Strange speed difference...

For the past week my DSL has been acting weird. I'm on a 2mb connection...

Using Internet Download Manager, I always download at 230-250KB/s.
For instance, right now, I tried download adobe reader from filehippo.com
Using IDM, I'm hitting ~230KB/s. Using the built-in Firefox download manager, I'm getting 35 KB/s. Furthermore, I can feel that loading webpages alternates between being very fast and very slow. But like I said, using IDM, I'm always at 230 no matter what. I also will add that sometimes using the Firefox download manager I do get 210 KB/s but it's hit or miss like the browsing speed.

Anyone know of a possible explanation/fox for this?

 

I don't believe you need a fix, because firefox use single stream for downloading files (with normal priority) while IDM use 8-16 streams or connections simultaneously (with HIGH priority). Firefox do this to avoid slowing down the internet for other programs you might be using while IDM naturally uses almost full speed.
as for why pages have different loading time, this maybe because of latency issues with your connection or different website use different servers hence different loading time, and I also have noticed (I'm not sure if it's a feature) that Firefox seem to load the tab your viewing faster than the rest.
I believe there are add-on for Firefox than can increase the download speed but I don't see the need as long as you have IDM!

 

Thanks for the reply, but sadly, that's not it.
Like I said, Firefox does in-fact sometimes download at 200+ KB/s.
Furthermore, I load the same sites, the only change is the actual speed in which they load. For instance, sometimes I can stream 720p from Youtube while other times I can barely get 360p going.

 

It's DSL connection- maybe line stats change?
Can you get 2mbps with download manager at the same time that you can't get above 35KB/s with FF?
Did you check line attenuation and SNR in modem statistics?

 

Nope. Line stats are pretty much static.
Yup. It bugs the heck out of me. I download the file through Firefox and get 35 KB/s but when I use IDM I'm getting 230 KB/s.

For instance, when I test it using Speedtest, my max is about 1750/450 and I've seen it fall to 800/400. But through it all, IDM will keep hitting 230 KB/s.

If IDM wasn't hitting that speed, I'd just say it's the connection itself for whatever reason. But the fact that it is, tells me the connection itself is fine.... I just can't figure out what the issue is.

 

Are you sure it's not a browser-related problem. Check in another browser and also check you AV software- some apps line NOD have active and passive filtering for network-enabled apps- one is for better speed and the other for better compatibility. It may be a combination of more than one app.

 

I've got NIS 2012... not really sure what to check in it.
I actually would fire up Chrome, which is unmodified, and for the most part see the same issue. But I'm not sure how good of a job I did testing through Chrome. I will give it another shot.

 

Just disable AV and test again with FF and Chrome.
Also you may try a torrent. Linux distros are always well seeded so they pretty much guarantee good download speeds (just remember to seed afterwards )

 

For instance right now, I downloaded Adobe Reader through Firefox and it was going at 5 KB/s. lol. I tried IDM, it was at 230, Chrome was at 180. Tried again in Firefox and it was at 210, this was about 30 seconds later.

Guess I will disable Norton.

 

you can use avast free antivirus and along with windows firewall it's pretty secure (of course security always depends on how you use your pc)

 

Disabling NIS had no effect unfortunately...