Fairy lights could slow Wi-Fi speeds, research finds

With Christmas just around the corner, many business will be putting their trees and festive decorations up. However, this could have an adverse effect on their broadband speeds.

According to the telecoms regulator Ofcom, the fairy lights that bring the office Christmas tree to life are also slowing down employees' Wi-Fi, should they not be using hard-line connections.

The watchdog has estimated that as many as 6 million homes and offices across the UK could be suffering from "interference" caused by Christmas lights. This interference is also caused by the signals emitted from other electronic devices, such as baby monitors and microwave ovens.

Businesses that rely on an ethernet connection from the router to employees' computers will not be affected by this interference.

Meanwhile, Ofcom has said that businesses can increasingly rely on mobile coverage, which is becoming more and more important as staff work on the move by using their mobile devices. Research found that 4G coverage has increased across the major networks from 44 per cent in 2014 to 73 per cent this year, with data use on mobile growing at a faster rate than on fixed wireless networks.

The research also reviewed the progress of "ultrafast" broadband - the next generation of broadband networks. It found that ultrafast broadband, which boasts speeds of more than 300MB per second, was available to around 500,000 homes in the UK.

Sharon White, Ofcom chief executive, commented on the organisation's research, which included potential hiccups caused by Christmas decorations, saying: "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.

"It's vital that consumers have the tools they need, such as the new Wi-Fi Checker, to get the most out of their communications."

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