If you were using wireless or satellite (I use the latter), I would think "upload" speed.
Although the Download speeds are quite fast (but not quite as fast as DSL/Cable), the Upload from you back to the server/provider are lower. Smaller packet is sent because of the extreme distance the beam has to travel from you back up to Wireless or Satellite. Why when playing online games with satellite, the ping can be very high with a noticeable lag, depending on the game.
But saying this, here is the
Road Runner forum at dslreports.com. Since I go there for info about my satellite service (WB), I checked the Road Runner forums there. You are not the only one having some slow "upstream" problems with the Internet. So you might want to check the forum out to see if your area is affected.