Troubleshooting BT internet performance problems

Before you begin troubleshooting the speed of your BT broadband connection, we suggest that you run a BT Internet Speedtest to confirm your current connection speed.

Also find out the minimum download speed that you have subscribed to from BT.

You can get this info by checking a BT broadband bill, your BT contract or by contacting BT.

Likely causes of BT’s slow internet performance

Is it the BT broadband that is slow or could it be your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

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

The speed problem could be due to over-utilisation of your system resources i.e RAM/CPU Processor and not a problem with BT’s internet connection.

If you’re on a PC then you may use the task manager to see your CPU and RAM usage.

On any other device, you could try restarting the device which hopefully should kill all apps that may be using up system resources.

Run the BT Speed checker on your computer and your phone to check how the speed test results compare between the 2 devices.

Hopefully this should give you some info to work with in terms of if the issue is with your PC/Smartphone or the BT internet connection.

• What exactly does the BT download and upload speed mean?
• Who’s the best Internet Service Provider in the UK?
• Five methods to improve your BT Internet speed
• Simple DNS tip to improve internet browsing speed on BT

Is your wireless network the cause of the issue?

The root cause of the performance problem may be your internal Wifi network and not the BT broadband connection.

You can rule out the Wifi network by connecting your computer directly into the BT broadband router with a network cable and then run the BT Speed checker again.

If the speed test result is better when you’re connected via an ethernet cable, this suggests that the issue could be with the Wifi network.

A few other things to investigate:

• Are the WiFi channels that you are using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbors?
• Is your wireless network signal from the wireless router obstructed?
• Does your performance improve when your are standing right in-front of the BT internet router?

Who’s connected to my Wifi network?

Have you checked that your wireless network password has not been compromised? Do you have an open Wifi network? How complex is your wireless network password? It could be time to change it.

Others could be on your wireless network and using up all your BT bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos over your BT internet connection! Worse than that, they could be carrying out illegal activities using your BT internet connection.

There are 3 applications to use to analyze your wireless network to see who is connected:

• Microsoft users can use Wireless network watcher
• Apple users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• wireless network troubleshooting application WiFi Analyzer

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

• How to see who is on your BT wireless network

Should I get a wireless network booster for my BT broadband?

You may discover that there are Wifi black holes at your property, a Wi-Fi network extender also known as a Wi-Fi Booster may be the best fix to increase your Wi-Fi signal to cover any coverage holes.

• Best Wifi Signal Boosters

The Wi-Fi network extender picks up the existing Wi-Fi network signal as it is starting to become weaker and re-transmits the wireless signal to extend it’s coverage.

Place the wireless network booster/extender near the position where your Wifi signal from the BT internet router is becoming weaker.

Place it near where your Wifi signal is dropping down to 2 signal bars. Walk around your home with a mobile phone to determine where this is.

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

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

The majority of BT internet routers will allow you to carry out the software upgrade by logging on the BT broadband router and simply clicking a button to perform the upgrade.

If you can’t do this, contact BT and they will be able to perform the upgrade for you or talk you through performing the upgrade yourself.

In addition to updating the software, if you have had the same router for a long time, it may be worth speaking to BT to ask for a hardware upgrade.

Is the fault outside your property (at the exchange)?

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

If you’re not sure if this is relevant in your case, you should contact BT who will be able to conduct the relevant line tests to check if there is a fault on the BT broadband line.

Is the issue because of BT Internet congestion?

If you’re finding that the BT internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain periods i.e. weekends or during the evening, it may be because of congestion during peak hours.

• What is Broadband Contention Ratio and does BT have contention?

You should speak to BT to check your minimum speed.

Test your BT broadband connection

After the fault has been resolved either by yourself or BT, re-test the broadband connection using  at least 2 independent Speedtests to ensure the problem is resolved:

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