thanks very much for that kitz. i had no idea that it was as compex as that. i have read the articles that you supplies in your post which were most informative even if at times i was a bit confused and baffled to say the least. heres me thinking it was a straght forward case of broadband from my isp>bts equipment>to my exchange>to my house.
how stupid do i look now eh ?
anyway the problem is still with bt and we are just awaiting there response. a pattern which has become clear is that between around 9am - 3pm my ping times are ridiculously varied. after which time they return to about 40ms which is still twice what they should be but appear stable. this morning i pinged bbc.co.uk and got this:
C:\Users\david>ping bbc.co.uk -t
Pinging bbc.co.uk [212.58.254.252] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=59ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=66ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=46ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=163ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=56ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=249
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=249
Reply from 212.58.254.252: bytes=32 time=59ms TTL=249
as you can see the times are all over the place so after reading the info kitz gave me i do think the explanation about re-routing to opposite ends of the country is a viable reason. also if this proves to be the case is it an easy fix which can be done quickly or is it worse case scenario?
thanks for the help and info lads.
regards david