Just been told there's nothing more BT can do, so ...

Question

Hi all,
After a succession of engineer visits to resolve a problem with persistent sync dropping and resultant minimum IP profile, technical help now tell me there is nothing more they can do, so I may wish to cancel my contract (with no penalties). The last engineer put a long line issue note on the file, thing is I've had broadband on this line for well over a decade! The records of that are clouded by the fact that my wife left, taking the original account with her, some 12 months ago, so my new account only shows the last year of persistent faults. I'm on a fairly long line (I believe about 4.5 miles), but my father in an adjacent property has a satisfactory service on a line pair through the same route, also after a tree-rub was repaired I had a stable service with 3.5Mbps sync and 3Mbps download for approx 3-4 months, surely this suggests that distance alone is not the issue?  I know that I am on one pair of a 5 pair cable run under the concrete yard of a neighbouring farm, which previous engineers (on my father's line) have said has no good pairs, only 'less poor' ones. All 5 pairs are in use. The last engineer told me that there was another 20 pair cable recently dug in by the farmer close to my property. Another suggestion from 2 or 3 of the engineers was to inquire about fibre, as there is a cabinet next to the one serving me (cab 8 at Huxnor cross Kingskerswell) they suggested that feeding my copper from the fibre would reduce the line length to approx 2 miles. However having spoken to numerous departments, I was unable to find anyone who could look at routing and with tech help saying there is nothing more they can do, I felt somewhat abandoned. Then I had an idea, I've ordered a second line and broadband service, to force BT to find another route to my property, as I know all the pairs in the suspect section are in use. I already have a note on my existing account saying I can cancel with no penalties, and if the new line doesn't meet projected speeds (0.75 - 2.5 Mbps) I won't be held to the new contract either.
The question I'm asking is: Does anyone have a better suggestion (I have 14 days distance selling cancellation period)?
Kind regards to all.
Dave

Answer 1

Ok,
Quiet line good, the line passed PQ test on Wednesday. After the 3 most recent engineer visits I'm on fesh pairs over the entire route with the exception of the 5 pair stretch already mentioned (the rest is 20 pair or larger) AC balance was in the 60's.
DSL data:
10:22:51, 26 Sep.
(85889.640000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 9.00 dB downstream
10:22:51, 26 Sep.
(85889.550000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1952 Kbps downstream
10:22:25, 26 Sep.
(85863.130000) DSL noise margin: 17.00 dB upstream, 10.20 dB downstream
10:22:25, 26 Sep.
(85863.060000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 992 Kbps downstream
11:38:30, 25 Sep.
( 4028.810000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 13.10 dB downstream
11:38:30, 25 Sep.
( 4028.740000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1504 Kbps downstream
11:35:00, 25 Sep.
( 3818.350000) DSL noise margin: 19.00 dB upstream, 9.00 dB downstream
11:35:00, 25 Sep.
( 3818.270000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 2240 Kbps downstream
11:33:52, 25 Sep.
( 3750.210000) DSL noise margin: 19.00 dB upstream, 9.10 dB downstream
11:33:52, 25 Sep.
( 3750.140000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 2176 Kbps downstream
11:30:43, 25 Sep.
( 3561.750000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 9.00 dB downstream
11:30:43, 25 Sep.
( 3561.680000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1312 Kbps downstream
11:29:52, 25 Sep.
( 3510.660000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 9.10 dB downstream
11:29:52, 25 Sep.
( 3510.590000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1952 Kbps downstream
10:39:11, 25 Sep.
( 469.820000) DSL noise margin: 19.00 dB upstream, 8.10 dB downstream
10:39:11, 25 Sep.
( 469.750000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1984 Kbps downstream
10:38:22, 25 Sep.
( 420.060000) DSL noise margin: 17.00 dB upstream, 10.10 dB downstream
10:38:22, 25 Sep.
( 419.990000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 2080 Kbps downstream
10:35:46, 25 Sep.
( 269.820000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 10.80 dB downstream
10:35:46, 25 Sep.
( 269.750000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1888 Kbps downstream
10:35:12, 25 Sep.
( 236.580000) DSL noise margin: 18.00 dB upstream, 11.30 dB downstream
10:35:12, 25 Sep.
( 236.510000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1920 Kbps downstream
10:32:38, 25 Sep.
( 82.280000) DSL noise margin: 17.00 dB upstream, 10.50 dB downstream
10:32:38, 25 Sep.
( 82.090000) DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 1440 Kbps downstream
Cheers
Dave