Now this is an interesting issue I am having at home with my freshly install ADSL 2+ Exchange fed connection.

I'm about 2 1/2 Km's away from the exchange and just on the fringe VDSL converage as per the Telecom Wholesale maps.

Here are some of the weird stats.  With a new terrestrial cable to from the street pole to the point of presence on the house.  Then CAT5e as well as a Cat6 cable that I tested from there to a new 3 pair cable splitter.  This is about 8 meters long running in my roof.  I do have a rubbish Thompson 585 Rev 8 router, so will be trying a 2wire if I can borrow one from work tomorrow.

Link Information
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.033 / 7.208
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.033 / 6.389
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:    5,04 / 27,93
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:    12,0 / 17,5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:    15,0 / 26,5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:    13,5 / 13,0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):    45.960 / 3.245
CRC Errors (Up/Down):    1.377 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):    804 / 0

So... Here is where things get strange.

Removing the cat5/6 and replace it with a just patch frame wire, which is ~3 meters long.

Direct
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.001 / 9.180
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.001 / 8.493
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:    0,00 / 0,00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:    12,0 / 18,0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:    14,5 / 26,5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:    12,5 / 12,5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):    TMMB /
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):    65.536 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 2.229
CRC Errors (Up/Down):    3 / 152
HEC Errors (Up/Down):    18 / NA

Then I thought, hey why don't I try it via the ~160meter spool of patch wire.  And this is the consistent rate I got.

Via spool:
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.025 / 10.704
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    1.025 / 9.557
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:    0,00 / 0,00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:    12,0 / 18,5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:    16,0 / 29,0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:    13,0 / 12,5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):    TMMB / BDCM
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):    65.536 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):    7 / 0   

I get a 1 1/2 megs higher higher sync rate which I never would have expected due to the larger attenuation as expected.  But I didn't get any FEC/CRC errors after running it for 20 mins or so.  Whereas with a shorter length I do get the errors.

The truly awesome Chorus / Downers guy is coming back this week, and he is somewhat stumped too.

Any clever suggestions would be appreciated. :)