There are a number of factors that can affect your broadband connection speeds. Many these factors can not be changed. For example, the distance you live away from the telephone exchange and congestion depending on the time of day.

However, there are a number of things that can be done to improve your speeds such as improving your internal wiring, isolating old obsolete telephone extensions or installing accelerators / i-plates / NTE2000s as detailed below


How you can benefit from a BT accelerator i-plate/ NTE2000

Your broadband service can slow down if your telephone extension wiring picks up electrical interference from TVs, lights and other everyday equipment. Fit an accelerator / i-plate / NTE2000 to your phone socket and it will filter out this interference, helping improve your connection speed considerably. The result should be a faster, more reliable broadband service.

If you have more than one working phone socket in your home you are sure to benefit from an accelerator / i-plate / nte2000. They're simple to install. Call us today for an instant, no obligations quote.


Find out if your telephone extensions are affecting your speeds

If you have telephone extensions around the home and a BT master socket (NTE-5A. See inside front cover of telephone book) then you should be able to conduct this simple 3 part experiment.


1. Firstly without changing the way that you are connected to the internet run the speed test link to find out your broadband speed. The important figure to note is the download speed. Upload speed will always be slower.

2. Once you have recorded your download speed isolate your internal telephone extensions by unscrewing the faceplate of the BT master socket. Plug your router or modem directly into the engineers test point.

3. Once you have done this reconnect to the internet and conduct another broadband speed test. If there is a substantial difference in your broadband speed then your telephone extensions are reducing your broadband speed.


An improvement in speed may not be immediate. You may need to leave your router plugged into the test point with your extensions isolated for up to 3 days. This gives the BT exchange a chance to monitor your line and check whether it is more stable. You can also try turning your computer off, resetting your router and then turning your computer back on.  


For more details and diagrams of how use the BT master socket see the inside cover of the BT telephone book.