The I-V and low frequency noise characteristics of MBE grown GaAs/InGaAs high electron mobility transistors are studied at room temperature and temperatures down to 6 K. A threshold voltage shift is observed at low temperatures resulting in conductance degradation. The drain current and transconductance of the devices exhibit peaks at low temperatures suggesting the presence of defects in the InGaAs channel layer. Room temperature and low temperature low frequency noise spectra exhibit both 1/f and generation-recombination bulges and show a strong gate bias dependence. The noise level is fairly high at low temperatures and the results confirm that the noise originates from the same defects.