As shiverkitten has stated you need to be sure your own wiring is ok before ripping in to Sky. Despite what the nice man says on the telly broadband in the UK is not plug and play and unless you have sorted out good filters, tidied up extension wiring etc. you can expect problems.

First off get line stats - (downstream attenuation(guide to line length), down/up snr margin, down/up sync speed) - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.htm

If you have a master socket with upper and lower halves then remove lower faceplate and plug router into test socket - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/troubleshooting.htm . Get line stats again. Any increase in sync rate or changes in attenuation or snr margin shows your wiring or filters are dodgy.

Any new electrical equipment on the go? Plasma tv, cordless phones, roadworks near by, faulty streetlamps, central heating timers etc. can cause grief.

At the risk of repeating myself. Ask over on the thinkbroadband dot com discussion forums. Plenty of expert geeks there to answer your principle query to "find out what my line can handle." There are some techie people here but you'll get a much quicker and more knowledgeable response over there.

Once you find that out, then you can return here with the ammo to lambast Sky (and all other British ISPs) for their ridiculous and unrealistic marketing claims (and then some of us will pip up with 'unrealistic expectations of consumers' asides.)

i appreciate it states 'up t 16mb', and i have no issue with not receiving the full speed.

My issue lies with the fact that i was gettting 7mb, then 6mb and now 4mb, each time being told that the fault was occuring because my line could only handle x mb.

please no more smart ar*e comments wasting mine and others time, just helpful information to aid me in finding out if i am being given the run around and being ripped off

If you read carefully you will see "up to 16Mb" Not a promise of 16Mb.

Ask over on the thinkbroadband dot com discussion forums. Plenty of expert geeks there to advise you in so much detail your eyes will start to bleed.

Hi,

i have been on sky broadband max for 12 months now and have had a few issues with them;

1. Bad Customer Service - When phoning up with issues, i would be better off speaking to my wife about the issues as she would know more and understand me better (this does not apply to the tier 2 guys who were pretty helpful)

2. Not receiving 16mb download advertise - I know it isnt always possible due to lines in local areas and distance from exchange etc... but i am paying for 16mb and now only getting 4mb at best!!!

To further explain #2 i was originally receiving 6 / 6.5 mb, until my broadband kept dropping out, when i phoned the 'technical' helpline (tier guys are excused) they were sooooooo unhelpful and knew very little and were more interest in reading through the pre-written script they are trained to run through rather than listen to me telling them i had already done everything they were saying to do. Eventually, after requesting a dozen times, to be transferred to the next tier i began to get some explanation.

I was told my line could handle up to 7.5 mb, but because there was too much data being sent through my line couldnt handle it and was backing up with errors which caused the dropping out. The chap then capped my line speed to 6.5mb which should, and did, relieve the error.

8 months later same drop out issue again, same issues with tier one again (i.e. not listening!!!). Tier 2 (different person this time) same explanation of issue, but this time my line could only 'handle' 4 mb, my line has been capped again!!

I feel like i am being lied to and ripped off, as am paying for 16mb download and only getting 3 - 4mb, the issue only seems to apply to my download speed as i am getting pretty much the full upload speed offered on the package.

I would really like and appreciate it if someone to help me truely find out what my line can handle, not what it currently gets.

Post Code NN2 8SY. Distance from exchange 1.4 (approx) miles

thanks in advance folks.

one disgruntled Sky customer