Most reliable, heavy use broadband?

The 224kbps downlink speed sounds very low.  Can you see other line parameters on your router's configuration, such as the downstream attenuation and noise margin figures?  They might give a clue.  Have you also tried rebooting the router to see if it re-synchronizes at a higher speed?

Hi Paul,

Sorry I haven't replied in so long, but to be honest I missed your reply and thought the thread had died.  I apologize for that.

I've rebooted the router, and the downstream speed went from 224 kbps to 928 kbps!  I don't know what the downstream attenuation and noise margin were prior to rebooting, but currently they're 63.5 db (I assume this is at the max, and is incapable of displaying a higher number) and 8.8 db, respectively.

Many thanks for the reply and the suggestion.  I owe you a pint!

Carl

I use Pipex whom I've nary had a problem with, the service is always available and speeds are good:

Speed Down     5172.16 Kbps ( 5.1 Mbps )
Speed Up    378.29 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )

It's listed as an 8Mbps connection so this seems pretty good to me, I'm possibly 1/2 mile to 1 mile from my exchange.

Strangely, there is a Pipex Homecall service that traditionally is for telephone service but have started promoting Internet Service 12 months for free if you sign a 12 month phone contract.

It turns out I have Pipex Internet which is a separate company although I'm not 100% sure if they have the same parent company, I'd guess so?  I'm happy with the phone and broadband but saving £120/year is enticing.

Oddly, the phone numbers for Pipex Internet don't seem to be working which is worrying.  Not sure if they're overwhelmed with calls or if something else has happened but when I tried to go to their website it took me to Tiscali's homepage, apparently Tiscali bought them out!  I had a very bad experience with Tiscali so I wouldn't mind moving away from them.  

Sorry I haven't replied in so long, but to be honest I missed your reply and thought the thread had died.  I apologize for that.

No problem Carl, I've done that myself.

I've rebooted the router, and the downstream speed went from 224 kbps to 928 kbps!  I don't know what the downstream attenuation and noise margin were prior to rebooting, but currently they're 63.5 db (I assume this is at the max, and is incapable of displaying a higher number) and 8.8 db, respectively.

Yes, a lot of routers can't display line attenuation over that figure.  The 8.8dB noise margin sounds reasonable enough at the speed you've now achieved and the distance involved.    I would guess what happened is that the last time the router connected there must have been some unusually high noise on the line (interference, an engineer working at a distribution point, etc.), hence it synchronizing at the greatly reduced speed.

Every time the router is switched on, it performs a handshake with the DSLAM at the central office to test the maximum speed which can be achieved with a given noise margin (the latter being configured at the DSLAM by your ISP).   If the noise level on the line is higher than usual at the time of the handshake, then the DSLAM and your router will synchronize at a lower speed in order to meet the minimum figure configured for the noise margin.    Reboot the router once the noise level has returned to normal, and you'll re-synchronize at the higher speed. 

apparently Tiscali bought them out!  I had a very bad experience with Tiscali so I wouldn't mind moving away from them. 

I think it was about a year ago that Tiscali took over Pipex.  I have a client in town who uses Tiscali for DSL at their office and for web-hosting, and I know it was sometime last year that I noticed a separate "Pipex customer login" option appear on the account maintenance pages.   

They're only with Tiscali because they insisted on using the cheapest possible service available at the time it was set up a few years ago.  I'm not impressed with either the quality of Tiscali's web hosting or customer service.   Access to web servers is very restricted (can't edit .htaccess, not possible to set up custom 403/404 error pages etc.),   the FTP server constantly drops the connection when trying to upload files, and so on.   

I  also ran into a problem with using mail functions from PHP scripts on their servers, with e-mails sent to addresses in their own domain simply never being received -- Ever.    I never did manage to get that problem solved, since e-mails to their technical help section are ignored and phoning is a waste of time unless you just want to spend an hour talking to somebody who either doesn't understand English or has no idea of technical issues beyond the "have you plugged it in" script droids. 

Just found this article about Pipex/Tiscali customers and dissatisfaction with the changes:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3373-tiscali-slowly-migrating-pipex-users-to-its-own-platform.html

Demon is fantastic.

I started out on BT broadband because they were installed in the flat, and found my Slingbox wouldn't work at all.  I researched and found out that BT throttles their customers.  We re now with Sky broadband, who does not throttle.  I run streaming video on a computer, plus a live Slingbox link or XBOX360 with Netflix at 700kbs with no problems. 

BT is the worst.  Period.  The front line CS reps cannot make a decision to save their life.  You have to get a callback from a second tier that takes a week.  They signed me up for services I didn't want, and took  month to cancel them and still charged me.