Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
lilazndood1
Newbie
I have the 20/5 mb/s plan for Fios. So when I first got it, my max download speed was around 20/5 on speedtest. When I actually download a file like maybe from filefront or megaupload on mozilla, it says its only downloading at about 1500 kb/s or 1.5 mb/s. Now ever since two weeks ago, the speedtest is 20/5 but when I download the same file, its only downloading 500 kb/s or 0.5 mb/s. I'm paying for the 20/5 but it isnt at its fullest capabilities. I tried calling Verizon but it wasnt helpful. So what should I do? This is rly important.
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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
cjacobs001
Contributor - Level 3

you say that the speed test IS giving you 20/5 but then the download is slow.  

What type of files are you trying to download?

What OS are you using?

Are you wired or wireless ?

What other processes are runnning on your computer while your are downloading?

Is your download coming through a firewall?

How are you measuring your download while you are downloading?

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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
Omni-Potent
Enthusiast - Level 3

Just because you bumped up your connection speed doesn't mean you will necessarily download files any faster. There are many other factors involved. For example, the server where the file resides may be servicing a lot of traffic at that particular time, which would be consuming most of it's own bandwidth. Sometimes the "path" your data has taken may be the problem.

One way to speed up file downloads is to use something like Internet Download Manager. It will create multiple pathways fully saturating your bandwidth to get the most of your 20/5 connection.

Message Edited by Omni-Potent on 02-07-2009 10:18 PM
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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
prisaz
Legend

@lilazndood1 wrote:
I have the 20/5 mb/s plan for Fios. So when I first got it, my max download speed was around 20/5 on speedtest. When I actually download a file like maybe from filefront or megaupload on mozilla, it says its only downloading at about 1500 kb/s or 1.5 mb/s. Now ever since two weeks ago, the speedtest is 20/5 but when I download the same file, its only downloading 500 kb/s or 0.5 mb/s. I'm paying for the 20/5 but it isnt at its fullest capabilities. I tried calling Verizon but it wasnt helpful. So what should I do? This is rly important.
Could be the sites you are downloading from. Not everyone and even many companies have an outbound 20mb/s pipe. Giganew has a good connection and I have always been able to get sustained speeds. Even Microsoft when saturated, can not provide 20mb/s. So having a 20mb/s or 50mb/s download speed is not going to help if the servers on the other side can not push it out to you.
Message Edited by prisaz on 02-08-2009 07:31 AM
 I just tried to DL Warcraft patch from  filefront.com and was able to get 2.23mb/s which points to their server or connection. 
Message Edited by prisaz on 02-08-2009 07:36 AM
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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
Brennoko
Contributor - Level 1

prisaz wrote:

I just tried to DL Warcraft patch from  filefront.com and was able to get 2.23mb/s which points to their server or connection. 


20mb/s = 2.5Mb/s

 

When downloading files, the speed it shows is Mb/s. Therefore in prisaz's case, the speed was really close to max. 2.23Mb/s = 17.8mb/s

 

As far as the original issue goes, top speed of site downloading from, current traffic on site downloading from, even downloads being done on other computers on the network at the time can affect the speed at which it shows the download is going. The key is, if speedtesting sites are showing 20mb/s for download speed, then Verizon is providing the speed that it's supposed to and something else is slowing the download.

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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
lilazndood1
Newbie
Thats what Verizon said when I called them. I mean I close all the applications that are on when downloading except for of course Firefox so it doesnt lag or anything but it doesnt help. I have Vista btw but thats prlly not the reason.
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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
philhu
Contributor - Level 2

It is probably the sender.  You will only get the speed of the sender when you get data.  They might limit the data send speed.

20 mbps = 2.5 mBps

bits vs bytes.

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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
Wills188
Newbie

@Brennoko wrote:

@prisaz wrote:

I just tried to DL Warcraft patch from  filefront.com and was able to get 2.23mb/s which points to their server or connection. 


20mb/s = 2.5Mb/s

 

When downloading files, the speed it shows is Mb/s. Therefore in prisaz's case, the speed was really close to max. 2.23Mb/s = 17.8mb/s

 

As far as the original issue goes, top speed of site downloading from, current traffic on site downloading from, even downloads being done on other computers on the network at the time can affect the speed at which it shows the download is going. The key is, if speedtesting sites are showing 20mb/s for download speed, then Verizon is providing the speed that it's supposed to and something else is slowing the download.


You have it mixed up.

It's 20 Mb =  2.5 MB

20 mb means 20 millionths of a bit 😛

It's a marketing ploy that all internet companies use and it's annoying as everthing in the general cosumer world is done in bytes yet internet companies mesaure their speeds in bits. It's ambigious and purposley misleading.

1500 KBPS, while a little on the slow side isn't slow enough to say for a certainty that anything is wrong. There are some real world limitations. While on speed test, I get exactly 20 Mbps, my real world results are only 17.6 Mbps or about 2200 MBps/s. I know that in other regions around the country, real world performance are lower than mine and 1500 KBps sounds like a possible real world max.

This thread would be a lot simpler if internet companies used the same measurements everyone else did Smiley Mad

Message Edited by Wills188 on 02-13-2009 02:31 PM
Message Edited by Wills188 on 02-13-2009 02:33 PM
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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
Brennoko
Contributor - Level 1

@Wills188 wrote:

It's 20 Mb =  2.5 MB

20 mb means 20 millionths of a bit 😛


I'll admit, I typed it wrong there, thanks for correcting me on that one.


@Wills188 wrote:

It's a marketing ploy that all internet companies use and it's annoying as everthing in the general cosumer world is done in bytes yet internet companies mesaure their speeds in bits. It's ambigious and purposley misleading.

This thread would be a lot simpler if internet companies used the same measurements everyone else did Smiley Mad


The funny part about that, all the speedtesting sites I know of show speeds in Kbps or Mbps, not KBps which further adds to the confusion.

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Re: Why is My Download SPeed Slow?
SAINT73
Newbie
OK THE REASON ITS MEASURED IT BITS AND NOT BYTES IS CAUSE BITS IS THE ABOUT OF INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN SEND OR RECIEVE BYTES IS THE ABOUT OF INF THAT YOU CAN STORE . REMEMBER BITS  ARE FOR INFO BYTES ARE FOR STORAGE .THE PROBLEM REALLY ISNT YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER RATHER THE SITE YOUR DL FROM THINK OF WHAT THEIR UPLOAD SPEED IS AND THE AMOUNT OF PPL TRYING TO UPLOAD FROM THEM THATS WHAT SLOWS YOU DOWN
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