Steam downloads are slower than they should be

[Joaz]

I've read a handful of posts similar to this, and I've contacted steam support, and nothing has helped so far so I'm just gonna list off the things I've tried and hope someone has a super genius christmas miracle solution.

On speedtests my download is 700-1000 mbps, 80-100 upload. Earlier this year I remember my download speeds on steam being around 70-100 MBps, but at some point, I don't remember exactly when, they dropped to around 22 MBps. At some point I got a new router because of other internet issues, and the drop might've been around that point but I don't remember so I don't wanna say definitively. On epic games my download speed is like it used to be on steam, 70-100 MBps, always.

I've tried changing download region.
All my download settings on steam are correct, not set to slow or cap my download speed.
I've cleared my download cache. One poster said clearing it 4 times, one final time while still downloading fixed it for them. Since then I've cleared it about 20-30 times while downloading, pausing a download, not downloading...
I've followed the steam article and turned off upnp and all the other stuff, most or all of it was already off. I've tried port forwarding like they also recommended in the article.
I've restarted and even reset my router.
I've tried changing my dns to the public google one. I had it changed to that a while back because it was supposedly better for my connection, had it changed back to the default, and now I'm back on the google dns.
I've tried flushing my network.
I've tried reinstalling steam.

I finally tried contacting my ISP, where they asked if I had restarted my router, and when I said no they said the issue was too complicated and needed a technician, so they gave me a date and time and I said yes. Turns out it's just a phone call on monday, so we'll see.

Does anyone have any magic solutions that might save me some time going through all this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ again with my isp? or is it really just that they're throttling my connection to steam somehow and for some reason

[goobur]

dawg some one gotta know cus i got the same thing

[Iceira]

Lets see if your ISP and there partners partner know what they are doing, and they still need to have steam with them in other end. ( or test is pointless )

some old games will not have 100% DL ( frequent access files is well know by server people )
as your ISP said it, its complicated.

[MonkehMaster]

its been a long standing issue on steam.

the only thing i found to help avoid the issue, is setting a download speed cap on steam itself.

example being my 400mbps speed (50MB) and setting the cap to 40000 KB (steam uses KB for some reason), which sets steams download speed to 40MB only 300mb of my speed.

doing that so far has helped quite a lot, but its only a band-aid fix.

[Joaz]

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

its been a long standing issue on steam.

the only thing i found to help avoid the issue, is setting a download speed cap on steam itself.

example being my 400mbps speed (50MB) and setting the cap to 40000 KB (steam uses KB for some reason), which sets steams download speed to 40MB only 300mb of my speed.

doing that so far has helped quite a lot, but its only a band-aid fix.

Yeah that doesn't do anything for me. It seems like when I look at task manager it's just not using my internet properly? Steam will use no more than 20% and epic games uses up to 80%

[Satoru]

Steam can obliterate 1gbps connections

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032427072

Steam download speeds are limited by

1) Your CPU
2) your disk IO
3) your anti-virus
4) your ISP

Pick one

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1082209554

[MonkehMaster]

Originally posted by Joaz:

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

its been a long standing issue on steam.

the only thing i found to help avoid the issue, is setting a download speed cap on steam itself.

example being my 400mbps speed (50MB) and setting the cap to 40000 KB (steam uses KB for some reason), which sets steams download speed to 40MB only 300mb of my speed.

doing that so far has helped quite a lot, but its only a band-aid fix.

Yeah that doesn't do anything for me. It seems like when I look at task manager it's just not using my internet properly? Steam will use no more than 20% and epic games uses up to 80%

weird, works perfectly fine for me and i have seen this issue through several computers, beyond that im not sure.

also, not sure what "steam article" you read, but upnp and w/e else it says in that article, doesnt need to be disabled and also with upnp, you have no reason to setup ports, upnp does that automatically.

in the end, there is no solution for this issue, the suggestion i mentioned was the only thing since years i found that even remotely helped.

i guess good luck and ill keep an eye on the thread if someone happens to pop in with something that works.

[Joaz]

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

Originally posted by Joaz:

Yeah that doesn't do anything for me. It seems like when I look at task manager it's just not using my internet properly? Steam will use no more than 20% and epic games uses up to 80%

weird, works perfectly fine for me and i have seen this issue through several computers, beyond that im not sure.

also, not sure what "steam article" you read, but upnp and w/e else it says in that article, doesnt need to be disabled and also with upnp, you have no reason to setup ports, upnp does that automatically.

in the end, there is no solution for this issue, the suggestion i mentioned was the only thing since years i found that even remotely helped.

i guess good luck and ill keep an eye on the thread if someone happens to pop in with something that works.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/5AC5-8056-E88F-F3FF this one. if the link doesn't work it's just under steam help called "slow downloads and connection to steam content servers"

[Joaz]

Got off the phone with my ISP and they're saying it's a known problem that's been going on for about 3 months now, and they can't do anything except for wait for their partners to fix it.

[Iceira]

Originally posted by Joaz:

Got off the phone with my ISP and they're saying it's a known problem that's been going on for about 3 months now, and they can't do anything except for wait for their partners to fix it.

Atleast you know now, that ISP partner can effect things into steam, and its confirmed by own ISP.

[Joaz]

Originally posted by Iceira:

Originally posted by Joaz:

Got off the phone with my ISP and they're saying it's a known problem that's been going on for about 3 months now, and they can't do anything except for wait for their partners to fix it.

Atleast you know now, that ISP partner can effect things into steam, and its confirmed by own ISP.

Yeah, I just wanted to know what the issue is. I don't mind just waiting for it to be fixed. 20 MBps is still a totally fine download speed.

[Iceira]

I doubt they ever will tell you, they still have to have a teamwork after this also, what about next network issue.

Do not mistake a Tecnician/support not knocking at doors to get traffic fixed, thats not same as company will inform you who did it.

Try get on ISP SMS service if they even have such. ( its a broadcast list you need to be on before error happend )

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Joaz:

Originally posted by Iceira:

Atleast you know now, that ISP partner can effect things into steam, and its confirmed by own ISP.

Yeah, I just wanted to know what the issue is. I don't mind just waiting for it to be fixed. 20 MBps is still a totally fine download speed.

Your only other option would be to use a VPN. That would bypass any routing issues or whatever nonsense your ISP is doing

[Joaz]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by Joaz:

Yeah, I just wanted to know what the issue is. I don't mind just waiting for it to be fixed. 20 MBps is still a totally fine download speed.

Your only other option would be to use a VPN. That would bypass any routing issues or whatever nonsense your ISP is doing

Yeah he said so as well, but I'll just wait it out, I don't mind. Just wanted to figure out if it was an issue on my end I could fix or not.
I think he said another user had the same problem and had figured out how to set steam to use different servers or something? But he didn't sound certain and made it seem kinda vague.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Joaz:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Your only other option would be to use a VPN. That would bypass any routing issues or whatever nonsense your ISP is doing

Yeah he said so as well, but I'll just wait it out, I don't mind. Just wanted to figure out if it was an issue on my end I could fix or not.
I think he said another user had the same problem and had figured out how to set steam to use different servers or something? But he didn't sound certain and made it seem kinda vague.

You can try a different download region but then you might be limited by other factors such as trans-atlantic cable speeds

Settings->Downloads ->Download region

You can try playing around here. Steam uses both Akamai as well as its own internal content servers to provide content. Ifyour ISP is blocking/routing Steam then it 'might' work if you find a CDN that is Akamai based since your ISP really cannot block Akamai (everyone basically uses Akamai). you can try different regions in your country or try entirely different countries all togehter. Your milage may vary significantly as it depends highly on what inane thing your ISP is doing to throttle steam

[Benchwarmer]

No problems before but today everything is downloading slowly. I hope this isn't the new normal.