[SOLVED] When I download a file, why do I get lower DL speeds than what I'm told on various broadband speed checkers?

Oct 11, 2018
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Basically when I download files off the internet, my DL speed always hovers around 500kb/s (very slow) whilst in speedtest.net apparently my broadband DL speed is at least 2.78 Mb/s. Is this normal?
 
Solution


Yes. When you see your download speed from Windows or Steam you are seeing it in KBps whereas speedtest.net and such tell you Kbps since your ISPs always tell you your connecting speed in bits/sec.

TJ Hooker

Titan
Ambassador
Is your download speed 500kb/s or kB/s? Bits vs bytes.

As said above, your download speed also depends on how fast the server you're downloading from is serving up that data. A lot of free file hosting sites only offer limited bandwidth unless you pay to be a premium user or something.
 
Oct 11, 2018
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well one thing I've noticed is that regardless where I download from, the download speed is always capped at 500kb/s so I dont think this is the problem surely?
 
Oct 11, 2018
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Ohhh so Steam is telling me bytes and speed checker is telling me in bits?
 


Yes. When you see your download speed from Windows or Steam you are seeing it in KBps whereas speedtest.net and such tell you Kbps since your ISPs always tell you your connecting speed in bits/sec.
 
Solution