Tips to improve your line speed

Tip 1: Use your main phone socket

Wherever possible, connect to the internet through your main telephone socket using a micro-filter (the small piece of equipment that you connect your phone line and broadband line into).

Tip 2: Check your sockets have a micro-filter fitted

Micro-filters should be fitted to all your home telephone extensions including your TV set-top box, cordless telephone stations, dial-up security alarms, analogue modems and fax machines.

Tip 3: Check what type of extension leads you are using

Extension leads (e.g. long telephone cables) can cause disconnections and slow speeds. We strongly recommend that if you need to use an extension, it should be a broadband specific extension lead such as the RJ11. We would recommend that you don't use an extension lead because our tests show these can severely degrade your service. Instead, have extra telephone sockets fitted to suit where your home PC or Laptops are located. This might not be ideal for everyone, so if you do need to use extensions try not to run any more than two metres of cabling.

Tip 4: Check your router is working

If you are having intermittent disconnections, check the manufacturer's website of your router for any software updates which are usually free to download. Ethernet-based routers provide an 'always on' connection, and usually automatically reconnect after a service interruption so if this doesn't happen, there may be a fault or a software update needed.

Tip 5: Power cycle your router

From time to time, you may need to re-set, or restart your router/ connecting device. We would recommend that every seven days or so, you give your router and internet connection a break and re-set it by switching off at the mains, wait for a few seconds and then back on again. If you are having connection problems, this could also help.