Dear Plusnet, you win ......

[#1]

Spotted a link in another post where they list the speed tests attained in your area.
Put my postcode in and it appears we have a winner .....

[#2]

Looks like a lot of potential Plusnet customers there.

[#3]

Would be interesting to know whereabouts that is.

....Ah, I see it's in the top corner didn't spot that immediately.

[#4]

Strat,
That would depend upon what one thinks most underpins 'best' speeds and if one is considering synch speed or usable download speed.  This comparison does not indicate synch vs download speed nor identify the BB products.
The bottom line is that irrespective of ISP the over-riding limitation on synch speed is the quality of the BT D- Side pairs.  For those not in the know, that is the final bit of copper wire from your local cabinet to your home's phone socket.  This can be a mixture of underground and overhead wires, copper and aluminium, having numerous joints and junction boxes.  Consequently there can be lots of opportunity to degrade the signal and thus the synch speed.  This impacts all ISPs equally; if the D-side is poor, no ISP is intrinsically going to be better than another... unless they can bring enough clout on BTw/BTOR to fix their poor infrastructure.
From my experience PN has tried very hard to deliver D-Side improvements (I've got 7meg at the cabinet but typically half that at the NTE5 box on a 200m D-Side).  Would a different ISP have more success with BTw?  Well clearly I do not know as I've only had PN delivering service.  One of my neighbours is with Sky and their speed is even less than mine, though they too are on the same D-Side bundle.
On ADSL there is also the copper E-Side (exchange to cabinet) cable to consider.  Again this is infrastructure generally shared by all ISPs.
A D-Side and / or E-Side swap can make a significant difference, hence why near neighbours might see markedly different synch speeds as illustrated by this map. Only after those things being equal can one consider that one ISP's back end system might deliver better throughput speed as the consequence of better backend systems / lower contention (sharing) on their backbone transmission systems or possibly how the Data speed profile is managed.
Kevin

[#5]

Quote from: picbits

Spotted a link in another post where they list the speed tests attained in your area. Put my postcode in and it appears we have a winner .....

Any chance of enlightening us on the link you spotted,........? 

[#6]

I knew there was probably something I forgot .....
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest/streetstats/
For reference, when I first moved in here I was told I could expect a 4Mb connection. I moved in and everyone refused to connect as I "couldn't get a stable connection for my phone line". Tiscali promised me 2Mb, dropped it to 1Mb before installation (without telling me) then cancelled my installation (without telling me). BT said they could possibly provide 256K but it would involve a site visit and they couldn't guarantee it.
Eclipse (bless their hearts) said "what the heck - we'll give it a go" and got me an instant 5-6Mb stable connection without issues. I then moved to BE with a similar sync of 6.5Mb and 0.8Mb up before moving to Plusnet where I'm getting between 65Mb and 72Mb depending on which way the wind is blowing

[#7]

Locally on ADSL2 I've also found the D side length seems to be the major deciding factor in speeds.
This suggests the E-sides are in good condition, but the D-sides which are always being mucked about with and have various uncontrolled joints in them en-route in underground joint boxes half full of water etc are a bit of a mess.
So even on ADSL2+ (locally anyway) those closer to a cabinet and hence with a short D-sides have a MUCH better speed than those further away.  The speed difference is far more than would be suggested by the increase in overall total distance (D+E side) from the exchange.
Conclusion - its the D-sides that are the problem.
In a sense not suprising. The E-sides are left undisturbed. Faults with a lines pair in them mean a line is swapped to a good pair, no attempt is made to locate/repair the fault.  The 'inside spaces' of the E-sides are pressurised to 9psi with specially dried air from the exchange with sealing glands at the far end termination in the cabinet. This all ensures grounds/duct moisture present does not leak into the cable.The exchange has monitoring equipment to detect a fall in pressure in the cable meaning a leak is occuring signifing a cable problem.

[#8]

@picbits,
Your move to PN must also have included a move from ADSL to a fibre product.  Therefore the significant change in speed at the time of changing ISP is not a direct comparison of one ISP being better than another.
You appear to be lucky to have a better than average D-Side in your local area.  Estimated speeds (for the D-Side of the circuit) are based on the average speed for your post code / distribution point or pole.
Kevin

[#9]

They win here too 

[#10]

Indeed - I went from ADSL2+ to Fibre. This newish estate I'm on historically has a history of poor connection speeds and long phone lines so I'd almost resigned myself to a lifetime of 5Mb connection speeds. Then I started getting marketing phone calls from BT saying I had a new FTTC cabinet nearby.
I'd have stayed with BE if they could have offered Fibre and weren't selling out to Sky but they couldn't tell me when I could have FTTC so I looked around elsewhere.
Only BT (who hounded me for months to take FTTC but couldn't offer me a static IP), TalkTalk (no way in a million years and again no static IP) and Plusnet were available here.
I feel I made the right choice.

[#11]

and again!!

[#12]

They certainly didn't on mine, but I'm not posting my map. Perhaps adding my results might help bump them up a bit, however. Strangely, seeing that, I'm still not entirely happy because a download speed in one moment can't reflect the complete experience.

[#13]

talktalk wins here, guess it must be LLU on a good line or they are trialling fibre as they report 23mbit down 0.8 up.  Or the tester isn't much good and only keeps the good tests on a line, which could be a false result.

[#14]

Well, I must be the only person with plusnet in my post code area..... and BT (normal) broadband is flagged for my street at 2MB  ha ha ha ha... I`m getting a rock solid 6MB ! ! !...
Interesting the charts below the map, show that Portsmouth is the second fastest city for broadband ( against Telford)... and Plus net is third fastest supplier ( against 1 Virgin, and 2  BT)... but that doesnt equate to my postcode, where Plusnet is 3 X faster than BT !...
Oh and the BT flag, is right outside my house ! ! !...

[#15]

plus.net are barely on my map, but on the comparison chart they're top