Line speed incorrect and now I can't change ISP!

This is really really weird.

Ok, so i've been with Xifos for the last few months, before then Ace and Evolution. Good times, but I hardly mind switching ISP occasionally. I had intended to settle not, but problems arise.

I phone Demon, who I was planning on making my new home. I have my MAC from xifos already, the plan was I would be ready to switch by the end of the call. I tell him what plan I want and he asks for my postcode, number, house name so that he can speedcheck. He speedchecks.
"I'm sorry sir you can only get a speed of 0.5Mbps on this line"
"what the christ, I've been using MAX for about 6 months now, and even before then I've been able to get 2Mbps."
He says he can only sign me up to .05mbps. I tell him that the line speed is 100% incorrect and he does some more tests, BT, whatever. Still nothing. I ask him to go to samknows.com and do a speedcheck on my line. I think at this point we made differing tests, because we got different results. I do a postcode check and get this:
"ADSL is available in your area
Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services
According to BT Wholesale, your line should be able to support a 6.5Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max.
Standard ADSL RAG results:
You can receive 2Mbps ADSL
You can receive 1Mbps ADSL
You can receive 512Kbps ADSL
You can receive 256Kbps ADSL

You are approximately 126 metres from the exchange (straight line distance)."

I guess he must have done a phone check because he gets 0.5Mbps results, I do a phone check later and get the same results. By the way, my phone line check has this message on it:
There appears to a compatibility issue with your phone line. This could be caused by an existing DSL connection, ISDN, a DACS unit, TPON, a pending ADSL order or many other common issues. This will need to be resolved before ADSL can be supplied to your line.

Now, as you can see i'm only 100 meters away from the exchange and therefore, should be getting 8Mbps without problems, after all i've had that much for months now. I phone BT and the guy i spoke too was pretty much clueless. He couldn't think of a problem and has no idea what the solution would be either.
I email xifos with the problem, they tell me:
The line checkers are controlled by BT and BT alone, we are not in a position to change them, only BT can make adjustments. There is nothing we can do to help in this matter.

You may be able to get your new ISP to place a manual CRF Order which bypasses the checker to an extenet, but again we obviously can`t do this for them.

So, what can I do broadband guru's?

the postcode checker sucks, use your number in the wholesale checker http://www.btwholesale.com/get_broadband/ Or PM me it and I'll put it in an ISP checker.

Fixed speed limits should not impact migration of Max, unless the recipient has a line length policy (like AOL/BT/Pipex) and doesn't use Max on long lines.

Checking the line using a postcode check is generally innaccurate, postcodes can cover quite a large area. The only way to do it accurately is to do it on the phone number.
Is the info posed based on your postcode or your phone number ?
Does your hardware provide line stats ?

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 512Kbps. However, due to the length of your line, an engineer visit may be required, who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.

Our test also indicates that your line should be able to support a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 500Kbps or greater.

The actual ADSL Max line rate supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use, after which time the highest stable rate possible will be set.'
From the BT test, I would access my router and give you stats but for some reason it hasn't been nice to me, let me try restarting it to see if that helps.

Access to router restored.
DSL Status : Up
DSL Modulation Mode : GDMT
DSL Path Mode : INTERLEAVED
Downstream Rate : 8128 Kbps
Upstream Rate : 448 Kbps
Downstream Margin : 14 db
Upstream Margin : 26 db
Downstream Line Attenuation : 5
Upstream Line Attenuation : 0
I can confirm that i've been syncing at over 8000Kbps for a while now.

Edited by Sanchez (Thu 02-Nov-06 22:20:45)

It's fairly clear in his post that the postcode checker says 6.5Meg, the phone number checker says 512k but has the usual warning that his line is already has an ADSL service on it.

Looks like the BT checker needs a kick. (again).

Got line stats (attenuation/noise margin)?

If Demon won't give you max regardless of what the checker says then find an ISP which will.

Max is max, it doesn't matter what the line checker says.

You could PM Mr Saffron, who has managed to get the BT line checker changed but if Demon won't give you what you are asking then why would you want to move to them?

This isn't demon's fault, every checker on the web is giving me the same results.

Check the sticky in general chatter about trying to get the checker updated.

They could just accept your MAC and put you ADSL MAX and then it would not be problem.
Got those line stats?

Edited by deleted (Thu 02-Nov-06 22:29:44)