Thank you to all the comments and support.
I have just woken up (yes, I too have to sleep) to see that the CRR is still slowly increasing to 2929 but, as I said before, this is far too slow to reach 20,000.
The Steemit developers are working on this issue: you can see this at Github issue 1257. The fix will be implemented as soon as it has been tested and works.
Think of the CRR as a safety measure to stop the network from being overloaded by either spam or a ddos attack. A simile could be the automatic airbags in cars to avoid driver injuries - but in this case the airbag is deflating very slowly thus not allowing us to drive at full speed again. It is this algorithm that is being changed.
I too am suffering from bandwidth restrictions. I would love to reply and upvote more queries but rest assured I have read them and take this as a reply to all.
A further reminder that steemd.com/@yourusername will show you how much bandwidth you personally have, including now the actual value. You can still do things but just keep an eye on this "fuel meter".
Thanks. Upvoted to bump to top.