>> a noticeable drop in performance.

One should also compare actual download speeds rather than 'reported' connection speed, and like you say, stability is more important than a few extra bytes here and there.

My 120 came with the "standard" firmware loaded, I changed it to the "UK" recommended version and I now have a connection that has rock steady stability - much better than the Sky supplied Sagem router. My connection is the free base service, so is speed limited by Sky but the Draytek feels snappy with far lower latency for surfing even if the download/upload limit is not really tested to it's maximum.