Terrible download speed

[LonxKong]

Hi there, I'm just having trouble with downloading things. my download speed is (according to speedtest.net) 1.15 Mbps but my steam downloads at the hiest of 250 Kbps. Is there some setting that I have just missed?
Oh yeah just concernin ISPs and servers I am in wellington New Zealand and with spark, I cannot get fiber due to the fact that I live ruraly.
Please help :)

[The Giving One]

Are you having this issue with just one game or all games on Steam ?

You can try to change the download region in your settings for downloads, but don't expect that to help much. Try several different ones and also try one very far away, as in on the other side of the Earth if possible.

[LonxKong]

Ill give it a try thanks!

[tuxfoo]

That is what speed you are supposed to get, speed tests are measured in bits and not bytes.

1 byte = 8 bit
1 kilobyte (KB) = 8 kilobit (Kb)
1 Megabyte (MB) = 8 Megabit (Mb)
1 Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobyte (KB)
8 Megabit (Mb) = 1024 Kilobyte (KB)

So if you had a speedtest result of 1Mbps then, Megabit (Mb) = [1024/8 =] 128 Kilobyte (KB)

Because your in NZ I recommend changing your download region to LA, its a lot faster than the crappy NZ steam servers, at least it is in Auckland.
Becuase you live rural and cannot get ASDL2+, VDSL or fibre, I would ring up your ISP and ask them if they can offer you a wireless plan.

At the moment I am on VDSL, My speedtest result is about 30Mbps, that does not mean steam downloads at 30 megabytes per second. (30 x 1024) / 8 = 3840, 3840 / 1024 = 3.75MBps and 3.75MBps is about what I get when I download from the LA steam servers.

[LonxKong]

Thanks! I'll try that too!

[LonxKong]

I attempted two different download regions (US: LA, Japan) both didn't improve the downlaod speed at all, in fact taking a hit on both. US: LA averaged out around 90 Kbps where as Japan averaged around 140-160 Kbps. I'm not sure what to do? Is there anything I can do?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Zoidberg:

I attempted two different download regions (US: LA, Japan) both didn't improve the downlaod speed at all, in fact taking a hit on both. US: LA averaged out around 90 Kbps where as Japan averaged around 140-160 Kbps. I'm not sure what to do? Is there anything I can do?

Attempting 2 is not nearly enough. Try several and make absolutely sure to try one far away, such as on the other side of the Earth.

I suggest that you restart Steam each time you change it. I know that is a pain, but that is best.

EDIT..You never answered my very first question here.

[tuxfoo]

I do not think that you will get faster download speeds, in fact if your speedtest result was 1.15Mbps like you say and you are downloading from steam at 250KBps then you should consider yourself lucky because that is a lot faster than your theoretical download speed of 147.2KBps.

At the moment, your connection is downloading as fast as it can, it cannot go any faster.

If you had a better connection then you probably would get a better download speed from selecting LA as your region. How ever you would not get a improvement from selecting Japan because of how the global submarine cables are networked to each other.

I find that in Auckland, the NZ steam servers cap out between 500KBps and 1.8MBps and the LA servers cap out at my maximum theoretical speed of about 3.7MBps, they could be a lot faster than that and I will find out when I upgrade from VDSL to fibre later this month.

I am sure they are offering wireless plans to a lot of rural areas now but I doubt they are cheap.

[tuxfoo]

Also, to avoid any future confusion, you should use the correct acronyms. Kbps = Kilobits per second and KBps = Kilobytes per second. Notice that for bits, the b is always lowercase and for bytes the B is always uppercase.

[LonxKong]

I've kinda given up at this point. the speeds have dropped to around your theoretical download speed, as a matter of fact the speed of 250Kbps was only at the dead of night when no one in my house-hold was using the internet. I guess I could keep attempting servers but I doubt that I will get some signifigant rise to anywhare close to an ideal speed. The main reason of this thread was to find out if there was any quick fixes for hugely increased download speeds. but that's all good if I just have to tough it out.
:)

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Zoidberg:

I've kinda given up at this point. the speeds have dropped to around your theoretical download speed, as a matter of fact the speed of 250Kbps was only at the dead of night when no one in my house-hold was using the internet. I guess I could keep attempting servers but I doubt that I will get some signifigant rise to anywhare close to an ideal speed. The main reason of this thread was to find out if there was any quick fixes for hugely increased download speeds. but that's all good if I just have to tough it out.
:)

A bit surprised you are still having this problem there. There is more that can be done to troubleshoot this, but we had just assumed that you had it sorted out by now since you did not seem to reply to the last suggestions here until now.

Do you want to continue here and maybe troubleshoot this more ?

[n0ether]

Turn off the devices that use the Wi-Fi conection. If you already had ~ 1,5 MB-Hz, the download memory must be used for something else. If you have 250 KB-Hz, try to restart you Desktop!

[Spawn of Totoro]

From what 3djake said, the only way would be to pay your ISP for faster speeds, if available. That is the main limiter on your connection.

[LonxKong]

Spawn of Totoro- Nah I can't, in the first post I stated that I live rurally and the fastest I can get is what I got. Which is a real bummer, because what I got ain't too good.

The Giving One- Sorry on the replies front I was on holiday since the 12th with out my computer, so again, sorry. I would be happy to keep trying, thanks :)

Rallo- I don't think you understand this issue has been going on for the last 4 years, and just recently I have just about had enough. Nothing else is really using the internet extensively for downloads, only the occational glace onto facebook from the others. Idk really

(this community is really good, thanks guys!)

[The Giving One]

Post your operating system. If you have upgraded to Windows 10 by any chance, then that may be a whole seperate issue on this. Please tell us if you have upgraded to that OS from a previous OS.

First, if you are using a router now, don't. Hook an ethernet cable directly from your PC to your modem only. If you have a modem/router combo unit, please tell us that also.

Now, unless you have Windows 10 at this point, make sure you have updated all your NIC(ethernet) device drivers for that computer. ONLY do that from the manufacturer's website and only with official drivers for that device. If you care to post the actual manufacturer of the NIC (not the PC) then you can do that alos if you wish.

Also, it goes without saying, but please make sure Windows is fully up to date.

Now, boot your PC into safe mode WITH networking, and Start Steam client, and log in, and set your download regions back to the default one that you normally use.

Now, try to test your download speeds that way. Pick a normally popular game and STAY in that boot and come back here to post the results so far.

But if your speeds are capped so far as said by others here, then all this may be pointless really.

[(MUNG) Smacky]

Hi Guys,

I have just been trying to figure this out for a friend, and we managed to resolve it getting his speeds to jump from 250kbps to 12mbps.

If speedtest says 1.5mbps that is what you should be getting (NOT 300kbps).

Solution:
Control Panel > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings > Untick Automatically Detect Settings > OK > OK.

Quit steam and re-open, and you should start seeing better download speeds. The guy we did this for has had the problem for months, while he could download in chrome at 12mb and only 250kb in steam.