[Russ]

Cheers Derek.

Anyway the plot (and my disdain for VM's Indian callcentre) thickens.

Although we're on the 30mb service I couldn't get more than 11mb. So I called tech support (India) and she went through the usual "please to reboot your modem, please to check all cables are connected" etc

She then said there was an issue in my area which is estimated to be completed on 6th January and this is what is giving me such low speeds. I said I wasn't happy that the service will be sub-standard for another 6 weeks and she immediately offered me a £30 credit. Hmm, seen that before. Her explanation didn't ring quite true either, as when it was a 10mb pipe I could get a constant 9mb stream even at peak times. I told her this but in true Indian callcentre fashion she simply repeated her words robot-style that the local issue is what was giving poor speeds.

Anyway I asked to be put through to Billing so they could confirm the credit had been applied and I was put through to someone in Manilla who could not understand what it was I was asking for so he put me through to tech support in the UK for some reason and got through to some excellent guy in Swansea who confirmed that the local issue here would have nothing whatsoever to do with my slow speeds. He confirmed that the Indian woman had given me incorrect information.

After running a few tests, the answer was straightforward - the modem and router I was using couldn't handle 30mb speeds. The most this modem could handle was 20mb. He told me to connect the computer directly to the modem and when I did a test download, boom! A strong 20mb stream.

So instead he sent out a Superhub which he reckons will give me as close to 30 as possible. As this should sort out the problem I thought the £30 credit would no longer be necessary however I've decided to not do anything about that and keep it to make up for being fobbed off by that woman earlier and the hassle I had the other day that started this thread off.