Thanks I hadn't really thought of that. I am just waiting for ADSL24 to come back to me as they are chasing BT as to why there was a no show and once that bit is resolved I will email I an Livingstone

No invoice to generate as I am a govt emplyee so hopefully it will come down to a goodwill gesture

Thanks for the advice and will keep you posted on BT's stand on this

Regardless of the sync rate, I can't think what's reducing the throughput to next to nothing

Surely a varying sync rate would give you a low IP profile, and that equates to low throughput.

In reply to a post by Aliturk:

How long is the cooling off period? Is that so many days after placing the order or so many days after receiving the service? I was migrated on 10th Nov

That info should be in the T &C's And with any welcome e-mail or mail from them ,

In reference to www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrders/control/termsandcondi...:

Cancelling the Agreement
The Broadband speed that we quote when you order the service is an estimate only. Once your Broadband speed has settled (usually 10 days after provision), if you are always getting speeds lower than the estimated range that we quoted, you can contact us any time within the first 3 months after you ordered the service and we will try to improve the speed. If, despite any improvements we try to make, the speed you get is less than the "minimum guaranteed access line speed" for your service (go to www.bt.com/yourlinespeed for more details) you will be entitled to cancel your broadband contract without paying a charge for ending it early subject to you following our instructions to resolve the problem.
You may cancel your agreement for BT Total Broadband Option 3 (using the fibre network) by contacting us at any time up until the service start date, but if you do so you will be liable to pay for any work that we have started or done to install any equipment.

from the t&c's bt bb t&c's
it seems to be a 10 day cooling off period, that apparently starts the day you order it,which i find a little odd, so not good, maybe complaining to ofcom also may be of a help ,or to bt's CEO Ian Livingston, as for them asking you if you could unscrew the faceplate from the bt master socket so you could plug the router into the TEST socket behind it, that is normal request,
As it also disconnects any internal extensions too, a way of telling if there is any issues with wiring or equipment connected to it inside your home as the master socket is the end point of bt's responsibilities as far as maintenance goes

But going on the rough rule of thumb they quote that the actual download speeds are usually 800/900 less than the sync speed, I shouldn't be at the stage where most web pages fail to load or take minutes to load should I?

Its to get at the test socket behind the plate. Total legitimate request as it'll rule out any problem with the wiring in your house.

But introduces a faulty home screwdriver into the mix

Oh I see, you mean he'd have wanted me to plug the filter into the socket inside? It's the only socket in the flat, but I might try it anyway

www.speedtester.bt.com post the results please

when i tried that this morning, I couldn't even get the speed test page to load. It probably would have loaded eventually, but I had to go to work, but will try again when I get home which won't be until about 1.30am

and as if by magic, things back to normal this morning, with sync speed and throughput faster than ever. My faith hasn't been restored though, not until i've had at least another couple of weeks of stable connection