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[terryf]

My local exchange is Preston (Dorset) Code: STPRSTN
Virtual paths: Red and the ETA fix time shown is: 10 Oct 09
This date has long passed, I have spoken to Plusnet support and they say there is nothing they can do.
How can I do anything about this, who can I contact?
My speeds varied between 1266 kbps and 5955 kbps yesterday. It may not be relevant but there is a doctor's surgery next to the exchange who have a link to another surgery in the town (they are both part of the same practice).
The IP Profile for my line is - 6500 Kbps and I have been able to achieve that sort of figure in the past.
I am just frustrated that I can't find any information on BT Customer SErvices who deal with exchange problems.
Any suggestions, please.

[jelv1]

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice/internet/bbspeeds/

Letters to local press, local petition

[MauriceB]

As jelv points out there is very little an end User, or ISP for that matter, can do to cause BT Wholesale to do an exchange upgrade.  BT Wholesale provide broadband capacity at an exchange and then sell it to ISP's (including BT) once the capacity is used up that's it.  In the limit condition a new User will not get offered a connection because there will be no free ports to connect to.  In your case you have a connection, but poor performance (yet within spec. according to the very loose terms of acceptability that BT set!)  OFCOM have been running a number of surveys on delivered Broadband speeds so they do have an interest.

Best bet though is some local pressure via Newspapers, MP etc.

Best of luck!  Let us know if you do get something moving and what you did to make it happen - it could help others.

Maurice

[xpcomputers]

The only other thing to check (and you might have already done this), is that you don't have an intermittent fault or interference on your line.

Can you check with a neighbour (who uses a BT wholesale ADSL connection - not a LLU provider like SKY, O2, Tiscali etc) if they see the same sort of speed changes as you at similar times to you, or if their line is more stable all day.

If it is just you, then the exchange having "red" status might be a red herring... You would want to rule out any bad internal wiring in your property, or any fault on your phone line.

If your neighbours all get the same variance as you, at the same times of day, then it looks like contention in the exchange bandwidth availability. In this case, you follow the advice in the previous post about letters to Ofcom, MP's, local papers etc.

Hope this helps

Mike