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BleepingComputer.com _ Networking _ Huge difference in Direct downloading VS Torrent downloading - need help!

Posted by: Hertsky Jun 27 2009, 10:44 AM

I seem to be curious why this is happening, when I am doing a download, from any website, the download speed will start off around 200KB/s, then instantly in about 3 seconds, move down to 30-50Kb/s.
I will notice when I first start the download, I will have about 500KB's downloaded near instantly, then in a few seconds, download speed will drop to 30-50kb/s, and take forever to download another 500kb's. And not only that, but it will stutter, for example: it will download about 50kb of data, stop for about 1-2 seconds, then pickup and download another 50kb of data, then again freeze for another 1-2 seconds and continue to do this.

But when I am downloading a file using a torrent downloader, and downloading from multiple peers, I end up getting 200-300, maybe 400KB/s of smooth download rate, with no stuttering/freezing in between.

We recently got a new router, and internet plan, but whats happening now was still happening before the new router and plans.

Running DSL.
512KB transfer rate

Got a modem, connected to a router, connected to my computer. Router is similar to this http://gigaset.com/shc/0,1935,it_it_0_138495_rArNrNrNrN,00.html

Posted by: Romeo29 Jun 27 2009, 02:15 PM

When you download a file using a web browser (like Internet Explorer) from a web site, it shows the speed in kilobyte/second (kB/s)

When you download a file using a torrent client it may show speed in kilobits/second or kilobytes/second, depending on the client.

You have 512 kbps (kilobits/second) = 512/8 = 51.5 kilobyte/second

So when your browser says speed is 50 kB/s it means kilobyte/second which is perfect for a 512 kbps plan.
Your torrent speed is 400 kilobits/second. It cannot be 400 kilobyte/second on a 512 kbps plan 400 kb/s is okay speed for torrent.

The stuttering of data download may be web site specific. Try downloading from another web site. Or it may be caused by some web scanner (for example, avast web scanner scans all bytes downloaded by a browser and may slow down the web download).

Posted by: Hertsky Jun 27 2009, 10:54 PM

Youre right it wasnt 400kbps on a torrent, I started one up, and got roughly average 250kbps, was getting up to 300kbps at some points.

98.3MB file in 5 minutes.

But im still wondering why I am getting slow, stuttering download speeds when I download directly from websites. I've tried many sites but still get the same slow 30 to 50kbps speed.