Royston is correct. Most isp's use BT exchanges, And your signal and speed will differ. The only way not to have this problem is to have a seperate Firewire installed(super fast internet connection). Some isp's Virgin, ntl just to add a few do this. It also depends on how far away your exchange is, for instance, i am running on 4meg but my computer is only downloading @ 54mbps and i have a low signal. My exchange is quite faraway and i am at the bottom of the hill and this will effect it as i am old exchanged not new(Digital).
Diane,
You've totally confused local and wide-area networking in your post.
The connection between the exchange and your ADSL modem (or cable modem if you connect that way) will be rated at either 2, 4, or 8 megabits per second.
The wireless or wired home network you use to connect your PC to the home ADSL modem can be any speed upto 1000megabits, but most people will have a 100megabits wired network or a 11 or 54megabits wireless network.
Your report of a 54megabit connection is just the speed at which data is passed around inside your house - and not the speed of the connection outside your house.
And Firewire is a local high speed connection to external hard disk drives, cameras and video devices - and has nothing to do with the Internet.
Robert