Tiscali are most likely lying to you. They do shape bandwidth for p2p programs in most areas they run services.

Quote "it appears p2p only works (if ever) in the VERY early hours of the morning." - Tiscali blocking Limewire

And this http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/caps.htm

Also as a test, try downloading a magnet link from http://www.magnetmix.com/video.shtml
If you get slow speeds then you are almost guaranteed to be shaped by Tiscali whilst you're using p2p programs.
You should be able to get over 200 KB/s from that site.