As lodge says. I would add that from the details you just gave you may actually have a fault somewhere or imperfect home wiring.

If there is a fault I expect any of the three will be far more helpful than Tiscali. But if you get a router and post some stats we can form a better view.

If you haven't seen this before carefully oen up the socket - as you can see there may be wires attached - and if there are, again carefullt do what it says about T 3. Makes sure you read the numbers right, sometimes the terminals are 2-5, no 1 or 6.

This can make over 2Mbps difference to a line, or none at all!

What else is connected to the line and where? Is your modem plugged into the master with a short ADSL lead, or on either a fixed or a plug-in extension?

And ignore the estimates, the DSLAM and modem/router don't ask the estimator for its opinion, they just agree on the highest speed they can. (Subject to BT's profiling system interfering).

Hi -thanks again for your additional comments.

I haven't actually considered before the possibility of there being a fault on my line. On a run into town today I noticed that quite a few overhead lines have become entangled in overgrown tree branches (quite a common problem in these parts) and a largish branch is dangling from one of the lines causing it to sag quite a lot. The phone and BB connections are still working so it's OK at the moment. I will contact Tiscali (line rental paid to them, not BT) to see whether they will come out to check it but I won't hold my breath. Perhaps I should consider going back to BT for line rental as they may be more quicker and expert in dealing with line faults (unless Tiscali ask BT to do it on their behalf). I wonder whether BT charge a fee if you revert back to paying line rental with them? Does anyone know for sure?

For info., I have just run another test on the speedtester and got the following results: http://www.speedtest.net/result/40568905...
Ping is 99ms; an earlier test produced a figure of 89ms for a similar speed. Are these figures too high? If so, what is causing it and can anything be done to improve it or is this a consequence of having a longish line?

For the record, my modem is connected to the master socket (but not plugged into the "Test socket") using a 10ft ADSL lead. I have one land line phone on a separate extension socket in another room with attached microfilter. The wiring is quite new as my bungalow is only 3 years old.
I have ordered a new router and will connect it to the "test socket" under the faceplate of the master socket using a shorter ADSL lead to see whether there is any improvement. I will then post some stats to see what can be gleaned from them.

What router did you go for in the end?

I expect with a 3-year old house the builders installed the extension wiring? If so they often use cheap burglar alarm cable, which is rubbish for ADSL I believe. But see how you get on with the test socket, and don't forget the T3 wire to be removed.

Tiscali will be paying BT Wholesale for the line I expect. They pay Openreach, who actually own and maintain it. If you revert to BT for the phone, that's BT Retail, who then pay Wholesale for it.

Simple! .

All Ofcom's way of supposedly making competition easy.

Often you can get your phone back to BT Retail using their "Return to Donor" facility. I don't know in what circumstances that is available and which not, but I'm sure you can look into it.

There could be nothing wrong at all. Tiscali are known to throttle like mad and blame "congestion". If you do go back to a BT phone then BT Broadband do the same. Go for one of the three you mentioned.

Hi - I have ordered a Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Modem Router.
When it's up and running, I will then post some stats to see what can be gleaned from them.