Broadband & Internet help

My connection is slow. What can I do?

Before you contact us, please follow the steps below to identify and possibly resolve your problem.

1. Check the service status page - there may be local service problems affecting your broadband connection.

Try turning your router off and on again - we know this doesn't sound very technical but more often than not it will solve connectivity issues and saves you having to wait for an engineer to come out:

• Switch your Business Hub off and then back on and wait for 3 minutes.
• Switch your Openreach modem off and then back on and wait for 1 minute.  

2. Check your Business Hub settings are correct:

1. Go to the Business Hub Manager page
2. Open your browser and type http://home/ or 192.168.1.254. Press Enter.
3. Click on Broadband.
4. Check that the connection type is PPPoA or PPPoE (for fibre customers) and the username is the same as the one supplied, when you ordered your service.
5. If the username is different, or is Greenlight@btconnect.com, click on Link configuration.
6. Enter the correct details from your welcome email or letter.
7. Click Save.
8. Enter your password and click Save. 
    

If you have a BT Business Hub 3 simply:

1. Go to the Business Hub Manager page
2. Open your browser and type http://btbusinesshub.home. Press Enter.
3. Click on Settings and enter your password.
4. Go to Advanced Settings and click Continue.
5. Click Broadband and then Connection. 
6. Check that the connection type is PPPoA or PPPoE (for fibre customers).
7. Click Internet to check that the username is the same as the one supplied, when you ordered your service.
8. If the username is different, or is Greenlight@btconnect.com, click on Disconnect.
9. Enter the correct details from your welcome email or letter.
10. Click Connect.

3. Reduce the number of programs running on your computer at the same time.

4. Perform a cleanup operation on your computer:

1. Click Start 
2. Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories 
4. Select Systems Tools 
5. Run Disc Clean up and Disk Defragmenter

5. Make sure your firewall and anti-virus settings are compatible with broadband - See how software settings could affect your connection

6. Check your temporary Internet folder, or cache, isn't full - See how do I empty my Internet caching or cookies?

7. Cancel any large background downloads.

8. Intermittent broadband connection additional checks:

1. Check your DNS settings - type 212.58.244.67 into your browser and press Enter. If the BBC home page doesn't appear, you should try setting up your Domain Name System (DNS) manually. Find out how to do this by choosing your operating system from the list below:
   
   
   • Windows 7
   • Windows XP
   • Windows Vista
   • MAC OS

9. Check your internal network isn't causing the fault - do this by connecting just one computer to the router and seeing if the problem continues. If this fixes your slow connection, you need to make sure the problem doesn't reappear when you reconnect your other computers, follow our guide to setting up a small office network.

Still not working?

You can identify, fix, report and track faults online at the Repair Centre.

Helpful downloads:

Download BT Broadband Desktop Help. This FREE download identifies problems with your broadband, email or wi-fi connection, providing suggestions on quick fixes - and can even fix the problem for you remotely.

Desktop Help can only detect and solve problems if you already have it installed.