I fell your pain man, I am currently in a similar scenario, let me explain...
So I live in a pretty big city about 400,000 people. Well on the out-skirts but still an urban area. Now Ireland is nutritiously bad for internet quality, I actually think it is the worst in Europe. But recently they have been upgrading it. The main cities and towns have been getting fiber optic which is at least 50 down and 20 up. Currently I am on DSL and I get 2 down and .3 up. Now here is what annoys me, as I said I live in the second largest city in Ireland and EVERYWHERE in the city except my small part has at least 100 down and 50 up and they have had it for the past 5 years but yet still no improvements in my area. Me being the curious person I am decided to ring the main ISP and ask them why?
They replied saying that they don't know why and we should be getting it next year... so yeah where I live (Even though it is in the city) is 6 years behind everyone...
I feel your frustration... I really do.
As for your connection, even with my terrible internet I get about 150 ping. You should not be getting that bad of a ping, you even said your self that you live 1 km from the exchange, I have a few trouble shooting methods that might work:
- Are you using Wifi, if so this maybe be your problem, for example if I use Wifi up in my room I get 1000 ping. Try get an Ethernet cable and plug your computer directly into the modem, or router. Check you connection, if it has improved then just go out and buy a long Ethernet cable and feed it to where ever your computer is.
- If Wifi is a must try move your set up as close to the modem as possible. Also things such as microwaves and the such can interfere with the connection.
- Also check are other people in your house using the internet. For example if your brother is downloading something this will reduce the bandwidth available to Minecraft and especially on poor internet connections will greatly increase your ping.
- When you are playing make sure you have nothing downloading, uploading or any programs connected to the internet.
- If you are already using an Ethernet cable make sure that it is not damaged.
- This may seem obvious but you maybe surprised at the results, turn off your modem for 30 seconds and turn it back on.
- Also it could be that you have an out-dated modem, if so you can probably get a new one for free off your ISP just ask.
Lastly do you know what type of internet you have? Mobile, satellite, DSL or Fiber Optic ( I'm guessing you don't have this anyway)
If you have DSL you might want to look into getting mobile or satellite, especially if you live in a rural area. Also if you are getting new internet don't believe the figures advertised, they are usually up to figures. Ask them to estimate the actual speeds you will get and most of the time they will give you an answer.
Anyway this took sometime to write so I hope it helps in someway, if you could reply and tell me did any of them work that would be great and maybe I could assist you further