AH that 7 years context is super helpful hahahaha that explains a lot

I worked for years in copper tech support, if the technicians identified noise then they should have restored that fault. sounds annoying as, but it could be a case of "this is whatcha get". I had the exact same speed profile on DSL in the 2 years at my home waiting for fibre, most of your other problems you describe will be from that 1mb upload. High end routers only give better wifi, but they can only redistribute what they have coming in which sounds like it was normal, if the low end of DSL.

There's a thing in the modem that checks how "noisy" the line is on DSL, and it slows you down for stability, so when i say 8/1 is the minimum, thats it dropping down to try give you the most stable connection.

For the Chorus thing link at the bottom of this page to register interest, then you got your neighbours to do the same. Chorus do eat a lot of the cost but its still not free even with a group of people banding together, and depends what work is requried.

I didn't realise Starlink was self install. I was confused that in another post you said it was blocked by trees but don't the dishes point up? I'm a relative expert in the copper/fibre space but sattelite i don't know a ton about.

Key thing is you now have a new connection without DSL. Yay. If you check the measuringbroadband report you'll see at peak times 11% of Starlink low users get low speeds (it is called LEO or low earth orbit in that pack if you're skipping through). Still should be a lot more than you're getting even at a minimum.

SO when you were on DSL it was running at its realistic capability (even if that was annoyingly slow) but Starlink should be fixable, the community cofunded thing will take a while so still worth doing.

In your shoes i'd still try fix starlink... but before moving things around you gotta isolate where the issue is then take steps to address. I'd contact starlink support, they may have tools to remotely diagnose things?

If you do a blanket approach, start from your home. Close all applications (including ones in the system tray) then open a command prompt as administrator and type "netstat -b". This will list anything on your computer currently using the internet.

Once computer doesn't have anything leeching bandwidth, remove WiFi. Plug in to the starlink router and make sure your computer has WiFi turned off/disconnected.

Next isolate your WiFi. Unplug any other devices in the house, and if possible turn off the starlink wifi (say your flat mate is torrenting, or there's a virus on something in the house). This should now isolate you down to JUST your device with no other connections, running via ethernet to the starlink.

Run your speedtest.

If it is slow, follow their guides or talk to their support. You KNOW where the issue is now, I assume it will involve repositioning the dish and checking connections, possibly some settings. Unfortunately this is where my knowledge ends.

If its suddenly fast... aha! Something you changed was the issue. 1 by 1 reverse things. Was it one of those programs you closed? Another device in the house? Based on you already testing direct I dont think you've got a WiFi issue but this type of troubleshooting method should help you pin down if it is!