Broadband troubleshooting: slow speeds

There's no point in troubleshooting if you're already getting the fastest speed your line can support. Before doing anything else, go to the BT Availability checker and enter your telephone number.

You'll see which exchange you're on and an estimate of the speed your line can support. If you're getting speeds close to the estimate, there's nothing we can do as your line is going as fast as it can. See our Broadband speed - the basics guide to find out how this works.

Now you know how fast your line can go, find out where the problem is

Run a BT Speedtest (see our BT Speedtest guide if you need help). The results will show your current speed and how your line is profiled.

In order of importance, the figures you should look for are:

1. DSL Connection Rate (DOWNSTREAM) - this measures the speed of the connection between your property and the exchange, in normal conditions it should be close to the figure reported by the BT Availability Checker
2. IP Profile - this is the fastest speed you can currently get whilst also receiving a stable connection. Normally this will be just under your DSL Connection rate
3. Download Speed - the actual speed you're downloading at. In normal conditions this will be close to but never higher than the current IP Profile

Click on the type of problem you're having and we'll show you what to do.

• The Downstream Rate is too low
 
• The IP Profile is too low
 
• The Download Speed is too low