Broadband help please

macman

Its DACS.
He won't be able to get any broadband service on that line unless DACS is removed, full stop. What you need to find out is if the upgrade will remove DACS. Then, subject to distance from exchange, he'll be able to get ADSL broadband.
The only alternatives are VM cable (unlikely to be available in a rural area), wireless broadband via a mobile provider, or satellite broadband (expensive).
BT has no universal service obligation for broadband.

Retrogamer

The BT Openreach engineer will have told BT wholesale it has DACS and can't be removed and they will have told BT Retail.

All 3 companies are separate from each other.

If it's a small area with no LLU in the exchange, then it won't matter what ISP you go with, it'll still involve Wholesale and Openreach and the same feedback would be given.

I assume the engineer can't remove the DACS because there isn't enough spare copper lines. If that's the case it's unlikely he'll get ADSL broadband anytime soon. Even if the ISP is willing to pay, sometimes it involves digging up roads, planning permission new cables laid ect and can lead tens and even hundreds of thousands depending on how long the line is and how much work needs done.

onzey

It might be worth going with the mobile broadband option and trying to improve signal with something like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mobile-Broadband-Antenna-Huawei-Aerial-Signal-Booster-3G-UMTS-Boost-CRC9-E353-/271132855045?pt=UK_Computing_Mobile_Broadband_Devices&hash=item3f20c70b05

You can find your nearest mobile phone base station at

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search

Worth asking around if any one mobile network tends to be the best in the particular area (perhaps you already know they are all bad ).

I bought a similar one once, for someone who had poor signal in a caravan, in a valley, and it was of some help.

There are other aerials. Just search mobile broadband aerial on eBay or elsewhere.