Thanks Scubbie, I will bear your advice in mind. The old ADSL cable was damaged as I found when I removed it from under the carpet ! (in hindsight not a good idea, as the area of carpet was well trafficked). The new cable goes a different way and I am happy enough with the broadband speeds I am getting at present, although they're not blisteringly fast.
Thanks to the advice on this forum, at least I now have a working telephone and broadband!