Six tips to make sure your broadband doesn’t let you down in the Glastonbury Ticket Scramble

Glastonbury festival tickets are infamous for selling out in minutes – last year 135,000 tickets sold out in just 62 minutes – and would-be festival goers try countless tricks in attempts to get their hands on tickets. From going into offices to use faster broadband to switching to less busy 4G or 5G networks, fast and reliable broadband is crucial for success, because the average person has less than a 6% chance of getting their hands on a coveted Glastonbury ticket!

To improve your odds, internet expert David Hennell, Director at National Broadband has shared his top tips to make sure your broadband is prepped and ready for the big day.

Check your current broadband speeds – First and foremost you need to know what you’re working with. Broadband providers will publicise speeds they expect you to get but this can often vary – so make sure you have an up to date speed reading. Check the broadband speeds coming in at your router by plugging a device directly into it or standing right next to it and connecting via WiFi, then running a speedtest. The faster the better here – and if your result is below 10Mbps, you’re in trouble.

Where’s your router? – People are still putting their routers in cupboards or on a bookshelf, but that’s never a good idea. To optimise WiFi coverage and ensure your signal is as strong as possible, you want your router to be in an open space and above floor level. Also keep it away from other electronics such as baby monitors, microwaves, doorbell receivers and cordless phones. These all operate on the same frequencies that WiFi uses, which can cause interference and connection or performance problems. And finally make sure you’re physically close to your router when trying to get hold of tickets, so the signal doesn’t have to travel further than necessary.

Don’t get bogged down with network traffic – Be aware of the number of people simultaneously using your WiFi. Just like each tap in your home would run really slowly if you turned them all on at once, the more people using your internet connection at the same time and increasing your network traffic, the slower performance each will see. Make sure on the day it’s you and only you using the WiFi for those precious few minutes.

Changing lanes – In big towns and cities like London you are more likely to have good speeds but there’s also going to be a lot more WiFi flying around from other nearby routers, so the WiFi itself can get congested. The way to navigate around this potential pitfall is by switching frequencies. With modern routers, the WiFi in a property is transmitted over two separate frequencies (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and both these frequencies are further split down into things called channels. You can think of the frequencies as different swimming pools, and the channels as separated swimming lanes within each pool. Just like you’d prefer to have an empty lane all to yourself when swimming, your router is going to work best when it has a WiFi channel all to itself separate from your neighbours. If multiple routers use the same one, you could experience slower speed and dropouts. Fortunately, most routers are smart enough to select the least congested channel when first powered on – and that means you can force your router to pick a new and less crowded channel by restarting it. Some may even find that using 4G and 5G internet connections may help you avoid congested networks.

Relocate for the big day – While you’d hope that your WiFi signal is strong, unfortunately many people still experience diabolically slow internet connection. From new analysis of median broadband speeds and estimated traffic network we can reveal the best and worst spots in the UK for buying a sought-after ticket. And if you’re in one of those worst spots, then perhaps it’s time for a temporary change of scene.

Play the odds – Even with the best WiFi set up and broadband performance, the chances of getting your hands on tickets are still nowhere near 100%. So, make sure you and your friends band together (using separate internet connections of course) to give yourself the best chance of experiencing the biggest and best festival in the world in 2024.