Broadband & Wi-Fi · 5 min
Checking Your Broadband Speed Properly
A speed test is only useful if it's done fairly. Here's how to test properly and what your rights are if your speed falls short.
How to test fairly
Small changes make a big difference to the result.
- Use a laptop or PC connected to the router with an Ethernet cable.
- Pause downloads, streaming, backups and game updates on other devices.
- Test at different times of day — evenings are busiest.
- Run three tests and note the average.
- Restart the router first if it hasn't been restarted in a while.
Understanding your speeds
Your Contract Summary shows address-specific speed estimates from the network and, where available, a minimum guaranteed speed. These aren't 'up to' marketing figures — they're what's realistically expected on your line. Wi-Fi speeds will usually be lower than wired.
If your speed is persistently low
Raise a ticket with your wired test results, times and dates. We'll run line tests and investigate with the network. If there's a significant, continuous or regularly recurring shortfall against what your contract states, the remedies required by law and regulation are available — which can include repair, a price reduction or the right to end the affected service without penalty.