BT Wholesale based ADSL customers may find it helpful to run the operators speedtester a few times. This one will forward the results onto your ISP and may help to identify any problems or improve the connection (tip: do one when you’re suffering from slow speeds). Most UK ISP's are BT based:

http://speedtester.bt.com

It is also possible to exclude your ISP’s network from the test by temporarily switching your username to “speedtest@speedtest_domain” and reconnecting. Once complete you should attempt to visit the same webpage again and run the test. The results could help to diagnose how much of an impact your ISP has on the connection.

Sadly this is only useful if you’re running off an ISP that utilises BT Wholesale’s fixed-rate (usually 512Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps products) ADSL network, not unbundled (LLU) ISP’s or different broadband technologies (satellite etc.).

People using BT's IPStream 'MAX' technology (i.e. an 'up to' 8Mbps package) may run into problems with the above 'ISP exclusion' test. Related users should instead try connecting to the old tester via the following URL (same login details should apply, if not then try 'startup@startup_domain'):

http://217.35.209.142:50302/cgi-bin/home.page.pl

7. Try “BT’s” test login.

Having problems connecting to your BT Wholesale based IPStream ADSL ISP? One useful check is to try the operators test login. Just change your connection username to “bt_test@startup_domain” (lowercase characters) and reconnect (no need to alter your password), if you’re able to visit the “http://www.bt.net/digitaldemo” website then the problem may be with your ISP.

Thankfully it’s also possible to use the test login with your ISP’s side of the connection too. Instead of replacing your username with “bt_test@startup_domain”, use “bt_test_user@ISPs_domain”. Typically the “ISPs_domain” part should be replaced with the domain of your ISP’s username. For example, a Nildram customer might have “IanWatson2@gotadsl.co.uk” and thus you’d need to input “bt_test_user@gotadsl.co.uk”.

Sadly unbundled (LLU) providers or those based off BT’s Datastream technology may not be able to use this; however such ISP’s often provide an alternative method. For example, Tiscali uses a username of “testing@dslconnect.co.uk”, although you’ll also have to enter a password of “testing”. It should then be possible to visit the http://speedcheck.ispconnect.co.uk website.

8. Avoid repeated disconnecting and reconnecting.

Though not an issue for everybody, those using BT’s “MAX” (up to 8Mbps) ADSL technology may find that their line speed drops with multiple reconnections. MAX lines will interpret this as a problem and may lower your ADSL profile to improve matters, thus cutting speeds. Typically it can take up to 10 or more repeated disconnections before you're likely to be impacted.

9. Queue downloads for off-peak.

Try to find and use a download manager so that any larger files you need to get are sent to your computer during off-peak hours. Not only will this be faster because fewer people are active at night, but it also puts less strain on the ISP’s network and causes other users fewer congestion problems (broadband runs off a shared contention with others, try to use it respectfully).

Some ISP’s also allow “free” downloading during off-peak hours, thus preventing heavy downloads from using up your monthly quota.

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