Which ISP?

Right now I'm with sky and I have an unstable connection. Right now it looks like this:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 704 kbps 416 kbps
Line Attenuation 53.0 db 31.0 db
Noise Margin 8.9 db 14.0 db

At the best of times it can reach 3072 down with attenuation of 48db and noise margin 5.8db and at worst I can reach 160 down.

I used to be a constant 4Mb/s for a year until something happened that screwed it all up. Anyways, I have tried for about 7 months now to solve this problem but nothing seems to work so I'm considering leaving them.

I was considering getting Virgin because I've heard fiber optic can deliver me speeds above 4Mb/s. However I have heard that they throttle speeds once you go over a certain limit. Since I download quite a lot (iplayer, streaming videos and p2p) this concerns me. Can someone tell me what the 10Mb/s package get throttled to and when, because if its still an improvment on what I currently have then I'll get them regardless.

Are there other alternatives to Virgin? I seem to be pretty far from my exchange for other providers to give me decent speeds.

Speed should be better than you're getting which looks due to a noisy line rather than a long line.

You probably need to make sure that your internal wiring isn't at fault first. Is the modem plugged in to an extension, if so do you get better speeds using the "test" socket?

From a different forum: http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-help/28...

I tried a great many things. No success.

What exchange are you on?

Exchange name OLO County Region
Gatley MRGAT Stockport North West

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

In reply to a post by k1ll3r:

Exchange name OLO County Region
Gatley MRGAT Stockport North West

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

Nearly next door! I'm in Hazel Grove.

You certainly have plenty of choice if you want to move, but I have to agree it looks from the Sky user thread rather like a problem at your premises. Trouble is finding it.

Did you try the quiet line test that was requested? Is everything that connects to the phone line going through a filter, including Sky boxes and burglar alarm if you have one? Have you got the ADSL cable lying across the router power supply or anything similar?

Possible ISPs are O2 (12-month contract but initial 30-day money back guarantee), Vivaciti LLU Unlimited(C & W), and non-LLU AAISP who have a "fix your line" guarantee. (Or did have).

What I can't seem to understand is why it worked for over a year without fault and then this. My setup can't be the problem can it?

Whilst you may not have changed anything in your setup time may have. Wires can degrade, connections can become loose, chips can overheat and start playing up, devices can start emitting higher levels of interference, etc, etc.