lol - glad I'm not with BT then!

However, they did say to me that I had to restart my modem/router at least 5 times in the first 10 days to 're-synchronise' the connection with the exchange. I've tested the speeds each time and mine varies from as little as 3.8Mbit up to about 5.3Mbit - obviously I don't think I'll ever get the 8Mbit but I know that I can achieve a steady 5Mbit downstream which is what they promised I'd get. It all depends on the distance and line make up between you and the exchange.

Granted - they have had more problems with the MAX ADSL speeds than they expected.

Remember that if you go with companies that offer just Internet (i.e. not a combined phone, cable TV and internet service like Talk Talk etc.) then your connection is purely a BT wholesale broadband line resold using the ISP's servers (you're still going through a BT connection to the exchange). So basically, if your speed is set at that with BT, it probably will be with most other ISPs. The only way for the speed to increase will be to get BT to fix the problem (if there is one) or change phone supplier etc. to go with another ISP who have their own local loop.

Cheers,

Andy