Why Are My Games Downloading @ 3.2Mbps When I Have 26Mbps Download Speed?

[D.Rose613]

Whats the technical reasoning behind this nonsense?

[TirithRR]

Because your connection speed is measured in bits and your download speed on Steam is bytes.

1 byte = 8 bits. So divide 26 by 8 to get your download speed.

[Cathulhu]

Steam doesn't show the speed in Megabit, but in Megabyte. 26Megabit per second are equal to 3.25Megabyte per second. So Steam is downloading games at the highest speed your connection allows.

Sheesh, now people are complaining that Steam downloads as fast as their connection allows.

P.S.: MBps ≠ Mbps

[wuddih]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

P.S.: MBps ≠ Mbps

we could complicate this even further by using both, the jedec and iec standards ;)

[D.Rose613]

Thank you people. Learned and Acknoledged.

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Steam doesn't show the speed in Megabit, but in Megabyte. 26Megabit per second are equal to 3.25Megabyte per second. So Steam is downloading games at the highest speed your connection allows.

Sheesh, now people are complaining that Steam downloads as fast as their connection allows.

P.S.: MBps ≠ Mbps

I was clearly unaware about steam showing it in Megabytes... Sheesh now people are complaining about people who are asking to be taught. (GOTTA LEARN IN THE FIRST PLACE)

[Cathulhu]

The display in Megabyte/Kilobyte per second is standard for pretty much every downloader out there. The display in Megabit on the other hand is pretty rare.

[D.Rose613]

I dont know if your trying to call me a liar for saying I didnt know... but regaurdless of it being standard or not, i clearly didnt know. I didnt post this question because I already knew the answer to it... Not everyone as tech sevy as the majority.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

The display in Megabit on the other hand is pretty rare.

Mb is common for ISPs as it creates the illusion of a faster speed then saying it in MB. Most downloaders don't have the download speed made as obvious as Steam does either.

Personaly, I blame the ISPs for the confusion. ;-)

Originally posted by D.Rose613:

I dont know if your trying to call me a liar for saying I didnt know... but regaurdless of it being standard or not, i clearly didnt know. I didnt post this question because I already knew the answer to it... Not everyone as tech sevy as the majority.

Don't worry. This is actualy a very common issue in these forums. I've had to explain it many times myself. Usualy 3-6 times a month (rough estimate of the average).

[D.Rose613]

Respect, appreciate it Spawn

[D.Rose613]

and it definitely is the Internet Service Providers... they purposely make 100 different units of speeds (exhadurated)... so that it can "Sound" better then they say their selling it at 25 megabits per second... but most things acutally show download unit in megabytes... sounds the same, yet so far apart

[Witiwap]

It's not a marketing thing to list in megabit. Connection speeds are always measured in bits. If you look at network hardware it always lists in bits. CAT5 ethernet = 100Mbps; CAT5e = semi 1 Gbps theoretically; CAT6 = 1Gbps. It's measured in bits just because that's the way network people think about the speed. I think they list MBps on downloads because it shows the average person a better ratio of speed/total file size.
Also, the MBps vs Mbps is not reliable. It's just wrong at least 20% of the time.

P.S. Yes, I know this is a necro.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Wittie:

It's not a marketing thing to list in megabit. Connection speeds are always measured in bits. If you look at network hardware it always lists in bits. CAT5 ethernet = 100Mbps; CAT5e = semi 1 Gbps theoretically; CAT6 = 1Gbps. It's measured in bits just because that's the way network people think about the speed. I think they list MBps on downloads because it shows the average person a better ratio of speed/total file size.
Also, the MBps vs Mbps is not reliable. It's just wrong at least 20% of the time.

P.S. Yes, I know this is a necro.

And there is now a setting to change the way it shows the download speed.

Steam > Settings > Downloads and check the box "Display download rates in bits per second"

This was added long after this thread died out which is why it is not good to necro it.