AOL me, too
... but I'm getting a consistent 6.7 Megathingies and about 330k up from an 8Mb connection.
Now then, I've a second connection to the house on BeUnlimited (don't ask). The line comes from the same 'box in the road' and I'm getting round about 13 Mb down and 700 - 1000 up. This from an 'up to' 20Mb package. Interestingly, this can vary between 12 and 16.something Mb. up, while, as I say, the AOL doesn't change more than a few Kb. Latency, maybe on this second line?
I think the answer for the good AOL result is that I could almost spit to the exchange, which has had a refurb in the last 12 - 18 months... forget when, but I read it sometime, somewhere.
So usual question - how far are you from the exchange, and could your variable results come from the usage of others in the area?
Jim