Slow download speeds?

[Sean725]

When I run a speed test, it says that I have ~ 3 mbps downloading and ~ .8 mbps uploading. However when I download or upload any files through any means including bittorrent and direct download the download speed usually maxes out at ~300 kbps and the upload speed at ~80 kbps.

Is this what it is supposed to be at? That is only 1/10th of the download and upload speed that the speed test says I have.

[Suncoast]

In general, when you download files from sites, you are sharing bandwidth on that site with other users. Most commercial sites limit how much bandwidth any single user can use from a single IP address. And when you are using applications like bittorrent, many of those hosts are limited by their upload bandwidth throughput similar to what you have. If you add any kind of encryption to the transfer, you are also slowing the transfer further by adding the overhead required on both ends to encrypt and decrypt the data.

So your speedtest is a valid test of your Internet connections data throughput ability. The slower download speeds you are seeing are due to the remote hosts throughput and current user loads.

[Sean725]

Originally Posted by Suncoast

In general, when you download files from sites, you are sharing bandwidth on that site with other users. Most commercial sites limit how much bandwidth any single user can use from a single IP address. And when you are using applications like bittorrent, many of those hosts are limited by their upload bandwidth throughput similar to what you have. If you add any kind of encryption to the transfer, you are also slowing the transfer further by adding the overhead required on both ends to encrypt and decrypt the data.

So your speedtest is a valid test of your Internet connections data throughput ability. The slower download speeds you are seeing are due to the remote hosts throughput and current user loads.

Thanks for responding however I don't see how those could be the only reasons I am only able to download anything at 1/10th my internet speed. With bittorrent even if there are 1000 seeds and 5 peers it would still be ~350 kbps. I've been using this internet connection for a long time now and no matter where I'm downloading something from or what size it is, it's never ever gone higher.

Also if what you stated were the reason, it sounds like those restrictions wouldn't apply to me uploading things, but I can still only upload at about 1/10 of what I should be as well.

I guess one of my main questions would be this. Is only being able to download and upload things at 1/10 your internet speed normal? Does it happen to everyone? If so then I supposed I don't really need to understand why, as long as there is nothing I can tweak to make it go faster.

Again thanks for the response, I really do appreciate it.

[Suncoast]

Hmm, I just answered part of this question here. You may be interested.

Since this board has a clear policy about this topic, I'm going to stop there.