Live 1.2km of xchange: 1.367Kps down/Was: 2.5Kps- ...

Question

1.2Kilometres from the exvhange and I now get 1.367Kps- downstream, it was never near it's full potential of 20meg+ADSL2+ speed, or even the ADSL 8meg service. For a long time I was the reciepent of a 2.5meg service.
I would like to think that I know a thing or two about telecoms, have a pretty thorough broadband technical insight, am relatively attune to the problems that can crop up on DSL/ADSL connections- particular to UK, copper twisted pair lines et al the great 'features' we enjoy on BT Broadband(in my case BT Total Broadband, Option 2)- many of these features our International friends have consigned to a museum quite some time ago so will never have the joy of waiting days for downloads, when sharing the network for online gaming, having problems playing certain games, generally waiting ages longer for everything. 2.5Kps to 1.3Kps is very unpleasantly noticeable in all On-line Activity's, I am actually getting far better speeds on my 3G phone which is a tempting although more costly and less stable alternative, maybe 4G with it's 100Kps will be better, I live in Slough the home of O2 where I believe they successfully ran tests of 4G so I guess we may be seeing it on the scene 1st when it is released to the general public.
I have been told that my actual line length is more like 4.6Kilometres from the exchange. I am not without some working knowledge here, this is down to(basically) the way my line is 'routed' around Slough until it connects to the exchange. Basically there are points which domestic phone lines terminate and meet, some connections go to other points, some go to the exchange if your lucky or another point on-route. Quite often, the twisted copper pair connections between these points are DECADES old and no wiring circuit diagram exists, sometimes it is easy for an engineer to just find a connection that just 'works' rather than one that works well.... in my case a pretty much a mute point as the line itself was connected to BT(from Telewest-R.I.P.!) around 2002, we did not have broadband until a few months later(is it possible this would factor into the BT engineers installation and line connection profile?).
I have called BT MANY MANY times, I found it hard to believe that nothing could be done on a problem that causes SUCH an impact on my service. With a good BT engineer should be able to improve SIGNIFICANTLY my line distance, from what I understand it is possible I could be able to use the internet at 20Kps. Over the years I have been called fanatical when it comes to understanding the situation, remedies and trying to 'crack through' the hard exterior of call centres(more on those!). I have had no success, BT have almost verbatim said it was tough.
Let me explain, I am disabled and have mobility issues. I used to be a working RN(Registered Nurse) I am not used to doing nothing and I am recovering, albeit slowly. In the meantime the Internet fills my time nicely, well, not so nicely after all, I know it was so much better(2.5Kps Downstream) now for no reason I can discern it has REALLY slowed up! It is common for me to spend over 10hours a day on the net, sometimes 15.... occasionally I play my online games through the night! At one time I could play on-line and download a media file in the background, now this is impossible. I quite like my films to.
If hospital staff treated patients like this, it would be a a scandal, quite rightly. I think of all the other professions and industry's where this kind of attitude would not be tolerated, chances are many people on this forum are in such a job.
I have even offered payment for an engineer/whoever to,  to come to my house! I would pay 'whoever' to come to 're-profile'(if that is the correct expression) my line so it travels a significantly smaller distance from the exchange. For me, as a disabled person, I really have to budget and am under no illusion that BT would charge in excess of £80 just for 'whoever' to come to my house but it means so much I am prepared to pay this and more if needs be. On another note my neighbours here claim to be having all kinds of wonder full speeds, from 8.00mb connections all the way upto 20mb.... I know no-one in my road that gets as bad a speed as I!
Actually I have always had a crackly line although the problem is intermediate but 4.6kilometres of copper is one big AM antenna(the AM radio interference alone causes a lot of 'noise').
Speaking of lines, the line was left in a mess by the Telewest guys. When BT came to switch my line they said that as the line was beyond the point of entry(little box that goes to square socket-less box, then a very 'dodgy' line(splitting at sides, box of wall). I know that legally I cannot touch the line at a certain point and after initial research I fully believe that the line in bad condition is BT's responsibility upto the box where I can connect a phone line, hence not being in the habit of breaking the law, etc I have not touched it. I really would like a BT engineer to come out to look at it but British Telecommunication are not communicating very well with their Indian call centres. I hope I in no way come across as racist but I really feel that a great deal of the people there are having great trouble understanding me, I have read a good deal of posts from others that feel the same, surely time to get some British Communicator's in Britian communicating with customers. I would quickly forsake the 0800 service of a local call service, or even national rate service, I am sure many others would to.
In any case, on my MANY conversations to these call centres, I have been advised that if the engineer sees no fault(ie the line really is my problem from the 'spur'- I think its a spur- I live in a flat) then I will have to pay £80 just for this information which I can ill afford. If it is my problem(the wire from the box to the socket... in very bad condition) then it is within my capabilities to install a extension from the 'spur'.... as it was given to me in such awful condition I have left it well alone, this could be the source of interference. I did do the 'quiet test' a while back(naughty I know) and the line was good other than occasional crackles and periods of low level 'muffling'. People I call including BT staff often complain about the line being'quiet' and I have to raise my voice, alas though line tests show no fault so if they get an engineer out and he comes up with nothing, I have to pay £80 for nothing!
So, here I am 17/03/2010. I am stuck with 1.3/.448kps. I will send a copy of this post to both the forum mods and BT technical help. However, after reading this board I am really hoping the board mods here can help me.
Please BT, I am trying so hard, for so long and all I get is lower speed...! I call up technical help but they cannot connect me with anyone who can help, they need to pass on the message to BT Wholesale, or the next tier. BT Wholesale I know just sell broadband to BT Total Broadband, BT Wholesale from what I understand seem rather unwilling to do anything much on a individual basis, I guess the competition being what it is they do not really have to go very far or extend themselves. Maybe I'm being unfair and I've got it all wrong, I think a lot of customers wonder really how it actually all does work when it comes to the hierarchy! I do know that some poor bloke in India is trying to understand me.... and I do genially believe these people do try to help and are knowledgeable but the language barrier is greater than the technical one. I would so like to discuss this with someone in a position to explain clearly to me what I can do and I do not accept that nothing can be done.
When I am recovered although going back to nursing will be impossible(with it's inherent moving and handling.... no lifting any more.... hah, rubbish!... with my back as it is and always will be, it's not going to happen). I have been seriously considering becoming a telecoms engineer, it is such a fascinating field for me. I became a nurse for many reasons, one of them, once as a patient I received very poor care and I was left for hours in very bad pain, a RN was actually disciplined for what happened to me.... in any case I learnt first hand what good care means to people. I believe that is no different in telecoms, I think it would be true to say that many ISP's recieve pretty harsh comments from people obviously stressed, I know how one little thing, or in my case a few little things can make a difference, to me it would be a HUGE difference that would impact my day-to-day life! With my interest in the field and that belief I think I might have a place somewhere, who knows!
After this, if nothing happens, I feel I may have a case with Ofcom, at least I can look into it. Again, I am prepared to pay for legal help in this. I REALLY hope it does not get that far as I really want to work with BT to achieve a positive outcome. I really don't think what I am asking is much, and I am prepared to pay for it. As it is I speak to people hundreds of miles away... you've read my problems here!
For the short term I would like BT to re-profile my line so the SN MArgin is 5 and the speed is increased as far as possible with this SNR Margin(I think 2.5+ should be obtainable). I understand the risks and accept the consequences of this. I would also like to speak to someone and confirm the status of the wiring in my house as I am certain that split cabling, sometimes down to the copper, is contributing to the line noise and it's so simple to deal with!
In the near future I would like to think though that somehow it is still possible for an engineer to do something with my line distance, payment or no payment, maybe they could do that with a visit to look at the general bad quality with occasional noise problems on my line(voice) and the dodgy wiring in my house.
I would ask BT to call me on my mobile.... every time I have a voice call, applications start disconnecting, etc. I know that there is a Annex that allows you to use the 'space' in the frequencies reserved for voice calls as part of the downstream, is it possible to impliment this, until recently most of my calls were made online.... now with the downspeed being 1.3 it's hard to hold a conversation.... and as I said theres the dreaded 'quiet' thing on the 'normal' phone!
I am really hoping that someone could help me..... I know this makes long reading but just think.... an engineer could have probably 're-profiled' my line and fixed my voice line in the time it's taken you to read this. And the difference it would make to me would be a HUGE one.
Thanks for reading!

Answer 1

I emailed the mods yesterday, with that rather long post and was wondering how long it would take them usually to get back to someone. I gave them all my account details.....
I just hope they do not try and call me on the BT line as the line is not connected to a telephone.... using it sometimes causes programs to disconnect.  Anyone have any ideas of when I'm likely to hear something, I am holding of sending the email to any other department in BT as it seems the forum mods/admin do a good job in sorting things out! Or do these guys tend to stick to email, that being the case I hope they use the email I provided and not the one attached to the BT account(the [email protected] one I NEVER use).
I also need to discuss with them the 57gb/36Gb excess on my Option 2 account. There is no WAY I did that..... sometimes I end up uploading a lot more on torrents(I find it funny that my friend with an 8meg connection still has the same upload capability as me.....448!). I am pretty angry that BT did not make me aware that the use was going so crazy, they want £37 from me that as a disabled person on benefits I really cannot afford for this. I have a suspicion that recently someone has managed to gain access to my router, these routers(BT Homehub, I have the old V1.0/white one that I originally had at install, despite the fact that I have renewed the 12 month contract for about 3+ years and asked time and time again if I could have a new homehub(need more ethernet ports.... and surely the newer ones must have some improvements that could benefit me?). I was told that I would be sent a new hub but none has yet appeared, my old router still handling low speeds.... I am out of contract now and don't want to enter into another contract quite yet. If BT still cannot do anything for me than I don't think I can stay around.... although we cannot get Virgin Digital(and high speed broadband) THIS side of the road, I now that there are several people activily trying to convince Virgin to cross over.... then theres the new BT Infinity service going live in this area in November.... then again maybe G4(mobile comms- 100kps!) might be my way.
Maybe BE's short monthly contract packages would suit me..... I really hope my issues are looked into and we can sort things out together but so far I've done a lot of talking/calling and BT have done very little.... actually my service has got FAR worse!....... waiting and hoping for your help here mod guys.... I am sure you will do what you can