I have Be's 24MB service and actually get around 13MB, which is still amazingly better than any of the 8MB services, even at full strength.

I assume living closer to the exchange would help.

richard john, Wallington, England

Gav, Sheffield:

I do a lot of work with video files and I can assure you that I DO have unlimited service. I have uploaded up to 50 gigs of files in a week to my FTP site and video servers with no complaint of any kind from my ISP.

On the other hand, when I was Tiscali they asked me to leave the service because I dared to download files between 6pm and 11pm.

clivex, Bristol,

Interesting you should say this. I have optic-fibre connection (presumably Broadband) in one place and the regular telephone line connection in the other. The only time you feel some benefit is on YouTube in the evening (JST). Presumably when Europe comes on line, it swamps the system, causing YouTube clips to halt in their tracks. And that's on the Japanese system. What's it's like for you guys in UK doesn't bear thinking about.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

I have a 16Mbps connection from SKY and it runs at about 15.7Mbps which is pretty good. But I do live within 200 yards of my local telephone exchange. And it's only a tenner a month with no volume cap.

clivex, Bristol,

Why can't you find a journalist who can write about this subject with the benefit of some knowledge of it?

I live a long way from the exchange. If I go to BT's line tester I am told I SHOULD be able to get 512 kbps, in reality I get around 2000 kbps. I am well satisfied.

Daid, Hampshire, UK

Most mugs...er...I mean people go with the big companies like Sky, AOL, Virgin, BT, Pipex, etc.
I've been on the net for 12 years now and one thing you learn is stay away from big ISP's. They are so big that the customer is just another unit. They stick as many units as possible on a single pipe and there go's your speed.

If you look at geek sites you'll soon discover that the Big ISP's are always the worst performers. But if you goto sites that dont specialise in BB then they always rate those ISP's highly.
In fact I believe BT was awarded Best ISP of the year recently. Thats laughable in the extreme. No self respecting Net veteran would touch BT with a barge pole.

I'd tell you who I was with but with the readership of The Times being so big I think my connection speed would drop like a stone in a couple of weeks.

There's another thing. NEVER EVER brag to anyone who your ISP is when you've found your fast supplier. Even your bestest friend.

Phill, Wirral, England

These products are often advertised as "unlimited" which as we all know is a complete and utter lie...

Gav, Sheffield, UK

Oh do give over! The product is clearly described as UP TO 8Mbps and depends on factors such as distance from the exchange and line loading. I obtain 3.456 Mbps because I am some distance away from my exchange. I recognise this and I am happy. It is still much faster and much cheaper than my old dial up access at 56kbps.

PaulK, THORNTON-CLEVELEYS,

I'm currently getting around 3mb while paying for an 'up to' 8mb connection. I believe this is due to congestion at the exchange, but I've seen the date for this to be fixed pushed back and back for months on end.

Who to complain to, Ofcom?

You can check the status of exchanges here: http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Brian, Swindon, UK