Different speeds on cable internet

[alanferri1]

I have a TP link Wireless N Router TL-WR720N connected over PPPoE to cable internet.
The problem is that I get hugely varying speeds. The speedtest results and most downloads get the speeds around 1mbit/s (110-128 kBps) . Some downloads along with youtube, torrents and google play, the speeds reach 85 mbit/s (10mB/s). While browsing the speed is constant at 1mbps. Whats the issue here? Is the internet throttled ? Any way to overcome this? I don't have a plan based on speed. Its simply an unlimited internet plan. I have noticed that I get increased speeds where parallel connections are enabled. There is no issue with hardware..I have tested this on 4-5 laptops along with Ipad and an Iphone.

 

[mudpuppet]

I would find out what the max speed you should be getting is. While you may not be paying for speeds up to (for example) 50mbs, they should be able to tell you what you should expect on average. That said, if you aren't paying for a speed, chances are they can throttle you as they see fit. It could also be a lot of traffic in the area that's on the same pipe, so it's just getting bogged down. Those are my thoughts and where I'd start first.

 

[alanferri1]

The max speed that I should be getting is 1mbit/sec (which I get) according to the internet provider. The thing which i don't understand is how am I getting increased speeds (60-85mbit/s) for torrents and youtube. The issue is not hardware related. The ping is around 4-5 ms. I doubt the line is getting bogged down. I was wondering if I could use these speeds for normal browsing by any method?