Just a short rant... I've recently started buying games using online stores where you download the game instantly, and I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. The only problem is that the perhaps largest provider, Steam, has the lowest download rates for me :/ I bought a game from Atari's e-shop (Mask of the Betrayer) and the download was at a constant 1.5Mb/s, perfect! Now I bought Mass Effect from Steam yesterday, and it's been downloading at 100kb/s, and that game is HUGE compared to Mask of the Betrayer. It kinda takes away some of the benefits of buy and download, since it's probably quicker for me to just buy it at the store the next day, rather than wait for the download. I want to be able to browse the store in the afternoon, pick a game, and play it in the evening, not the next day. Anyway, I'm wondering if Steam is this slow even in other countries, like the US for instance? Maybe I'm a bit spoiled with fast downloads, but I really don't think it's acceptable to provide such a slow download to paying customers. I think Steam should learn from Atari.

I've pulled down games on Steam at 1.5 MB/s consistantly on my connection in the US.

I usually get 1MB/s-ish from Steam. I think they need a mirror for you over in Sweden :P

it's possible they don't have a mirror for that particular game, or the mirror sites are busy. I don't know exactly how steam works, the actual hosting may be provided by the game's publisher himself, in which case, it could be slow.

Steam saturates my connection here (Perth West Auustralia) and counts as being "local" traffic so doesn't chew up much quota (ie is the best thing since sliced bread) The only thing that would be better with Steam is if I could transfer a game to another account (ie my wifes) once I'm finished with it (like a disc) even it was for a limited number of times or a nominal fee.

I'm in Denmark and I suspect the situation here is the same as in Sweden.
I've been downloading with 1MB/s from steam (which is my max. speed), but it's not uncommon for games to download at 100KB/s. I suspect the servers are simply busy.

Don't forget to try other download regions. Pick somewhere that is at 3 or 4 am, and try downloading from them.

Steam Settings > Downloads tab > Download Region.

Also, don't forget to set your internet connection speed, it factors into things I believe.

at work I used to get close to 8mb/sec with steam, and I live in sweden.


check if your settings are pointing to the right server.

I just downloaded AA3 at 800k/sec. Which in the US is pretty fast.

speaking of steam the new hardware survey was published today:
Hardward Survey
Ram is on the rise as always. Should be interesting in 2 months for the windows 7 stats.