Local exchange the problem?

My Orange connection is via a BT line, and is approx. 0.5 miles from my local exchange (as the crow flys). I have had a history of poor broadband line speeds and more recently "drop-outs". Although Orange helpline have talked me thru' resetting my router, drop-outs are still recurring; however the connection renews itself without my intervention.
Now, I hear from my friend who also lives about the same distance from the same BT exchange (the other side of town), that his SKY broadband connection is down, and won't be re-connected for another couple of days.
Is there a website that provides current info about UK BT exchanges' maintenance/upgrading schedules?

Edited by shrimper1 (Mon 01-Aug-11 12:05:26)

Providers like aa.nu and Plusnet website generally carry status updates for MSO (Major Service Outages)

A friends line being down, and you suffering regular drop-outs sound unrelated though. 0.5miles as crow flies, but how far by road? What are exact attenuation, connection speed, noise margin figures?

AA also have a PEW page, which shows much more details about BT planned work than the status pages.

Thanks for the PEW page ............ another string to my bow

Hi, is your exchange one of these capacity issue sites.

https://www.btwholesale.com/pages/downloads/Communit...

https://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/B...

Don't think so, but XRAY (being an ex-BT engineer) will love my latest negative incident: loss of phone line since yesterday, suspected to be due to overhead cable from pole across the main road to my house. However, the real irony is, as you can see: my broadband still works, although current speed is 2 meg
We've had extremely hot and sunny weather here during the last week or so, and my wife thinks it's damaged the cable (which was pretty old anyway). Latest news is: phone line should be worked on by BT this coming Monday. Who knows, this may also improve my broadband upload & download speeds as well

What makes you think I was a BT engineer? I was never that type of engineer; I have never done any cabling in my life