Five ways to make the most of your broadband this Christmas

If you’re looking to make the most of the Christmas break, the broadband connection you already have might be all you need to take advantage of all the connected tech in your home.

Here are five ways to get full use out of your broadband this Christmas.

1) TV on your terms

People often bemoan that lack of enjoyable festive TV. “It’s not like it used to be”, they might say, looking back to all the Christmas TV specials of their younger days.

And if you’re looking at the Christmas TV listings and thinking exactly the same, the truth is that while you might not find anything you fancy on terrestrial TV, when it comes to streaming there’s never been more choice.

The great thing about most of the available streaming services (think Netflix, Disney, Amazon, etc.) is it’s easy to sign up for a month to take you through the Christmas period and immediately cancel your subscription so you’re not charged again in January. If you haven’t had one already, you might even be able to take advantage of a free trial.

With movies and TV shows galore, if your connection is fast enough (do you have full fibre broadband? Check your postcode here if you haven’t already signed up) you can even enjoy 4K, HDR, better than cinema quality viewing in your own home.

2) All kinds of entertainment

If you’re signed up to a music streaming service (like Spotify or Apple Music), you don’t even need our fastest connection to keep to music coming all day long.

Whether you’re looking for relaxing Christmas favourites, upbeat party tunes, the latest hits or something to keep the kids happy, the fact that you’ll have tens of millions of tunes at your fingertips is frankly mind-boggling.

So when you’re looking to turn your party up a notch, why not look at a streaming music service. There’s something available for every taste and just like the video streaming option above, it’s easy to subscribe for a month and cancel if you’re not going to be using it in the new year (or better still, take advantage of any free trials if you can).

3) Distance is no obstacle

Chances are, you’ve already had plenty of experience with video calling over the last few years. The great thing about modern broadband connections is the ability they give us to see our friends and loved ones however far apart we are.

Whoever you’re separated from this Christmas, why not arrange a call to see each other face to face and make the day memorable.

4) Control your home

If you don’t already have a home full of smart devices, this might a difficult one to arrange in time for Christmas.

But as those post-Christmas sales swing into action, you might find a few deals to help you build that futuristic home you’ve always dreamed of.

Think smart thermostats, speakers, lightbulbs, doorbell cameras, plugs and more. Your broadband connection can easily be the hub of a smart home. Once you’ve built your smart home, imagine controlling the Christmas lights with your phone or waking up the family to their favourite festive hits. With connected tech, so much is possible.

But just be aware that each connected device will need a little piece of your bandwidth, so if you’re already running a little close to the limit you might benefit from a speed upgrade.

5) Dealing with internet interference?

This last tip is a little bit of troubleshooting advice.

At this time of year, we often hear from customers suffering from interference on their home networks.

It turns out that - believe it or not - your Christmas lights could be causing trouble with your wireless network at home.

If you're experiencing issues with your internet or WiFi connection, we'd recommend temporarily switching off your Christmas lights to see if things improve. If they do then your troubles could be being caused by interference from those festive lights.

If you can't disconnect them or buy a new set, then we would definitely recommend keeping your lights as far away from your router as possible and not running them from the same plug socket as your router. For more advice on dealing with this issue, we'd also recommend viewing our YouTube video on the subject, available here.

Whatever you’re planning to do this Christmas, and however you’ll be using your broadband, the most important thing is to wish you and yours the very merriest of Christmases and a happy New Year from all at Zen.