Linux > Windows - Download Speed?

[Joe]

Perhaps I'm the only one noticing this, but Linux does a great job at managing bandwidth. Surfing the web does not slow down a bit when I'm downloading a large file (priority given to firefox?), and I'm downloading 8.4Kbps average on a 7Kbps line, somehow. I <3 Linux. 

[iago]

It could be that your browser is estimating incorrectly.  On a 56kbit line, it is theoretically impossible to download at greater than 7 kilobytes/second unless some kind of compression hanky-panky is involved. 

[iago]

on that note, out of curiosity, what speed do you get downloading this?  The file is 21mb but is compressed to 20kb.  Most real browsers should automatically decompress it.  I'm wondering which speed it logs.

[Joe]

134Kbps.

[iago]

Heh, sweet.  Everything should be .gz'ed

[Joe]

I think that comes from the fact that the download started (and probably finished) before I picked my save location (I'm running a LiveCD right now so I don't have my nice cozy firefox settings).

[Krazed]

Honestly, I've always noticed a semi-dramatic increase in download speed, and just regular browsing speed while using linux. I also notice a 1000% percent increase in the stability of my  computer while on linux.