Downloads abnormally slow?

[Magyk]

This seems to be fairly recent (like within a week or so) but my downloads all seem to be going abnormally slow.

Ran a speedtest, download speed @ 21mbps. My Firefox download window constantly says I'm downloading at about 200-250 kb/s.

Firefox will say things have an estimated download time of like "One hour thirty minutes" or something - but then take 8 hours to download. (If been downloading a lot of 1gig links as part of a few ISOs lately)

...I dont know, everything just felt so much faster about a week ago.
Does any of this seem out of the ordinary to you?

Edit: With 21mbps, shouldn't I be downloading at roughly 2600kb/s?

[Roflraptor]

This seems to be fairly recent (like within a week or so) but my downloads all seem to be going abnormally slow.

Ran a speedtest, download speed @ 21mbps. My Firefox download window constantly says I'm downloading at about 200-250 kb/s.

Firefox will say things have an estimated download time of like "One hour thirty minutes" or something - but then take 8 hours to download. (If been downloading a lot of 1gig links as part of a few ISOs lately)

...I dont know, everything just felt so much faster about a week ago.
Does any of this seem out of the ordinary to you?

Edit: With 21mbps, shouldn't I be downloading at roughly 2600kb/s?

Usually dividing it by 10 is a good rule of thumb for what your speed will be in MB/s. So about 2.1MB/s should be expected.

Try using something that downloads by utilising multiple connections at the same time, like a download manager, and see how that goes. It could be any number of things though.

[aradorasxeon]

It depends on the website... try some torrent, and your download speed will be about 2,5 Mb/s or a bit more. ( I know i have the same download speed )

[Magyk]

So, I downloaded jdownloader as I've used that in the past and I believe it's showing my REAL download speed.

Where Firefox had be at "250kb/s" and like 2 and a half, 3 hours for a 1gb file.
Jdownloader is showing me with 30kb/s and 4 hours for a 400mb file.


I've run a virus scan but found nothing. What else would cause that kind of ridiculously slow download speed? Everything else seems to run fine (steaming movies, playing games, browsing the net, etc)

[Maximus]

When I yews a downloader (rare) I yews Free Download Manager. It's GPL (I like open source things).
http://download.cnet.com/Free-Download- ... 01621.html

When you run SpeedTest, make sure you're going somewhere useful, not just in your own city. Try Chicago, NY, and Dallas.
For long term throughput, try using a known good source. I've usually found major sites like Microsoft, Apple, and CNET to have good download speeds.
If you're referring to torrents, there are many factors in rate on those. Network configuration etc. Some ISPs throttle certain types of traffic including torrents. Others set monthly usage caps (like my AT&T) so if you're doing some 100's of GB a month then they may be throttling you.
For awhile I had downloads that were not completing. I found my router was periodically resetting the connection and bringing the average speed way down. Try taking your router out of the loop to see if the router is causing it.

[Magyk]

I'm downloading from Rapidshare, and historically I've always gotten a pretty quick download speed from there even when downloading large files. I'll try resetting my router though.

[Max Rambone]

Try doing a speedtest using a LIVECD version of some OS like UBUNTU just to rule out any Windows issues.

If you get the proper speeds with the LIVECD then it's windows and not your connection.

~archi

[GUARD!AN]

Is your upload speed at expected values?

[Magyk]

My upload speed is coming in at it's normal .50mb/s - but it's always been that bad.


If you look at the plain facts;

My upload/download speeds show up as their normal rates on a speedtest.
Firefox SAYS it's downloading files at 250+ kb/s which would be normal, and gives them normal download ETAs.
Third party downloading software reveals them to ACTUALLY be downloading at 30 kb/s and gives the real ETA.
This started happening abruptly.
I'm getting these same speeds on different networks, but getting normal speeds on other computers.

I'm 100% convinced this is some kind of virus/spyware. I'm going to run a battery of tests overnight/tomorrow - anyone have any ideas where I could start looking to hunt this thing down?

[Turquoise Dragon]

Try this: stopdownoadingporn.com