BT warning: It’s easy to make one simple mistake that will slow down your broadband

With the price of energy rocketing to record levels we’re all looking for simple ways to shave a few pennies off the monthly electricity bill. One pretty obvious thing to do each night before heading to bed is to turn off all the energy-sucking gadgets that are scattered around our homes. This can offer a serious saving with a recent report from EcoCostSavings suggesting that a TV left on standby 24-hours a day can use around £11 per year of energy alone.

This might make you think that heading for the power sockets each night is a great idea but before you start hitting the off switch there is one device that’s definitely best-left turned on.

BT is warning millions of customers to make sure they leave their routers powered up at all times as unplugging this flashing black box can wreak havoc on internet speeds. There are two main reasons why it’s not a good idea to turn off your router at night.

Firstly, BT often pushes out vital updates to its devices during the night as releasing these upgrades when most people are in bed means there’s less disruption across its network.

If your router is off then the update won’t be installed and that’s bad news especially as these changes often include security fixes, firmware patches and performance upgrades.

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Another reason you should never turn off your router is that it can trick BT into thinking there’s an issue with the line. This can then lead to speeds being reduced automatically in a bid to make sure you’re kept online.

Explaining more about why customers should always leave their routers on, BT said: “It’s important to make sure that you leave your Hub switched on and connected at all times. This will let us give you the fastest and most stable service, and ensure your hub is kept updated.

“Constantly switching off the hub makes the line look unstable, meaning that your speed may be automatically reduced to improve the reliability of your broadband connection.”

Along with the router, the telecoms firm also says that it’s a good idea for TV customers to keep their set-top boxes in standby mode.

Again, this is due to BT pushing out updates during the night that won’t be installed if the box is off.

“We do recommend that you leave your box in standby overnight because that’s when it automatically receives updates,” confirmed.

Clearly, there are some gadgets that can be switched off overnight to help you save some energy. Just make sure your router stays fully powered up when you head to bed.