Re jchamier's post earlier, there would be a 1-2 metre ethernet cable came with your router. That plugs into the router and most laptops have an ethernet socket. So you could do this speedtest and post us the link it gives.

Speed tests using an ethernet connection are the best way of seeing what you can get. Make sure you turn off the wifi of the laptop, and don't have anyone/anything using the internet at the same time. It only takes a minute or two to run.

If you register on that link first, it's the main site of these forums, (you can use the same username and password but it is a separate system), then your Profile there records your results.

You wouldn't expect to have seen any cable-laying as the point of the halfway house VDSL "fibre" is that additional cables would not be laid between the cabinet and the property; the internet feed is coming through the existing telephone cable.

It would be good to find out if you are locked to the older, slower ADSL service (or are a long distance from the cabinet on a VDSL connection) or you have the option of upgrading to VDSL. You can check what is available using the BT Broadband Checker. If the system does not recognise your phone number you can use the address checker which is linked from the bottom of that page.

When you use the BT checker it tells you to which cabinet you are connected. Once you get the number of the cabinet this page on the Kitz web-site explains how to narrow down the location of your cabinet (look at the section headed "~ More Information about your cabinet").

The interference on your telephone line may be internal or external so it might pay to report it to your supplier as a telephone fault, not a broadband fault. Sorting that may have the benefit of helping your broadband as well.

PS Thanks to Bob (RobertoS) for filling in the bits I missed the first time.

"You mentioned a crackling on the line and that is something that we have always had"

A phone line should be silent. I would suggest complaining to your provider about the noisy line and your internet speed may get slightly better once that is fixed.

Ditto ......spooky.

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Ditto ......spooky.

Posted just as I was typing a similar message so even spookier.

In reply to a post by jonmar:

Ah, well I have a recommended netgear app on my phone and it read 0.7 at one end of the house and up as far as 3.2 when I was right beside the router. Is that any help? Plus the BT engineer had read it at about 3.0 when he was checking something else adding it was bad in the area. he didnt elaborate.
Thanks for help by the way.

Not withstanding 'gonepostal's explanation about WiFi through walls etc. I had that old TalkTalk router some years back, at the incoming speed you get was still able to pick up that same speed through a couple of walls, one brick(well an inglenook) and the other 'lathe and plaster', I now have the later TalkTalk router (well four of them, but that's another story), and am still on same incoming speed, I've just been out and about my garden, I can report that even after a couple of walls and 25yards down the garden, or couple of walls and then in my wooden shed, I still get the same speed. It could be that you have some very thick walls, and/or that old router is not quite as good as the newer one, but don't forget, it could be the phone you are using isn't as good on WiFi, also if anything else was running the speed would show as lower.

So I checked the BT broadband checker and got a rough location for the cabinet which is a mile away...roughly. I also checked what I can get from BT when I put in my address 3-6mbps Download and 1mbps upload. That was the same as the green cabinet output and in line with what I measured on my app. Bearing in mind I have 3 teenagers and working from home has put added pressure on the service. The more I unpick this I feel in may be the initial BT line into the house which is only 15 years old. I'll do a proper read later when everyone is finished school/work etc as advised earlier.
Again, thanks for help everyone. I'm learning if nothing else!

I would definitely get that crackle on the line resolved, but that's only half the solution.

I've been in this situation before where you simply can't get enough bandwidth from a single connection, but where a provider can install multiple connections at the same address (not sure if BT can do that). If a provider can install multiple connections, each running at full speed, you can use a special type of router called a multi-wan router to connect them all to the same network. And the good thing is that a multi-wan router doesn't care what the speed or source of the connection is, so you can use 2x adsl, 1x cellular and any other mix as you see fit. On the computer side, the computers don't even know the difference.

I did this for a few years when cable providers couldn't provide me with enough upload bandwidth in a single connection without moving to a business line that cost 10x more. So I got 3x cable connections and in the end spent 1/3 the cost of the business line and still had 1.5x the upload bandwidth that the business line had.

We really need to know for sure if this is ADSL or VDSL - if ADSL then distance to the exchange impacts line speed and if VDSL (FTTC) then it is distance to the cabinet. Also, a number of people have asked for the stats from your router - you need to login to the router and find the stats page and let us know what they are.