Troubleshooting BTA internet speed problems

Before you begin troubleshooting the speed of your BTA internet connection, we suggest that you run a BTA Internet Speedtest to measure your current internet speed.

It is a good idea to also confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed you on your broadband package from BTA.

You can find this info by checking a BTA broadband bill, your BTA contract or by contacting BTA.

Potential causes of BTA’s slow broadband speed

Is it the BTA internet connection that is running slow or could it be your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

You need to check how many applications are running on your device.

The speed problem could be due to the over-utilisation of your device’s resources e.g RAM/CPU and as opposed to a problem with BTA’s broadband connection.

If you are on a laptop then you may use the task manager to check your CPU and Memory utilization.

On other device, you could try rebooting the device which hopefully will terminate all applications that may be hogging your systems resources.

Re-run the BTA Speedtest on your personal computer and your mobile to see how the speedtest results differ between the two devices.

Hopefully this should give you more information to work with in terms of whether the problem lies with your device or the BTA broadband connection.

• What does the BTA download and upload speed mean?
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• 5 methods to improve your BTA Internet speed
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Is your wireless the reason for the issues?

The root cause of the performance problem could be your wireless network and not the BTA broadband connection.

You can rule out the Wifi network by simply connecting your computer directly into the BTA broadband router with a network cable and run the BTA Speedtest again.

If the speed improves when you’re connected by a network cable, this shows that the issue may be with your internal wireless network.

A number of things to check:

• Are the Wireless channels that you are using for your wireless network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does the performance improve when your are stood directly infront of the BTA broadband router?

Who is connected to my wireless network?

Have you checked that your Wi-Fi network password has not been compromised? Do you have an open Wi-Fi network? How strong is your Wi-Fi network password? It could be time to change it.

Neighbors could be using your wireless network and using up all the BTA speed by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos on your BTA internet connection! Worse still, they may be carrying out illegal activities using your BTA internet connection.

Here are 3 apps to use to scan your Wi-Fi network to see who’s connected:

• Microsoft users can use Wireless network watcher
• IOS users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• wifi network troubleshooting tool WiFi Analyzer

The above applications scan your Wi-Fi network and show you a list of the devices connected.

• How to check who’s on your BTA Wifi network

Should I get a Wifi booster for my BTA broadband?

If you discover that there are wireless black spots in your property, a Wi-Fi network extender also known as a Wifi Booster may be the best solution to strengthen your Wifi signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Cheapest Wi-Fi Signal Extenders

The Wifi booster simply picks up your existing wireless network signal just as it is becoming weaker and re-transmits the Wifi network signal to extend it’s reach.

Place the Wifi booster near where your Wi-Fi network signal from the BTA broadband router is starting to become weaker.

Position it approximately where your wireless signal drops down to less than 2 signal bars. Walk around your property with a smartphone to determine where this is.

When was the last time you upgraded the BTA internet router?

The BTA and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently upgraded to support new features and improve reliability as technology evolves.  Always ensure that your BTA internet router is running the most up-to-date software.

The majority of BTA internet routers allow you to perform the software update by logging on the BTA broadband router and simply clicking a button to start the update.

If you can’t do this, get in touch with BTA and they will do this for you or guide you through the process.

As well as updating the software, if you have had the same router for a long period, it is worth speaking to BTA to request for a router upgrade.

Is the root cause of the issue external to your home (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most common reason for BTA broadband performance problems in your area and it’s more common with broadband connections that are delivered via phone lines.

If you are not sure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact BTA who should be able to conduct the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a fault on the BTA broadband line.

Is it due to BTA Internet congestion?

If you’re finding that the BTA internet connection speed in your area is slows down during certain times i.e. over weekends and evenings, then it may be due to congestion during peak hours.

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does BTA have contention?

You should contact BTA to check your minimum speed.

Find Best Alternatives to BTA Broadband

 

Test your BTA broadband connection

After the fault has been resolved either by yourself or BTA, retest the internet connection using  at least 2 independent Speedtests to ensure the problem is resolved:

• • Use the ookla internet broadband speed checker to test your BTA connection
  • Test your BTA broadband speed using Ookla Offical Speed Test
  • Test your BTA broadbandspeed using fast.com speed test
  • Check My Broadband Speed Checker BTA broadband speed checker
  • • 0845UK Broadband Speedtest and troubleshooting