very strange speed fault

[#1]

hi guys, as the topic suggests i have a really strange speed fault,
when i download a file (from rapidshare etc) with any download manager (DAP, IDM) it crawls along but when i put the same link into IE or opera it goes at the speed i would expect it to (about 600k - 800k)
are download managers being throttled or something as this has only started happening in the last few days, any time i have downloaded with DAP before it would go at the expected speeds.
any advice would be appreciated (i know the solution would seem to be download using a browser but sometimes i have 30 or 40 links to download)
thanks
p.s all my speed tests are fine etc, synchin at 7mb speed test.net shows 7.3.

[#2]

Yep, that's not a massive surprise.
We rate limit traffic from download sites/managers during peak times of the day.  You can see where these rate limits are being applied from this link:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/broadband_your_way/experience/speed.shtml#Option2spee...
I'm sorry if you weren't aware of this, but it's always been a feature of the Broadband Your Way products.

[#3]

hi james thanks for the reply.
i appreciate that their are peak time restrictions etc but i am still at a loss as to why i stil get maximum speeds using opera web browser but not my dap, and also that this has just started in the last 2 days (are the restrictions just eing applied in the last few days or have they always been in place)
cheers matey

[#4]

@vlb -- there's a list of the servers PN rate-limit here: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/download_servers.shtml.
There's no obvious link to that page from the "speeds you can expect" page by the way.
@James -- two questions prompted by this thread:
I can see how you can limit a server, but how do you know that a PN customer is using a download manager? (for instance I occasionally use FDM or FlashGet for scheduled ftp or http downloads -- without sniffing at my 'puter somehow, how would you know?)
Also, on the download server list I linked above, there are three ("German Mirror site, Ireland Mirror site, Kent Mirror site") which are not very explicit; the latter (to those who know) refers to the University of Kent site but what about the other two?
paul

[#5]

Hi Paul,
I'm afraid that I don't really know the answer.
I imagine it's how the traffic is actually passed onto your computer.

[#6]

Quote from: paulh

...  but how do you know that a PN customer is using a download manager?

The download manager will make many connections to the same server to speed up your download, the Ellanoya can easily see when you have created 50 FTP or 50 HTTP connections to the same server ... then throttle if needed.
SW.

[#7]

Quote from: paulh

@vlb -- there's a list of the servers PN rate-limit here: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/download_servers.shtml. There's no obvious link to that page from the "speeds you can expect" page by the way. @James -- two questions prompted by this thread: I can see how you can limit a server, but how do you know that a PN customer is using a download manager? (for instance I occasionally use FDM or FlashGet for scheduled ftp or http downloads -- without sniffing at my 'puter somehow, how would you know?) Also, on the download server list I linked above, there are three ("German Mirror site, Ireland Mirror site, Kent Mirror site") which are not very explicit; the latter (to those who know) refers to the University of Kent site but what about the other two? paul

thanks for the answers (and the list of download servers that are throttled)
i must admit though it hasnt cleared up the points i raised which are
1) my download manager has ONLY just started to be throttled
2) if i put the same link into opera (99% of the time its a rapidshare link) it goes at the speed i would expect (un throttled),
so that begs the question, if the rapidshare servers are throttled by pn why doesnt it throttle it when i use opera but does throttle it when i use a download manager.
cheers guys