Thanks for the replies chaps! Due to non digital issues I've not had the chance to chase BT or SKY the last 2 days sadly. When I joined SKY they didn't have line rental and therefore it had to be BT, and like a good many people I've been lazily passive and not changed the line rental to SKY which became available approx 3 years ago. As has been mooted one doesn't seem to speak with the other, which is a pain in the wotsit
I'm pretty sure that the fault is outside, the property is fed by a copper overhead wire
which only allows for a max 2Mbps download no matter what. A neighbour is fed by fibre optic and gets 150Mbps
I'll get onto BT in the morning and take my chances that their engineer agrees with my prognosis and not a far flung desk jockey-ess.
SHJ