Getting the most out of my DSL

Just had a technician at my house who measured my downstream to 860 kbps or thereabouts. Now on my box the best I can ever reach is 392!

Now this tells me there must be something I can do to put those extra kbsp to good use. The question is how!

I suspect my ISP hasnt upgraded my subscription to match the downstream, but should I be bothered with that? Is there no way for me to use it anyway? I mean why give it to me if I can't use it?

Is my router (SMC Barricade) a problem here. Wouldn't think so.

The numbers are just that - numbers. They don't have comparative meaning unless you are measuring speed between the same points under the same conditions.

I suspect that the tech measured the speed between you and the DSLAM or the router supporting your connection. On the other hand you were probably measuring speed between you and a server somewhere on the internet.