Why is my download speed so slow?

[Jack Danger]

As long as I can remember my download speeds have been very slow. I don't know how much I'm paying for, but I'm sure what I'm getting is much less. On a good day I might get 1-2 megabytes per second, but usually I'm getting 200-500 kilobytes per second, and sometimes it drops to just a few dozen kilobytes per second. I already took the Internet Health Test twice and got these results:

First test: 1.93-10.41 MBPS, avg speed 7.09 MBPS
Second test: 3.7-12.95 MBPS, average speed 7.89 MBPS

In both tests there was one server that was much slower than the others. The first time it was Tata, the second time it was Cogent. These average speeds both feel faster than what I'm getting even if they're using megabits instead of megabytes (I don't know if they are).

I don't know much about computers, so I don't know what all the jargon means.

 

[Samaratin]

First is, you need to find out what you're paying for.. is your ISP providing you what you're supposed to get. Secondly, which company are you using? Are other people in your area having similar slowdowns? Do these slow periods typically occur during primetime.. like when everyone gets home.. turns on netflix and games and eats up all the bandwith in your area