Getting 21Mbps on a 66Mbps line. Should I take an 18M renewal?!

[#1]

To catch up (!)

I don't have a static ip. I removed the pi-hole entirely, changing to standard DNS. That left the router, with wireless disabled, and my Mac the only wired connection.

Still getting 20 Mbps down.

PARTIAL SOLUTION. I re-flashed the Draytek with the same, latest BT-specific firmware it was already running, and rebooted it. That resulted in 44 Mbps down (BTOW speedtest results attached).

The BTOW test is still reporting "Your speed test has completed and the results are shown above, however during the test an error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the test is acceptable for your service."

... so the test is not showing my profile speed, as I believe it always used to.
Is there another way to check that?

44 is better than 20, but well down from what I've been getting solidly for years. And my next-door neighbour still confirming 73-74 from BT.

p.s. The only other router I have is an elderly Plusnet-supplied technicolor. I declined the free router last time I renewed as didn't feel I needed it, and didn't want to create more landfill

[#2]

Some improvement!

The "Additional Diagnostics" has not worked for me for sometime now, maybe as far back as 2022. Others report the same message when testing.

Are you and your neighbour served by the same road side green cab as a longer copper cable run might explain the speed differences. You can use https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome to check.

[#3]

That link shows were both on the same cabinet.

He gets:

VDSL Range A (Clean)	80	60	20	16.3	54.1	Unavailable	Available
VDSL Range B (Impacted)	80	55	20	14.5	44

 I get:

VDSL Range A (Clean)	78.7	56.5	20	14	49	Unavailable	Available
VDSL Range B (Impacted)	76.4	49.3	20	12.1	40.4

A surprisingly large difference for 10 metres difference in front doors!

[#4]

@markv 

How are your and your neighour's lines fed: underground or overhead from a pole?

Although you are both on the same cabinet, are you certain that you are both fed from the same distribution point? Your DP might have a longer cable route to the cabinet.

As an extreme example, it is not uncommon in places like London, for next-door-neighbours to be on different exchanges!

[#5]

@Mr_Paul Underground to a riser cupboard serving the block. Up the same riser, along the same internal duct/cable tray. Mine just runs a little further (~10m).

I'm not asking for the same 73 as he's getting (he's paying loads for a BT Business contract), but I'm hoping  to get back to mid-60's.

[#6]

@markv 

Interesting that the firmware reflash improved the speed.

Did you use the .rst firmware? If not I would give that a go.

I don't suppose you have any QoS settings enabled. If so I would try it with those off.

[#7]

@markhawkin 

I should have first just done a restart, as that could have been what caused the improvement.

But I'm very relectant to restart my router, fearing each restart will downgrade my profile speed.

I flashed the firmware  with the .all verion, which retains current settings.

If I use the .rst version (reset to factory settings), I then have 2 choices.
Either I can restore backed-up settings, which you (or a helpdesk) may say is not a proper Reset.

Or I can manually re-input my reams and reams of settings (a demanding, error-prone and multi-hour task).

No QoS setting enabled.

[#8]

@markv 

Lots of restarts is a bad thing but the occasional one you will get away with on VDSL (fibre to the cabinet).

I could have been a little clearer, I suggest

• Take a configuration backup
• Try the RST firmware, see if the speed improves
• Reload the previous configuration
• See if it gets worse

By the way there is a January 24 firmware update for the 2866.

Given the power of a 2866, I wouldn't expect that the router performance (with your configuration) would be the limiting factor but you did say you had "reams and reams of settings".

I had a speed issue recently which turned out to be "human error" (mine!) so I woulddn't discount the chance of a config problem. What I had done shouldn't have upset the VDSL performance but it did.

[#9]

@markhawkin 

Thanks for the explicit instructions - I really should have worked that out myself!

Did exactly as you spelled out...

First did a baseline test before starting. 51 down, 14 up

After the .RST firmware reset (yes, I am an the latest January v4.4.3.2_BT revision), I got  same 51 down, 14 up.

After restoring my settings, unsurprisingly(!), same again

(all rounded to the nearest Mb)

So that seems to show my settings are innocent 🙂

50 isn't tooo bad

Late last year there was a local fault (street or cabinet; unsure) affecting everyone in my block, and my connection was dropping and reconnecting constantly for 1-2 days before it was fixed. Wonder if that hit my profile and it hasn't (yet) recovered.

However, have decided Plusnet is where i want to be, so have renewed my VDSL/Landline contract for 24 months.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions, and to everyone else who has helped.