Well, that's interesting...
Intertube performance was pretty crummy this afternoon, but since I reconnected at 17:25, I've noticed that it's been running quicker - to the point that I can actually get the speedtest.net tester to load up and run.
17/04/11 late evening:
average speed = ~150 kbps (average of 3 tests on thinkbroadband.com)
peak speeds = ~ 540 kbps (average of 3 tests on broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk)
QOS = 3%, max TCP delay = >800 ms (
Myspeed VOIP quality test)
19/04/ early evening
average speed = ~1090 kbps (average of 3 tests on thinkbroadband.com)
peak speeds = 1624 kbps (average of 3 tests on broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk)
peak speeds = 1357 kbps (average of 3 tests on speedtest.net)
QOS = 57%, max TCP delay = 680ms (
Myspeed VOIP quality test)
I haven't even grinked my ISP yet - all I've done today is reinstall the modem - twice, because the installation of the more recent drivers* meant I couldn't connect, so I rolled back to the original drivers as installed off my Tiscali CD.
Given speeds are meant to drop during peak time, if this is a genuine partial restoration of performance, I should be looking at a much better set of results tomorrow morning. Now, if the speed consistency and transit pauses can sort themselves out, I'd be a very happy surfer.
*
The installation process offers a big list of different combinations of encapsulation modes and protocols to choose from. Guess I picked the wrong one!