Steam downloads

Is it just me or has Steam become much slower of late in the downloading time?

I'm having to re-download and install all of my Steam games and it seems to me to be taking a lot longer now than it used to. But then again, maybe I am just not as patient this go around.

I have not used Steam since Testament game. Let's wait for a recent user.
Maybe it's also your service provider?

I haven't used steam to download, but have noticed that when we use a lot of bandwidth, we get throttled. Our ISP doesn't admit to that, but it's very obvious.

It's probably just me and it was more than likely always that slow. It's just that I have a lot of stuff to download now and I'm a little more impatient to redo all my stuff on my new computer.

Thanks for the comments though.

oldman, I downloaded Saints Row The Third a couple of days ago and didn't notice any delays with Steam, but I don't download a lot of games, and when I do is in the games PC and carry on emailing or doing other things in my laptop. Anyway I think one can download the games multitasking with other aplications.

I know I'm late to the party here, but you might want to try a different content download server to see.



The funny thing is they generally pick a server further away from me as my default.

Maybe my ISP is "throttling" me too. I've been downloading LA Noire since Sunday afternoon, and still only 7.5 GB down out of 13.2 GB. It'll be another day before it's finished!

My DSL is slow, but not that slow usually. I should be getting a rate of 4 times faster than I'm getting. And I can't do any other online work during these downloads. I have to pause the download in order to send a couple of emails!



If I change a download site in the middle of a download, will I lose all my download progress? I'd hate to mess with the process and have to start all over again!

Lan, I have no idea. How everything works is a mystery to me. We can wait a bit and someone with a better idea of how things work will stop by in a bit.

lanlynk,

Post over in Glitches. Maybe InlandAZ, Jenny100, Draclvr or Homer6 can help you.

IMO, you should snarl at your ISP if you're not getting the download speed you're paying for.

Gil.

Throttling is a painful way of life for me too. After about 65 MB, I'm throttled down to about 65 Kbps. I have wireless broadband sent to me from a tower about 6 miles away and they claim they have no choice. Don't know if I believe that, but since I would be sitting here on dial-up without them, I can't complain. Lan, a download of that size would take every bit of 3 or 4 days for me too.

Every time I've called to complain about download speeds I've been told we are promised speeds "up to x amount"...anything from that down is considered normal.

If we Ever have a choice here, I will switch but at the moment, I'm just glad I have something faster than dsl.

You guys should complain but not to your ISP. Complain to your congressmen. This is beyond wrong for you to be paying for a service you don't get, whatever their weasel-worded explanation is. Until enough people get incensed and scream bloody murder to government officials, exactly nothing is going to stop them from taking your dough and tossing you crumbs.

Not that I'm opionionated or anything.

Gil.

I agree, but at this moment, if we want fast internet, we have no choice. Like I said, If there is ever another company here, I will be the first person to sign up. I can't prove they are throttling, but common sense and experience says they are.

Sounds like you have a similar situation to mine. I used to have a wireless/cable arrangement, but the small ISP went out of business. The cable company won't wire our place even though other people around us have cable already. The satellite people took one look at our 3-story house and said, "Nope, trees would be in the way." What?? So stuck with old wiring and DSL. Still, I AM grateful I don't have dial-up, but sometimes ...!

I've called the ISP and complained a few times when I've noticed a slow-down, but they tell me that as long as I'm getting within 80% of expected, they won't do anything. A couple of times, though, they did reset me when it was lower.

Traveler, you should have seen my husband go nose to nose with the cable people. He threatened calling in authorities, but if you knew Alaskan politics, you'd know how little that means!

I'll post a question about Steam's download sites over in Glitches. Thanks, guys! In the meantime, I'll just try to be patient. <sigh>

There were a couple of articles in the alternative news a couple of weeks ago about the big ISPs calling in political favors to get small companies that will supply broadband to rural communities run out of business by passing laws of some sort. The main stream news doesn't touch stories like that. It may have been Democracy Now. I have no trouble believing it. Our internet connections suck in most of the country and they cost way too much. Give your DH a big hug. That's my kinda guy.

Gil.

I downloaded a couple of Steam games some days ago and I didn't notice any problems. If you are not sure whether there is a problem with your ISP do a speedtest to see whether it's actually reaching its full dl speed. Choose a server close to where you live and see how well it does:

http://www.speedtest.net/


Spyros

Thanks Spyros, my internet speed is not what it should be right now. When my Steam download is finished, I think I'll call my ISP and see if they can reset me again.

In the past, when my steam download was incredibly slow (more so than usual) I signed off Steam and signed on again and that helped to speed it up a little.

It does take a really long time and I've accepted that. I now start a download before I go to bed and, barring problems, it is downloaded when I get up the next day.

Well, I finally got LA Noire downloaded and installed. I was so nervous those last few minutes! "Don't fail. Don't fail. Don't fail." Three full days to download this, going day and night. I think I need to turn my poor computer off for a deserved rest!

I did some checking though, and apparently you can backup/transfer a downloaded Steam game to play on another computer or reinstall if needed, without going through the whole download process again. I will definitely back up my games just in case.

Here's a guide to that:
Steam Game Backup

Oh, and BTW, my DH asked me about the slow speeds my ISP was giving me. He says tomorrow he's going down there in person to ask why he's paying full price for half a service. HA!

Lan, so glad you finally got it. I hope your husband gets a satisfactory answer.

Well, of course, the people he'll initially talk to won't have anything to do with the issue, but sometimes, if you approach them right (without growling!), they'll try to run interference for you and give you a little "insider" help if they can. We'll see.

My son sent me an email titled, "Jealous?" last night. It was a screenshot of his speeds with the most recent upgrade he made with his cable ISP. It showed 33.44 Mbps download and 4.40 Mbps upload. I responded with, "Gaaaaa... I would sell my firstborn for those speeds. Oh, wait. You ARE my firstborn."

Only in my dreams.....

Woot Drac, that is great

"Gaaaaa... I would sell my firstborn for those speeds. Oh, wait. You ARE my firstborn."