Connection speed question

[bill4364]

So when I was at school I would get reeeal good DL speeds, like around 6000kB/s, and that was absolutely phenomenal.  So I'm not in school anymore and I start downloading and the highest speed i can get to is 1500 kB/s.

Now at first I just assumed that my college had kick ass internet and thats that but I still googled some stuff on altbinz speeds and I read some replies from the moderators to people who posted bad speed complaints (theirs were much lower than mine I won't deny that, 1500 is still pretty good i think) and some of the answers were that their ISP might be throttling the connection.  

So I looked into that for a bit and the jist of what I saw was that the ssl server, which I do use, was an anti throttle method, among other things, so I doubted that was happening.  But I still googled ISP throttling and read about it a bit more and from what I understood, from the little bit I read, that some ISP's will limit applications once they get to a certain transfer rate or something or other.

Now here's the thing, everytime I start a connection, like clockwork, it will start connecting and be shooting up as it gets going and it'll get to about 2500kB/s, first couple times thats right when I started getting excited, and then drop RIGHT down to 1500kB/s. Everytime.

Now I was going to put this in general talk because like I said I don't even know if this is a problem and I am just looking to get like general info on the concept but I decided to put it here because I should wouldn't argue if someone knew how I could juice my DL speeds a bit higher.  

So I guess the question is could the ISP throttle my connection even though im using SSL?  I dont know enough about the technicalities so when I see my connection shoot up to 2k something then down to 1500 every damn time I've got to put it the thought out there.

Thanks guys.


*edit:  hhaha its actually kind of hysterical in a frustrating way.  I can disconnect then immediately reconnect and there it goes, shoots right to about the 2500-2600 kB/s then drops just as fast to 1500 where it'll stay.  I am convinced that there is something up, not saying ISP throttling or anything but its too exact everytime to be a coincidence. It easily could be something else that is causing the same thing, I dont have a clue, so let me know what you guy think.

[Hecks]

Well, before going any further, what's your actual maximum line speed?  Which ISP?  Have you tried:

http://www.speedtest.net/

[davidq666]

well for starter: what bandwidth plan are u on or in other words which speed are u supposed to get?
without that info it makes no sense talking about throatling...

[bill4364]

I use comcast, 100 mbps.

speed test said: Download- 22.65 Mb/s   Upload- 2.98 Mb/s


The shaper probe from measurementlab.net said:
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 2688 Kbps.

Downstream: Burst size: 9530-9973 KB;
Shaping rate: 12768 Kbps

Let me know what else you would need.    My roommates went home for the weekend so I am plugged into the modem directly so the router isnt a concern.

Thanks guys.

[Hecks]

12768 Kbps is roughly 1500 KB/s, so I guess you need to have a conversation with your ISP about that "shaping rate", assuming you've excluded all local hardware and software factors.

[bill4364]

those bastards.  when I call them out on tuesday do I actually have a claim to make them stop or am I just going to have to get real pissed at them and try to make them stop by being real bitchy?

[Hecks]

Er ... tempted as I am to just say "yeah that'll work" and let you have your fun, you should really start by reading your ISPs traffic management & fair use policies.  It's probably 99.9% certain that throttling is covered.  In which case, complain to your government or change ISP.

[bill4364]

Yea with someone as big as comcast im sure they have their bases covered.  But a pissed phone call threating to switch business might get me somewhere.

Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it.