Hands-on troubleshooting guides for Virgin Media, Sky, BT, EE and more, written and tested by Graeme Messina.
Black Friday has started early in the broadband aisle. ISPreview reported that Virgin Media O2's broadband and TV sale opened on 5 November and runs for new customers until 6 December 2026, and that S...
Broadband Genie's 2026 league table of UK streets puts the slowest at under 1Mb and the fastest at over a gigabit, and the most useful part of it is what sits behind the gap. Two homes a few doors apa...
Full fibre packages above 1Gbps are spreading across the UK, and households already paying for gigabit are now being offered 1.6Gbps or more. Then comes the speed test on a phone in the lounge, and th...
Black Friday broadband deals lead with one monthly price, but the contract behind it already sets out what happens next April. With most big providers, anyone signing up in November 2026 is agreeing t...
Broadband arrives at one box, and WiFi has to carry it to every room from there. A speed test run in one spot only describes that spot. The test below keeps a result for each room you test in, on the ...
WiFi settings live in two places. The device you are using decides which network it joins and how, and the router sets the network's own name, password, bands and security. This guide gives the path t...
A WiFi QR code saves typing a long password: point a camera at it and the device joins the network. Windows 11 can scan one with its own Camera app, and phones and PCs can show one for the network the...
A broadband speed test shows what your connection delivers right now, and the number only means something once it is set against what your provider promised. The test below measures download, upload, ...
iCloud Private Relay and a VPN both hide an iPhone's IP address, so they are easy to mix up, and the Settings app does little to explain the difference. Apple built Private Relay into iCloud+ to prote...
Buying a TV means picking through four panel types, a stack of HDR logos and five smart platforms before screen size even comes up. The makers' own spec sheets settle most of it. This guide takes each...
Apple sells four Apple Pencils, and each works with a different set of iPads. Picking the wrong one is the classic mistake: Apple's UK store still sells the Apple Pencil (2nd generation), yet Apple's ...
A portable monitor is a slim second screen that runs from a laptop's USB-C port, folds into a bag and turns a hotel desk or kitchen table into a two-screen set-up. Laptop screen extenders take the ide...
Outdoor security lights all promise the same thing: light on a path, a door or a drive the moment someone walks up. The real differences sit in the details makers print on their spec sheets, from how ...
A gaming monitor decides how smooth, sharp and responsive every game looks, yet its spec sheet is a wall of numbers that different makers measure in different ways. This guide sets out what the monito...
Freeview is still how millions of UK homes get free live TV, but the box under the telly now does far more than tune channels. A Freeview Play box or recorder adds catch-up apps over broadband, Freely...
Amazon, Roku and Google each sell a stick or small box that turns a TV with an HDMI port into a streaming set, and in the UK they carry most of the same apps. The real differences sit in the detail: w...
A Chromebook is a laptop that runs Google's ChromeOS rather than Windows or macOS, and that one difference decides whether it suits you. The browser does most of the work, some software has no route o...
Ring Automotive's car battery guide calls a battery fault the most common reason for cars to break down in the UK, particularly in winter. A lithium jump starter in the boot means a flat battery no lo...
A first 3D printer is a bigger decision than the price tag suggests. Filament or resin, open frame or enclosure, one colour or four: each choice changes what the printer can make, where it can live an...
Walkie talkies earn their keep on campsites, building sites and ski slopes, and for calling children in from the far end of the garden, yet most boxes on the shelf look alike. The details that matter ...
A USB-C cable looks the same whether it tops up a phone, charges a laptop at 240W or runs a monitor over Thunderbolt, and the plug gives almost nothing away. The differences sit inside: the current it...
A smart bulb screws or pushes into an ordinary light fitting and then takes its orders from an app, a voice assistant or a wireless switch. Choosing one comes down to four things: the fitting it has t...
Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries save buying pack after pack of alkalines for the remote, the game controller and the kids' toys. Choosing them is less simple than it looks. Panasonic, Duracell and E...
A projector can turn a bedroom wall into a cinema, put the football on a 100-inch picture or take a film out into the garden on battery. The spec sheets are where it gets confusing, with lumens that n...
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