As I said, the biggest difference I made was buying 50m of outdoor rated cat5e cable and pinning it round the house. I was getting 5-10 meg in my office and now I get 350. Massive difference.
VM was cutting out a lot though. I ended up being a real shitbag to them and somebody came round and seaid they could find nothing wrong but fixed the cable at both ends and lo and behold not a single issue since
Oh and BT have always been difficult. And slow. Absolute no brainer to get VM once I could. But the flat I lived in before you could not get it. Mind you at least it had a roof