Your linestats are good.. However, as an aside, there is a few too many FEC errors for what I'd expect on such a short line so check your internal wiring and filters
>> I thought this was b/c my line (in a rural area, but still a big village) wasnt capable of handling 8mb.
As you can see your exchange was 8Mb enabled on 31-03-2006, BTw estmimations are ok and therefore the delay in upgrading was in the hands of your ISP.
As I said earlier - your adsl1 line stats are similar to my own, and like you my exchange was upgraded on 31-03-06 if iirc I was 8Mb enabled some time in Apr 06 by my ISP certainly without any fee or penalty nor having to start a new contract period.
Any delay in upgrading you to 8Mb speeds is in the hands of AOL, not your location.. nor will it have cost them any more for your line to be upgraded to max - if anything its now actually cheaper for the ISP.
>> they told me I had 9 months left, and that my contract speed was 2mb,
Not the first time Ive heard that excuse either.. but they still tie you into another 18 month contract!
The problem you may have here is the router.
>> I tried both PPPoE and PPPoA, both with the same results, are there any settings for my router which will help compatibility with the AOL/CPW servers?
Youre on IPStream which uses the BTw backhaul, but which is the service that would appear to be suffering most from congestion/throttling on the AOL (now TT) centrals.
>> they went on to say that if I do leave them before the contract is over they will continue to charge me for every remaining month (8 or 9).
Obviously they will try adhere you to the contract if they can, but you will need to stand firm. I had several calls to the help desk, at first they tried fobbing me off, but when they realised that I knew what I was talking about, they would then offer to transfer me elsewhere.. at which point the phone on several occasions went brrrrrrrrrrrr.
Eventually we managed to say that the service what not providing what their side of the contract promised and they agreed to issue a MAC without penalty.
The rules re MAC keys have changed since then, and now an ISP must provide you with a MAC key without any charge or fee. However, the ISP can chase you for any outstanding contract fees and this is the line you need make sure that you have right and you get confirmation before you actually use the MAC key that the service is not fit for your use (gaming) they are not providing you with the service that they promised (8Mb speeds). Therefore you feel that they have not kept to their side of the contract.. and if they like they can even have the router back if they send you a pre-paid envelope to return it.
Keep a record of your speeds, compile a report of whats gone on and when. It may also be worthwhile trying to contact OFCOM to explain your side of things and how unhappy you are at their non-performance.
With my friend, I didnt actually take it as far as OFCOM, although I did actually say to them that I would since I feel we he had been mislead and certainly wasnt receiving a the advertised performance on a line that should have been fully able to. My friend eventually managed to bypass their foreign support and spoke to someone in the UK who agreed to let him go without having to stick out the remaining 10 months.
Their
message boards appear to show users suffering the same problems as you... as do other
forums where someone has sent in a complaint to ISPA.
If you stand firm and hopefully get through to their UK support, then you may have some joy.
>> What other ISPs are available to me
Many - about the only ones who arent would be Be* since they only provide by LLU.
Most others will use IPStream in some form or other which will be available to you via BTw backhaul.
An example of such ISPs would be in no particular order.. Zen, plusnet, Enta, Idnet, newnet, etc.
