Internet download speed cap
nchusid
Enthusiast - Level 1

For years now, I've had a Verizon FiOS connection for 25mbps up and 25mbps down, but no matter what, I can never get a combined download of greater than 3mbps. A speedtest will always capture my true speed: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1221953425.png but I've never actually seen a net upload of greater than 3.

I could be downloading something at 2.5 mbps, add something else to download and it will be guaranteed to have a 500mbps (unless it is prioritized or the source has a download cap). Or, I could be downloading something at 3mbps, and check a few pages in the browser and they'll take a 'nails-on-chalkboard' few minutes to load.

I've taken my hardware into account too. I've gone through a couple machines in the last two years and both were subjected to the same handicap. The first was a Windows laptop running through an ethernet cable, and my current is an iMac also running through an ethernet cable directly to the modem (which, for Verizon also serves as the router).

And further evidence of the fact that it can't be my computer that is serving as the bottleneck, is that if I'm downloading something at 3mbps on my computer and go to use my Xbox or PS3 (both connected via ethernet), I'll get a lot of lag in online play.

I've tried many things through the years in the realm of my router/modem settings, including setting my computer as DMZ host, adding some port forwards to major contributors to my downloading, and so on. Plus, my router/modem has been reset many times in the past, so it can't be a simple thing like that.

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated as this has been a long going problem that I'd be ecstatic about solving not only because it's bothersome and seemingly unnecessary, but it's such a specific, consistent number that it makes me think that there is really a cap or bottleneck somewhere that I am not thinking of.

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Re: Internet download speed cap
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

Are you sure you are not confusing megabits (Mbps) with megabytes (MB)?

Speedtest sites report in megabits/second, while programs generally report transfer rates megabytes per second.

3MB x 8 bits per byte = 24 Mbps which is almost exactly your provisioned speed.

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Re: Internet download speed cap
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader

We will have to start with these questions.

#1 What do yoiu mean by combined download speed?

#2 In what program can you not get faster speeds than 3mbps?

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Re: Internet download speed cap
nchusid
Enthusiast - Level 1

By combined, or net download speed I mean that across all applications on all platforms, I cannot exceed 3mbps download. This makes the program irrelevant, because I am referring to all. For example, this means that a download running in firefox, an update downloading directly from Apple, a data commit from terminal, data downloaded from game servers on my Xbox, and an application downloading on my phone from an app store, cannot simultaneously exceed 3mbps combined.

So the firefox download may be running at 1mbps, 500kbps from apple, data commit at 250kbps, data from servers/peers at 750kbps, and app store download on my phone at 250kbps.

So I literally mean that the 'net' bandwidth that I have access to across all platforms will never exceed 3mbps (and change occasionally). If I add another download source while all the above is occurring, all download rates will be scaled down to compensate for the additional bandwidth usage. Just as removing a source causes all rates to increase, but never surpassing 3mbps total.

Of course, I rarely have as much running as I have specified above, but it's fairly common for me to have one or two downloads running and doing something else internet related, which will move at a crawl as the one or two downloads will most likely add up to 3mbps.

Re: Internet download speed cap
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

Are you sure you are not confusing megabits (Mbps) with megabytes (MB)?

Speedtest sites report in megabits/second, while programs generally report transfer rates megabytes per second.

3MB x 8 bits per byte = 24 Mbps which is almost exactly your provisioned speed.