Nidge, I am very surprised to hear you are having speed problems in Sutton-in-Ashfield. I am in adjoining Mansfield NG18 and it is my impression that we are fortunate in this area with the reliability of VM broadband.
I suggest you push and push to get this sorted.
I have recently had a free speed increase to 60Mb (see post above) and get more than this nearly all the time.