Can any of the commonly used ethereum node software still sync the whole chain in a plausible amount of time?  I heard it was taking weeks and now all the software is defaulting to "fast sync" which is SPV-like security.

There really interesting point will be as their state gets as large as Bitcoin's blockchain.  They seem to be working to hold that back by having miners artificially limit it... and have tx fees not that dissimilar to Bitcoin's as a result even though a few months ago they were mocking fees being over a half cent.

I saw a post on reddit that the etherum admins had pledged to spend $1m/yr to keep 10,000 reliable nodes running themselves, if so then they may disguise the collapse of their network pretty well... but it didn't cite any sources.