Download speed question

[Spino]

I have a cable connection and no matter what site I'm connected to, no matter what the size of the file, no matter what time of day, my download speed always tops out at about 70 kbps. Sometimes it will start at three times that, but drops down withing seconds to around 70.

Is there somewhere in my settings that 70 might be listed as a max speed? And, pray tell, how do I change it?

Thanks.

I assume you're taking your download numbers from your Explorer/Firefox download window or from a download manager application. You're probably getting 70 kiloBYTEs per second as opposed to 70 kiloBITs per second. 70 Kb/s is what one would expect from broadband, 70kbps is really slow and less than half of what most broadband users get for their upload speeds and is more typical of DSL, not cable. If you are in fact getting 70 kbps then it's time look into getting DSL.

Either way your download speed is really low for cable broadband. I don't think I've seen a single internet cable package that offers such a slow download rate. The fact that you get a solid 70Kb/sec regardless of where you download your files tells me your ISP is capping the bandwidth for everyone on the local node. This is common practise for cable providers in less populated areas since they have less money and resources to augment or upgrade their infrastructure. It also allows them to 'overbook' subscribers and cram as many people onto existing infrastructure as can fit. Since cable providers generally enjoy a monopoly in their areas of operation they can afford to gouge customers, purposely cap bandwidth and hold off upgrading their infrastructure unless absolutely necessary. Do you live in the countryside or a low population suburb? If so then I think it's safe to say you're probably experiencing bandwidth capping.

On an aside another thing to watch out for is bandwidth monitoring. ISPs are keen to avoid having the average user max out their bandwidth by constantly using P2P apps or running a webserver from home. This is why the upload speeds for non-business broadband packages are so pathetic. I've had my Bittorrent app crap out on me a few times because of monitoring (didn't affect my net access but the app's bandwidth dropped to zero for download & uploads). I imagine Time Warner and other cable providers actively monitor specific ports for the telltale signs of P2P usage. Manually capping your P2P app's upload bandwidth helps avoid this problem.

I live in NYC and get my TV and internet via Time Warner Cable. The sheer population density and intense competition from DSL providers has forced TWC to put some serious money into upgrading the local infrastructure. In the past 7 years my maximum download bandwidth has gone from about 550KB/sec to a whopping 1024KB/sec. I don't mean to rub it in but clearly TWC simply cannot afford to pull the same kind of shenanigans here that they or Cablevision might do in smaller towns.

[Blodrast]

Beirut, what is your ISP ?
Has this always been an issue, or is it just recently ? Have you changed your ISP recently, or have they upgraded/downgraded your service ?

What I suggest is that you talk to them and see if they are being helpful and/or trying to solve the issue (or at the very least help you identify what it is). If that doesn't work, well, I suggest you look into changing your ISP.
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The Canadian ISP forums are here, I really encourage you to go there and check things out:
http://www.dslreports.com/forums/23