Best broadband for Out in the Sticks

I'm currently with Virgin on a calls and broadband package but they are putting their price up so I am having a look around.

I live out in the sticks so can't get one of the good value TV/phone/broadband bundles and my speed is normally about 3.5 meg.

However in the evening my speed drops to about a meg and sometimes slower. I know Virgin will 'share' the bandwidth which causes this. Do BT and others do the same?

Virgin customer service is also useless in the evenings and you just end up waiting for ages on their helpline.

I use the Internet mostly at evenings and weekends for web browsing, Sky Go streaming, iplayer, etc. no gaming whatsoever.

If it helps, this is my exchange which I think is about as basic as it gets....

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSTTY

I think my total monthly downloads are circa 20Gb a month and I'm really looking for a service tha will deliver over 2 meg even at peak times so that I can use Sky Go or iplayer.

Thanks.

What line statistics does your router show ?

If thats a Virgin over a BT pair of wires, it doesn't have the best reputation. TalkTalk would appear to unbundled your exchange recently, that might squeeze a tad more speed.

How much are you willing to pay, and can any of your 20GB be downloaded overnight? From what you say I doubt it.

OT

Slightly related to this post where I'm asking the TalkTalk rep some questions - where TT will become the only LLU operator.

If TT have an LLU presence should Tetbury still be shown as 'Market 1' on Samknows?

Market categories are decided by OfCom on a periodic basis. The last time I checked, only 2-3 weeks ago, the latest issue was December 2010. It isn't a "rolling" categorisation.

Thanks. Not good for the digital age!

All broadband services are shared to some extent, some more than others, hence the drop in the evenings with Virgin National.

TalkTalk can give a good service, just avoid phone support, but it does tie you to an unbundled line. i.e. moving ISP later can be harder