Download Speeds Decrease

Moohasha · Post by **Moohasha** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:11 am

This is kind of a bizare place to ask this, but this is really the only computer related forums I'm a member of.
I've noticed that anytime I start downloading something, the speed is initially really high (~600 KB/sec) and immediately starts decreasing. If it's something really large (DLing a 1GB file right now) it slows down around 300 KB/sec, but still continues to slowly decrease over time.
Does anyone know why I can start out at ~600 KB/sec and then the rate continues to decrease overtime, even during non-peak times?? I've seen this happen since I first started downloading stuff from Napster back in the day.

Thanks

Post by **xavier** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:44 am

It's an average, and if you are using a browser such as Firefox that starts the download while you are trying to figure out where to save it, it's counting the background-downloaded bytes as part of the total byte count, but starts the timer when you finally get out of the directory-browser dialog. So as the download continues, the speed averages out to lower values.

johnhpus · Post by **johnhpus** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:48 am

I remember seeing that behavior way, way back when I was a young teenager and wondering what was going on (Windows 95 era). Like Moohasha, at the time I trusted the number and assumed that my connection was having some problem.

I called the local dialup ISP and they gave me some weird explanation about it being a "burst rate" or something like that. It wasn't until years later that I learned what was actually happening and had a good laugh about the ISP not knowing either.