Not receiving download speed shown on speedtest

[virtualwellz]

On speedtest.net I am apparently receiving 11Mbps. While on steam when downloading I download at a speed of around 1.3Mbps. What could be causing this other than having programs running on my pc at the same time (which I don't). Also keep in mind that I'm not a novice with computers but more so with networking.

 

[thently]

I Think you are getting the right speed. Remember that speed test gives you mbps and actual download speeds give you MB it is a 1 to 8 ratio so your speeds are about right.
Ok I did the conversion using
http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/band-calc.asp
if you put 11 in the mb side it gives you 1.3 on the MB side so you are exactly where you should be.

Thent

 

[unksol]

Steam shows download speeds in MB/s not Mb/s.

11Mbps/8 = 1.375MBps

Nothing is wrong

 

[Kiril1512]

To get real download speed, you need divide the speed you get in speed test by 9.

Example:
Download speed: 114Mb/s
Real download speed: 114/9 = 12mb/s

This values are not fully correct and can variate depending on download servers, etc...

 

[utgotye]

1.3 Mbps or MBps? I'm betting it's MBps. 11 Mbps/8 bits in a Byte = 1.375 MBps.

 

[SkylerJacobs]

To get real download speed, you need divide the speed you get in speed test by 9.

Example:
Download speed: 114Mb/s
Real download speed: 114/9 = 12mb/s

This values are not fully correct and can variate depending on download servers, etc...

There are 8 bits per byte. Not 9.

 

[APassingMe]

Steam shows download speeds in MB/s not Mb/s.

11Mbps/8 = 1.375MBps

Nothing is wrong

1.3 Mbps or MBps? I'm betting it's MBps. 11 Mbps/8 bits in a Byte = 1.375 MBps.

This is the easiest to understand out of all of the replies so I'm highlighting it for you; in case it wasn't that easy to understand there are two common ways to measure the flow the of data, bits and bytes. 8 bits = 1 byte, everything else kb, kB, mb, mB etc... is just a way to easily convey large amounts of bits/bytes. For the record, bytes is written as "B" and bits are written as "b" when using the shortened version... however a lot of places/people don't use this correctly so things get confusing as they use both interchangeably.

NICs and ISPs both tend to use bits when referring to capacity/speed so it is also normally used for speed tests as well. Bytes are used for recording data storage (think harddrive) and are also used in most download tools (steam included) and browsers when the download rate passes 8 kbps (which is the same as 1mBps).

!Notice that I didn't capitalize the m or k, normally they would be since it is the shortened version of the actual word however it's not too important either way as I'm not familiar with a special meaning being connected with the capitalized/non-capitalized verson of the commonly used shortened versions of kilo and mega.

 

[MarkW]

Just because you can receive data at whatever rate speedtest shows you, that does not mean that a website or service will send to you at that speed. Some ISP's will also let certain sites through at full speeds, but not others, although that is not supposed to be happening.