Help understanding speed stats please

[#1]

Hello there, thank you very much for your reply. I have not yet been able to get hold of the telephone cable which I intend to run from my router to the new socket so I still have the old setup going at the moment.
I've attached a selection of photos of the various sockets. To explain...
The old socket which says GPO on it is possibly as old as the house (approx 40 years). This comes into my downstairs cloakroom from outside, I guess. I think it must be an underground cable as I don't see it from outside and ther are no overhead poles, etc in the road.
The socket with BT on was put in by my tenants to replace a socket we had previously when we lived here 4 years ago. I don't know why they put this particular socket in. It is in the hallway about a metre away from the first socket. When we were here before, we had only been on broadband for a few months before we moved and it wasn't the max system so speed didn't seem so much of an issue. The picture of the back of this socket is the one with all the wires hanging out.
The Openreach socket was given to us by a friend who is a BT engineer. When we get the long telephone cable we will use this socket so that the router, which is upstairs, can run straight off it and not be in one of our haphazard extensions. I've also posted a picture of the back of this socket. We have tested this socket by bringing the router downstairs and running an extremely long ethernet cable up to the computer. This is when I saw a sync speed of over 3Mbps. We also plugged our telephones into the other side, extensions and all, and this didn't seem to affect things.
I'm not getting noise on my phone now. This was a temporary thing when I thought I could put my filters into slightly different positions. The broadband speed increased but it wasn't successful with the phones so I've reverted back for now.
There is one further problem which I posted on another thread about the network. I thought I'd sorted it but it appears not. My husband's computer is attached wirelessly and I've been having to reboot the router when he switches his computer on in the morning, otherwise he doesn't get a connection. We have also both seen disconnections. This is obviously going to be a problem if I need to keep the router on constantly. It is also a bit annoying and we didn't have this trouble in the old house.

[#2]

PS. There is somebody around here using an unsecured network (the SSID suggests it's also a netgear router). Could this be what is messing things up for my husband's wireless connection?

[#3]

If your husband has used that before and it has a stronger signal it may well attach to it.
You can see if it is higher in the priority list by viewing wireless networks and selecting 'Change the order of preferred networks'
Also if it is the same channel as yours it could cause interference.

[#4]

in picture 4, with the "Filter" you have a phone cable, an ADSL cable and a smaller wire behind, the "Filter" isnt a SKY one is it?, it should not have a wire there (I dont think)

[#5]

I think pierre was probably suffering double vision yesterday, I'm sure he meant picture 3. More importantly, which of those leads goes to your Modem/router extension?
That said, Oh dear, where do we start? No wonder you've got problems. You've already had some suggestions for your wireless issues, changing channel may also help.
OK, wiring & sockets.
The OpenReach socket shouldn't be used as a secondary socket (using any master socket as a secondary is a bad idea). Because that is also fiited with the NTE2000 front plate (with the ADSL and filtered phone socket on the front) the terminals on the back of the front plate are filtered and so can only be used for phone extensions and not ADSL.
The rear plate/box of the OpenReach socket however is the latest standard and has some addition interference filters in it (note these are bell wire & common mode filters, not the ADSL Modem / phone filters - that's in the front bit).
The cable from the old GPO socket to your current master is old standard (may be picking up interference), I see it also seems to run alongside and go through the wall next to a mains cable, not good to have Phone/ADSL cables running parallel or close to mains cable (interference pickup).
That said, as a quick interim measure, which should be better, as you have everything "plugged in" to the master, replace the current master Rear box with the OpenReach one - the bit with OpenReach on it. (Technically you shouldn't do this as it's BT's bit, but as you have a friend whose an engineer, you can always ask him to sort it out if you mess up. Perhaps check the other front plate fits before you do it - see step 1 - it should do)
Then,
Step 1) put on it your current front plate, plug it all back in - hopefully you'll have less noise pick up.
Step 2) Get a BT socket to RJ11 plug adapter and if the lead to your Modem/router is the one with the double splitter built in, get a new double spitter (all from a phone shop or Maplins or similar shops etc).
Step 3) Fit the NTE2000 front plate to the OpenReach back box, plug the RJ11 adapter into the ADSL socket and the lead to your Modem/router extension into that. Plug the splitter into the phone socket and the other phone extrension(s) into it.
Next suggestions to follow.

[#6]

its all  a question of what you call as the third picture is image 004

[#7]

Pierre, I can be a pedant too you said "...picture 4...",  not  "....._0004.jpg " 
Annie is your hall immediately the other side of the wall at the back of the original GPO old socket, or is it only further along where the cable goes through the wall?
I presume that the hall will not be a sensible place for the Modem/Router from what you've already said and I'd guess you may not get adequate wireless coverage through the house? Your idea of a long extension RJ11 cable is not the most practical, it'll be quite expensive and not so neat compared to using runs of fixed CW1308 cable (that's the standard cable used by BT available from phone shops & online , & friendly engineers!). Is there a sensible alternative routing from that GPO old socket to where you want your Modem/router socket that's not running next to and parallel to mains cables?
The best arrangement would be new CW1308 cable from the old GPO socket to your Modem/router location using the OpenReach back box up there with the NTE2000 front plate and then using the filtered terminals on the back of the front plate with CW1308 cable to the sockets for your phones elsewhere.
If that is not practical, then the OpenReach rearbox in the hall, with the standard front plate and CW1308 cable to all extensions and filters for each phone.
Alternatively use an ADSL Nation filtered front plate (XTE-2005  http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php ) which has terminals for ADSL extensions as well as phone. This wouild do away with the need for filters for phones elsewhere and only need a filter or filtered extension plate for your modem/router location if there is a phone there. If there is no phone there you could use a dedicated fixed RJ11 socket.
You need to think about and decide on best cable routings. I'd then suggest you get your BT engineer friend to give you a hand.
HTH. Come back with any questions if there is anything not clear.

[#8]

Strat proceeds to iron his referee outfit

[#9]

[#10]

Thank you all for your replies. It's getting over my head so I will show this to my friend and hopefully he will understand it better than me.
How do I change the channel for my husband's wireless adapter? Although it's a netgear adapter, we always found it easier to use the Windows XP setup but I'm not sure how to access the channels. His connection problem doesn't happen all the time but I've noticed the dreaded yellow exclamation mark when it does.

[#11]

You change the channel in the router set up and the wireless adapter will find the new channel