i have bt brodband and my speed download is only 1-21 mbps. 0-37 upload speed. i have been in contac

i have bt brodband and my speed download is only 1-21 mbps. 0-37 upload speed. i have been in contact with them already about this. i am about 3 miles from the exchange. but in my mind i should be getting more speed than what i am getting

so many variables at play
distance
quality of the phone line
quality of the internal phone cables
number of extenstions in the house / how many other devices are in use
electronic noise
bad ADASL filter
incorrectly fitted ADSL filers
Sky Boxes (Sky installtion fitters have a habot of connecting the Sky Box phone line straight into the phone socket rather than into a filter)

What can you do?
replace the filters and make sure they are correctly sited
ask BT to supply an Iplate and fir it on the master phone socket. it isolates the bell wires and so helps to reduce inductive noise down the phone line (e.g from old neon lamps or lumpy electric motors)
consider updating the router (if its old)
look at the state of any extension cables used inside the house. Are they split or frayed? Are they coiled? (Coiling causes inductive resonance down the line - more noise)

Having said all that, 3 miles is pretty much on the limit for ADSL,and you have to consider that the cable is probably not in a straight line. If it has to dogleg someone then you are probably getting as good as you are likely to.

If you have a BT Home Hub you can log on to this by entering 192.168.1.254 in your web browser. User name is admin and password (which you may be forced to change) is on the label on the Hub. Once logged in go to the Advanced section and look at the properties of your ADSL section.

The two key parameters are the downstream attenuation and the signal to noise ratio (or "noise margin"). If you tell me what these are, and the name of your telephone exchange, I can tell you if your download speed is reasonable or too slow.