Download speed

[MATR1X]

When kicking off a download the transfer speed on my cable modem normally starts at 100.0 kbs and then drops to the normal of 55.0- 60.0 kbs. Can any one suggest why this happens and if it is possible to keep the speed that high.

Thanx before hand for any suggestions....

[JMBurton2001]

Download speeds are subject to many factors.... download site traffic, distance from server, number of hops, routing crossovers, etc.

Many downloads will start at a higher rate and then "level off" after getting underway. A lot of download sites will throttle their download speeds in order to conserve bandwidth and allow more users to download at one time.

The reasons are many. One thing you can do is to make sure you're system is configured properly. (I have cable access and can sustain 200-300 KBs downloads from a "good" site) Many programs can be found at http://www.tucows.com/accel95.html If you aren't using a Win based platform, Tucows has utilities for other OS's. Simply search their site. I use a program called iNTERNET Turbo that seems to work nicely.

After you have made sure you have your system configured properly, I'd suggest you download Ping Plotter http://www.pingplotter.com/features.html to see if there may be a router or hop problem between you and the site you're trying to download from. If the latencey is out on the net, this will show it. If the latencey is coming from your local connection, you'll see that too. It also will give you ammo for the tech support argument you'll receive when they blame it on something else.

One last thing... Are you using a static IP address or are they running DHCP?

[JMBurton2001]

The reason I asked about your IP is that when they assign a static, many times they give you a default gateway address. If the default gateway address is different than your IP address, it will slow things down a bit because your system will have to take time to find the gateway before actually starting the transmission.

All network cards work on the "broadcast" traffic theory which is different than switched. I learned a long time ago that the closer you keep your gateway address, the better the response speeds. I.E. your default gateway should always be your IP address... That way, your NIC broadcasts it's request to the next hop in the chain, then it takes off from there. If the gateway they've assigned you is up the chain a bit, it has to find that first before going any further.

Try it. I'll bet you'll see a difference...