Speed variations between providers

I currently use Orange and before that Sky. The estimate given by both providers was 3mb. My actual speed has varied between 0.7 and 1.3mb and is often not fast enough to drive BBC Iplayer. BT estimate my line speed should be between 3 and 7mb with an average speed of 4.5mb. However on speaking with one of BT's online advisers I was told I should get more than 1mb but they (or indeed any provider) could not give me an absolute guarantee. I would have expected a minimum guarantee of 3mb and indeed would be more than happy with that. There is no point in changing again unless I can be assured of an improvement in my line speed. We are not in an Infinity area no that is not an option. Can anybody please advise me what my options are. Thank you.

Assurance of speed is impossible until you speed £200+ a month.

You have ADSL now, what are the stats from the router? That is a better way to estimate speeds, rather than paper based records.

Remember the estimates are not about what speed of iPlayer is supported e.g. peak time congestion, but the speed the modem connects to the phone exchange in your town.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

... until you speed £200+ a month.

What a very apt typo .

Thanks for your reply. The average download speed is about 0.9mb. You seem to imply that it doesn't matter what the provider suggests will be the download speed , when connected I am unlikely to achieve a faster speed than I am currently getting. I read that Virgin say they will not limit the speed I would get and I think I inferred the same thing from BT. If you were me. how would you set about achieving a faster speed?

I think a better starting place would be to see what your router connects at, reason I say this is if your router connects at say 6MB but you are only getting a throughput of 1mb then there is an issue, but if your connection speed is 2mb and you are seeing 1MB throughput then that would be about right.
Connection speed (if using the same technology) would be the same (ish) regardless of the chosen provider in saying that some can do some minor tweaks to help with connection speed, but that would be over complicating things at the moment.
Do you know how to obtain your router stats? As these can help better identify and advise on your current setup.

As I said originally router stats and then we can take things forward

See here for help finding the line/router stats you are being asked for.