% over the last 12 months, Ofcom said. This is expected to increase though, after the EE, O2, Vodafone an d 3UK agreed to provide voice coverage to 90% of the U.K. landmass by 2017.
