I know of people next door to each other, from the same pole getting line loss levels just inside and outside the limits. Similar for line length - one guy got his neighbour behind him to have a new line installed and run a slightly illegal extension down their garden to his house.

The maximum line length for the UK is 6km = 19,685ft. I think over about 5km you get RADSL where the upload is limited to 128kbps or something.

Gareth