To achieve lightning fast broadband speeds there are manydifferent things you can do both in your home and on your computer.A good first step in the quest towards speeding up your broadbandis to speak to your internet service provider (ISP) to checkeverything is a-ok with your line. When speaking to your ISP youmay want to ask what the ratio speed is. Most ISPs supply homebroadband at a 50:1 contention ratio which denotes the number ofpeople sharing the connection. The more people sharing theconnection then the slower your service will be so this could becontributing to slower speeds. If your internet package is cappedthen your ISP may slow down your connection speed if you exceed theset limit. Again, when speaking to your ISP you could check thispoint and if you have capped broadband then find out aboutsubscribing to an unlimited service. When it comes to your computeror laptop, have a look at the browser settings. If you haverecently switched ISP or upgraded from dial-up then your computermay still be running on the previous settings and this caninterfere with your new connection, even causing it to slow down.On most computers you can check you are using the correct settingsby opening Internet Explorer, navigating to the ‘Tools’tab and then selecting ‘Internet Options’. Click on the‘Connections’ tab, make sure ‘Never dial aconnection’ is selected and then click ‘OK’. Ofcourse, this will be different depending on which browser yourcomputer uses. If you use wireless broadband then you must ensureyour connection is password protected. Without a password, anyonein the vicinity can use your connection to surf the internet andthis will slow down connection speed significantly as well as posea potential security risk. Password protecting your wirelessconnection should be straightforward and you can usually check thedocumentation for your wireless router to find out how to do this.Computer viruses can be a common culprit when it comes to slowinternet connection speeds. A preventative measure you can take isto use anti-virus software and activate your firewall to preventinfection. There is also plenty you can do in and around your hometo speed up your existing internet connection. Simply ensuringthere are no electrical devices that could be interfering with yourconnection can make all the difference. Keep your router and wiringwell away from mains power cables and limit the number ofelectrical devices near your broadband connection. The quality ofyour cables and router can make a difference to the speeds you arereceiving. High capacity cables and routers can help you enjoysuper fast broadband speeds so if you think your hardware isslowing you down then start shopping around for replacements.