OK. Beat this...
As part of the grand 'unbundling from BT' excercise, several years ago, my ISP switched from BT's lines to I think Tiscali's, to get their internet to my local exchange. I was assured I would notice nothing.
I was actually off line for about 1 month - reduced to using dial in. Effectively, I was off line for 3 months, as when the grand combo of my ISP/Tiscali/BT got my line back, it was only at 256 or 512kbps.
I had to deal thru my ISP, yet the problem was in Tiscali or BT's hardware.
Finally got it sorted during th 'n'th call to my ISP's Tech Help, when the guy I was taliking to noticed my line was locked in diagnostic mode. A quick click to come out of that gave me 2Mbps...
Surprisingly, I am still with the same ISP.....!
SD