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[Deadmeat1471]

It's not that steams servers are crappy it's how torrents work deadmeat.

on a normal server you have one "band" that downloads to and from yoru computer. hence "bandwidth" on how much you can download at a time.

a torrent relies on multiple bands to downland one file. each band being seeded by another user. Hence why everyone wants you to seed when you torrent a file. becasue if there was only one band it would go just as slow as a regular download if not slower due to the fact your conencting through the other users ISP which could be anywhere from dialup to fiberoptic. with steams severs they have a corporate connection which almost guarantees more speed than an average user. The reason it's slow is becasue they give you a certain bandwidth so other people can download too.

What all this really means is, steams servers aren't really up to the job.

No, it doesn't, and no, they don't really cap it. It just means you happen to be far away and/or have a terrible connection to their servers. On RIT's internet, I get download speeds of at a bare minimum of 1 MB/s, usually around the 5MB/s to 7 MB/s range. That your speeds are lower is a result of you having lower quality internet service. The only reason a torrent would be faster would be due to the uploaders being more local, which is a fundamental problem of your connection, not Steam's servers.

Maybe steam should do some peer to peer servers?

Bottom line, pirate download beats steam download more often than not. I don't know why this is even an argument.
This isn't a hypothetical, or a question, or an argument to be had.
This is a I get better speeds pirating games I've bought than using Steam servers. Period.
*This is also the case for all people I know.

[Gantolandon]

All torrent websites should move to .se

If it comes to worst, there is always TOR.

[Frumple]

*This is also the case for all people I know.

Hullo, I'm a counterexample. Pleasure to meet you.

DLs from steam cap out on my max d/l (tends around 250-300 kb/s) pretty regularly. I've only very, very rarely seen a higher DL speed from filesharing sites or torrents. Usually they're lower. So your situation with steam isn't a universal

[Nadaka]

For me, steams only disadvantage is that you can not download while you play.

Edit: and that you can't go into offline mode without internet access because my ISP goes down at least once a week.

[lemon10]

For me, steams only disadvantage is that you can not download while you play.

Edit: and that you can't go into offline mode without internet access because my ISP goes down at least once a week.

Yeah, you can, its been that way for quite a while (you used to not be able to do it, but that was quite a while ago).

[Neonivek]

Na, EULA's have been crazy for a long time, ever since the first software was developed.
It's where they would liketo go, but not necessarily where its going. I mean looking at SOPA, it had a good chance of passing, then in 1 day Wikipedia (and the rest of the web) shut it down cold.

It has already went there a few times.

[Leatra]

Some people don't have a crazy high internet connection. It doesn't matter if I have a premium account on file upload sites or if I download via torrent. I can't believe my eyes when my dl speed is like 140 kb/s.

I envy you guys

[freeformschooler]

For me, steams only disadvantage is that you can not download while you play.

Edit: and that you can't go into offline mode without internet access because my ISP goes down at least once a week.

Yeah, you can, its been that way for quite a while (you used to not be able to do it, but that was quite a while ago).

The former, yes, but the latter no. I was stuck without Steam games for two weeks when my Internet went down in January because:

1) I hadn't set it to offline beforehand, thus preventing me from starting it in offline mode. Look it up if you want to know the details - one of the changelogs a while back reportedly fixed an "offline bug", but I can confirm this is still around and
2) The few limited public wifi options in my town that I had access to blocked Steam for some bizarre reason. Bandwidth, maybe.

[SalmonGod]

I get better downloads through Steam than anything else I can think of.  There is the occasional super popular torrent with tens of thousands of seeders that might come close, such as the OCRemix packages.  Otherwise, I find Steam to be spectacular quality service, except on the rare massively anticipated launch day that bogs down the servers.  Like when Half-Life Ep 3 comes out, I expect the service to slow down considerably for a couple days.  Any other day, my downloads will be faster than 2 mb, and I've seen them get up to 5 mb.  I wish any other service on the internet were so fast.

Their implementation of offline mode does really suck, though.

[Starver]

I've no idea of non .uk people can even see this[1], but in an hour or so of boredom I was watching the BBC iPlayer and think I've ended up overdosing on Rastamouse.  After only ever hearing about the series before today.  Anyway, just watched http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0170dtk/Rastamouse_Black_Whiskers/ (hoping I've retyped the URL from my other computer screen correctly onto this one...  looks like it...  And links correctly from this one, good.)

I just thought I'd share.  It's... erm... yeah.  I don't know.  Indescribable.  Especially when you meet Black Whiskers himself (I've got used to the rest of the characters, over the last half dozen other episodes I've just watched in a row).  And not awfully relevant to this discussion, but more so here than anywhere else I can imagine.  And I was reading this thread even while my mind was being addled by Rastamouse... well...  I've probably actually gone a little doolally, but F.Y.I.


[1] If not, I bet there's ways round this restriction, which are relevant to this discussion, but I'm not going to condone them.  In fact, you're probably better off not knowing.  Completely SFW, but not for sanity!

[Reudh]

2-5MB/s?


I WANT YOUR INTERNET.

I get 150kbps MAX.

[Starver]

All torrent websites should move to .se

Cyber war is beginning!

BTW, check this out

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Don't know if I'm allowed to give a link for this. I'll just copy & paste.
Year of the storm

2012 is the year of the storm.

The Pirate Bay will reach an age of 9 years. Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we're still here. We've been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever.

The people running the site has changed during the years. No sane human being would put up with this kind of pressure for 8 years in a row. An insane hobby that takes time from our families, our work (sorry boss) and our studies.

What binds us all together is a strong belief that what we do is good. That it is something we one day can tell our grandchildren about with pride. People from all over the world confirm this. We read testimonials from people in Syria longing for freedom, thanking us for what we provide. We receive more than 100 visits daily from North Korea and we sure know that they need it. If there's something that will bring peace to this world it is the understanding and appreciation of your fellow man. What better way to do that than with this vast library of culture?

With this said, we hear news from our old admins that they have received a verdict in Sweden. Our 3 friends and blood brothers have been sentenced to prison. This might sound worse than it is. Since no one of them no longer lives in Sweden, they won't go to jail. They are as free today as they were yesterday.

But what enrages us to our inner core is that the system, the empire, the governments, are still allowed to try to boss you and us around with one law crazier than the other. Do you think they will stop with SOPA/ACTA/PIPA? They will not. Because you won't stop sharing those files. Because we will not stay down. Because no one can turn back time. Together, we are the iron that hardens with each strike.

In this year of the storm, the winners will build windmills and the losers will raise shelters. So flex your muscles, fellow pirates, and give power to us all! Build more sites! More nets! More protocols! Scream louder than ever and take it to the next level!

Oh yeah! A rallying speech!

Someone showed me the BTJunkie[1] website, the other day.  Basically a "So long and thanks for all the fish" message.  So the opposite approach to PB, it seems (unless they're not just moving 'offshore', but also changing identity, and covering their tracks while doing so).

(Seriously, I originally thought BTJunkie was something to do with British Telecom, our major phone company...  Silly, eh?)

[Deadmeat1471]

I get about 400kb/s on steam at best, any torrent with 5 or 10+ seeders I get at least 500kb/s frequently rising to 1mb/s.

Steam isn't even trying it seems.

[qwertyuiopas]

Try a different download region?
Many people downloading from steam at once?
Your ISP limiting traffic?
Perhaps nearby internet traffic is being balanced by how fast each individual connection is communicating, so having more connections open gives you a greater percentage of the available traffic?

Since I usually get 400kb/s from steam at worst, it can't just be a "steam is slow" thing.

[Blargityblarg]

I get a max of about 1MBPS (or Mbps, I can't remember) on both Steam and torrents, though only when the Steam servers are relatively quiet or when it's a popular torrent with lots of seeds. More typically is 300KBPS (or, again, Kbps.)