said by planiwa :

You may be on to something. HTTP is not an IP protocol (like TCP, UDP, ICMP). For an ISP to tell the difference between a packet to/from ports 20700-20720 being part of "single connection HTTP-application" rather than a "excessively multi-connection P2P application", and then to treat the former as if it had been a properly "ported" HTTP application, the ISP would literally have to engage in DPI! I'm not sure that would be a good thing. Perhaps the Steam people might be better off using ports for their intended purpose -- e.g.: FTP?

BTW, we all make assumptions all the time, including the assumption that others do but "I" don't. :-) And we rarely interpret the meaning of another's writing or speech exactly the same as the other.

We have ...

* OP who at first assumed steam content distribution is P2P
* Others who said it's HTTP
* Eastlink support staff who say it's throttled (are they assuming it's P2P?)
* Steam support staff who offer no explanation!
(Perhaps SirX really is the only one to experience this problem?)

said by SirX :

I think its probably because Steam isn't using standard HTTP ports.

said by urbanriot :

Actually, I have a strong feeling they use different servers based on the content. When they had the Unreal 3 free weekend that everyone was in uproar over, since the majority of people (especially those in Canada) couldn't download them, I also bought Left 4 Dead. I could download Left 4 Dead but I could not download Unreal 3 along with everyone else... until I switched my servers to US and it came down, albeit slowly.

My experience ranges anywhere from 400 KB/s to 1.5 MB/s. I'm sure any fluctuations are on Valve's end.

said by planiwa :

So, from a teksavvy host, cdn.steampowered.com has a RTT of 15ms and no packet loss.

If my ISP were to tell me they throttle HTTP traffic, I would ask:

How high? :-)

I.E. what rate do they limit it to?

Let's recapitulate:

In his original message, OP writes:

quote:

---

Eastlink is my ISP. I have a 15Mb connection with them
I can download @ 1.8MB/s from a websites.
I cannot download a game or demo at more than 475KB/s from steam.

---

and later:

quote:

---

I talked to support again.
They basically said, ya its throttled, there is nothing we can do.
I asked if I could talke dto someone about getting Steam Unthrottled as I can't be the only one affected.
They said, "nope, we can't change the throttling, sorry"

---

Something seems to be missing.
Does Eastlink throttle all HTTP?
Or does it throttle Steam and Limewire?
Or is someone assuming that Steam content is distributed by P2P, rather than HTTP?
Or?

said by vonSchroeder :

SirX, you could try downloading a file from www.fileshack.com since they also use Limelight. I believe they cap at 500 KB/s for non-members and 750 KB/s for registered but non-paying members. Therefore you won't be able to max out your connection but you can at least check to see if you can get past the magic 475 KB/s mark. This will show you if the issue is somehow related to the speeds you can get from Limelight in general, as opposed to Steam in particular.

said by Fireblade :

Steam is defiantly not throttled, 1.1 MB/Sec via Toronto servers from Steam.

said by vonSchroeder :

SirX, you could try downloading a file from www.fileshack.com since they also use Limelight. I believe they cap at 500 KB/s for non-members and 750 KB/s for registered but non-paying members. Therefore you won't be able to max out your connection but you can at least check to see if you can get past the magic 475 KB/s mark. This will show you if the issue is somehow related to the speeds you can get from Limelight in general, as opposed to Steam in particular.

said by vonSchroeder :

I think you are confusing two different aspects of Steam. The OP is about downloading of content. One major aspect of Steam is content distribution of games. This content, as far as I know, is downloaded from a single content server based on geographic region using a single HTTP stream (for each download in progress).

said by SirX :

Yes I have, the said I should have lots of bandwidth availble, try changed servers (which I did) and there was nothing they could do.

you are pinging their main website, not the content servers that the client downloads the data from. I have tried several of those and the speed doesn't change. Not at all.
Which is why I am sure its throttled.

said by SirX :

I talked to support again.
They basically said, ya its throttled, there is nothing we can do.
I asked if I could talke dto someone about getting Steam Unthrottled as I can't be the only one affected.
They said, "nope, we can't change the throttling, sorry"

So the answer is "to bad, there is nothing we can do."

This makes me rather angry.

Any luck here getting around their throttling?

said by mlerner :

Trying sending a message to Deadpool, he can usually clear up these issues.

said by planiwa :

have you thought of asking Steam for their explanation?

said by planiwa :

FWIW, I just did a ping probe and got 2% packet loss, with 100ms latency. Some say that the TCP throughput with 1% packet loss and 100ms latency is "nil"

said by SirX :

If its HTTP, then I still don't understand why I have an issue. I can download a regualr file from a site at full speed...

said by twizlar :

For server refreshing it will initiate massive amounts of connections as it has to ping and query each server manually.

As for the actual file downloading it uses http.

said by twizlar :

Hes talking about the downloading of content.

said by vonSchroeder :

... Steam always maxes out my 5 Mbit connection.