The firmware that my Draytek Vigor2800VG shipped with was v2.6.1_Y.1 (I think... we're going from memory here, but it was something very close) and from reading the product's website I determined that it was probably not going to handle the speeds that my ADSL2 connection offers. It was time to upgrade the firmware!

At this point I should make it clear that firmware and I have not gotten along in the past. We've had some issues. Adam too will attest to the unreliability of firmware upgrades in various brands and devices. It can be a bit hit-and-miss.

... but I'm happy to report that it all went well, and my vital signs moved from 928,000 up / 7,616,000 (1/8MBit) down to 951700 up / 17199200 down (1/17MBit), which is a 2% upload speed increase, and a massive 225% download speed increase!

To achieve this I used the standard firmware - D.57.2.14 , and not the one designated for Australia (as it's only ADSL1 from what I can tell). You enable a TFTP server from the web-administration interface, and then use an OS-specific tool to upload the desired firmware. There's a choice of two flavours of the same firmware; one keeps you current settings and the other resets the router to the factory settings. Be sure to save your configuration file before doing anything!

Tomorrow in the office I'll dazzle the team with new and improved download speeds.

Interestingly enough I managed to pull 30GB in about 30 hours. I had 20/40GB peak/offpeak to blow in the day before midnight on the 15th, which is when my quota is reset.