The way you connect to your broadband at home can significantly affect the broadband speed you experience.

Click the numbered buttons above for advice on simple changes you can make at home to achieve the best speed.

1. Position your router to avoid electrical interference

Did you know that everyday items such as TVs, lighting and power cables produce electrical interference that can affect your broadband speed?

You can reduce interference by making sure that your Hub or router is on a desk or table, not on the floor. You should check that all wires are firmly connected and secure.

Also check that all electrical devices that cause interference are at least five feet away from the router and its wiring.

The worst offenders are:

• Halogen desk lamps
• Electrical dimmer switches
• Stereo or PC speakers
• Fairy lights
• Televisions and monitors
• AC power cords
• Low quality 900MHz cordless telephones

2. Microfilters not used properly

You need microfilters for broadband to work properly over the same line as your telephone service. Without microfilters you may hear a noise on the line when you make or receive a telephone call, or you may have broadband connection problems.

You need a microfilter for every telephone socket in your home that has equipment plugged in. (It's recommended you have a maximum of four extension sockets with microfilters attached for each telephone line you have.)

You can get microfilters from most High Street electrical shops, and online in the BT Shop.

Equipment that needs a microfilter includes:

• Broadband modem or router
• Telephones
• Answering machines
• Digital TV boxes
• Fax machines
• Alarm systems

Plugging in your microfilters

At each phone socket where a device plugs in:

1. Unplug the device from the socket
2. Plug a microfilter into the socket
3. Plug the device you have just unplugged into the microfilter's phone socket, and plug your broadband equipment into the computer's socket. The microfilter will usually have a diagram on it to show you which socket is which

3. Not using the main phone socket

Try to connect your Hub directly (using a microfilter) to your home's main phone socket instead of an extension socket. This will reduce the chances of you getting electrical interference and take your home wiring out of the loop.

You'll probably find the main socket in your front room or hall, near where the phone line enters your house.

If you don't want to move your computer, you can think about connecting wirelessly instead.

How do I connect my BT Home Hub to my computer wirelessly?
Video: Check if internal wiring is affecting your broadband speed

4. Out of date wireless router

If you have upgraded to a faster broadband service but still have an old wireless router, it may not be able to provide the broadband signal as fast as a more up-to-date router.

There are broadly three types of wireless router:

Wireless-B: routers can provide speeds of around 5-6Mbps
Wireless-G: routers can provide speeds of around 20Mbps
Wireless-N: routers can provide speeds of around 100Mbps

If you check your router, you may find you aren't using the most up-to-date way of connecting to broadband.

Please note - the wireless Mbps speeds quoted are maximums and the layout of your home and distance of your PC from your wireless router will affect actual performance.

5. Wireless interference

If you're using wireless broadband in your home, make sure you place your broadband router away from barriers that may block the signal, including thick walls or ceilings, large metallic surfaces such as radiators, mirrors and refrigerators. Wireless works best when there's a clear space to your computer.

Although a wireless connection gives you more flexibility to position your devices around your home, it can occasionally suffer from interference, which can affect your internet browsing. An Ethernet cable is generally not affected by interference so may give you a faster, more reliable connection. And if you use a USB cable to connect your computer to your router, the speed of the connection can be affected by other USB devices, such as your keyboard, mouse and webcam all using USB at the same time.

You can stop most wireless interference and improve performance just by taking a couple of minutes to change the wireless channel that you're using.

How do I change the wireless channel on my BT Home Hub?

6. Other users in your home

It's worth remembering that the number of people sharing your broadband connection will affect your speed.

Is your download speed continuously lower than your IP profile, but not by much? If so, you should check the number of devices (such as smartphones, computers and games consoles) that are connecting to your Hub or router. You can then ask other users to consider using your broadband at different times, so your speed increases.

7. Using an old computer

If your computer is more than five years old you may not get the maximum broadband speed you can receive. So it’s worth checking that your computer meets the minimum system requirements needed for BT Broadband. If your computer’s too old and slow, you may need a new one.

Does my computer meet the minimum specification for BT Broadband?

You can also perform a ‘PC health check’ if you think your computer is slow using BT Broadband Desktop Help, just click on the link below (if you don't have it already, you'll be asked to install the free BT Broadband Desktop Help tool).

Carry out a PC health check now
Find out more about BT Broadband Desktop Help

You should also check you have the latest version of your internet browser software installed. Older versions might not be able to handle all of the types of content on newer websites, and can cause pages to download slowly.

If you're using an old operating system, such as Windows 95, then this will significantly affect your broadband speed.

8. Avoid heavy traffic

The speed you'll get from BT Broadband isn't fixed. It depends partly on how many people are using the network, with busy times causing a general slowdown for everyone. The peak period is 5pm to 12 midnight.

If you can, try to identify the internet activities that don't have to be carried out at peak times and do them at different times of day. You'll then be able to share your connection better between your home users and the rest of the online community.

For example, if someone uses peer-to-peer software, find out how to turn it off at times when other people at home want to use the internet.