Your Down speed for Steam vs. ISP rated speeds?

[David]

I am a bit of a techie. Not so much where I could explain it all too you but enough that I build my own computers. So when it comes to my question I have only ever assumed I knew how it worked.

My download speed when using steam seems to hover around 1.5Mbps and I have seen it up as high as 1.8Mbps and of course it dips too. Anyways, I have always assumed that this number is more about what the content provider is able to send to me than what my own bandwidth is rated. For instance, when I run a speedtest I am always around 25Mbps down, which is what I pay for. I assume that I can do those speeds only if the content provider can provide them.

However recently I noticed something when attempting to download from two separate sources. I was downloading from steam and another F2P game off steam and from that games own site. Now, following my conventional thought, I would in theory in regards to my bandwidth download from steam at the same 1.5 and get the full download speed from the other games site. This however was not the case. Both downloads suffered for this. I have seen this before, and I never actually thought about it. How does that make sense?

So then I started thinking of probable causes. Does my HD limit what I am getting with its write speed? Am I being limited somewhere in between on some server the info passes through? There has to be a reason both downloads suffer for this starting from my computer all the way to whomever I am downloading from.
If I purchased the next step up from Comcast like say the 50Mbps or even the 100Mbps would I actually get faster speeds from Steam and other sources or would I still be limited at the 1.5Mbps download regardless of my speed at this point? Somehow I think if I downgraded to Comcast's lesser speed my 1.5Mbps off Steam would also lower even though I would still have way more than said 1.5Mbps from Comcast.

So can anybody give me the lowdown on how this works in a nutshell?

And in any event I am also curious what your isp rated speed is and what you actually get when you download off Steam? As I said, I am rated at 25mbps and

Thanks guys.

[Marble]

My downloads run at the max speed my ISP allows (roughly around 35Mbps). Your ISP may be throttling Steam traffic, as some reportedly do.

[Felix]

Steam reports download speeds in MBs (Megabytes), Speedtest (And your ISP) reports download speeds in Mb (Megabits). Yes, the capitals matter!

There are eight Megabits in a Megabyte.

[David]

Originally posted by FrazerJC:

Steam reports download speeds in MBs (Megabytes), Speedtest (And your ISP) reports download speeds in Mb (Megabits). Yes, the capitals matter!

There are eight Megabits in a Megabyte.

Ah, I didn't notice the MB's, so I am actually getting around 12Mbps from Steam when converted?

So where is the other half of my speed? Throttling as Canti pointed out? If Comcast is throttling me they can come get their equipment out of my house. ;)

[eram]

I've almost always got my full speed from steam downloads, I'm currently on a 60mb package and steam downloads are around 7.5mb/sec. I recently dropped down from a 100mb package and steam downloads were a little over 12 to 12.5mb/sec so even at the 100mb speeds steam was not slowing down.

[Marble]

Not sure if they still do it, but Comcast were pretty big on throttling certain services a couple of years ago. Was in the news a lot for it.

[ KARR™]

My broadband is a 40Mbps connection and i generally get around 4.3MB when downloading from Steam, so that's generally using up the whole connection.

[Felix]

I can't speak for your ISP, but I know my ISP (Virgin Media UK) throttles download speeds if I download "too much" during a certain timeframe. Maybe this happens for you, too?

[Spawn of Totoro]

Your ISP list speeds in Mb/s. Steam lists downloads in MB/s.

Yes, the big and little Bs make a diffrence.

Mb = Mega Bits
MB = Mega Bytes

1 Mb = 0.125 MB

A 25 Mb/s ISP connection will show around 3.125 MB.

http://www.unitconversion.org/data-storage/megabits-to-megabytes-conversion.html
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If you are only getting 1.5-1.8 MB/s, it could be congestion. I would say contact your ISP and see if they can find something out from their end.

Also, have you tried resetting the modem? Turn it off for a min. then back on. If that doesn't work, how long have you had the modem? It could be broken and/or outdated. IF you are renting one from your ISP, then they will give you a replacement.