re: Kitz' tip about the thinkbroadband quality monitoring service
Excuse me for wandering off topic for a small fyi
I seem to remember this service is provided by a Firebrick 6000-series LCP “pingbox” which is basically a server that can probe umpteen lines per second, designed by the Firebrick partnership who are Watchfront plus Andrews & Arnold doing all the hardware and software from scratch.
So, yay ! for a British-designed hardware product brought to you by two of your favourite ISPs who use their own kit to run their own operations as well as selling it to the market.
Some other ISPs use Firebrick 6000-series _routers_ (and various other kinds of boxes as well), I forget who.
[I use a Firebrick small router+firewall (plus lots of other s/w goodness), which I bought straight from A&A. It’s a good feeling being able to talk to the people who designed your router, and who are also your ISP, as you know where the buck stops if there should be any weirdness.]