I have this issue EVERY TIME I download something. And I know how to fix it. The issue is when I download something (anything... anywhere.. anytime) from my browser (any browser... tried at least 4) the fastest download speed I ever get is 3.5MBs. That's it. No where near my "limit." But when I go and use a download manager.. BOOM.. then I get 15, 20 and on Steam even 30MB/s. (now we're talking my limit... my ISP package is at 200Mb/s).

From 3.4, 3.5.. sometimes maybe eek out a 3.6 to instaneously 10, 15, 20 or more from the SAME SITE downloading the SAME THING. Download managers make that much difference.

But in the past whenever I would post about it.... I would ALWAYS get the same type of response.... "the download speed is dependent upon your ISP and whatever is happening online... not the browser. You should get whatever your ISP speed is in your browser." And. I. NEVER. HAVE.

So, I want to know, once and for all, is that bullshit? (because I'm thinking it is). Or am I really the only person on the internets whose browser download speeds are only a fraction of the actual traffic speed?

I bring this up because I'm on the new version of Firefox now. And with no download manager, I just went to download a GOG game... and viola... 3.5MB/s. I stopped that shit in a hurry. Now to find a new download manager (dammit I liked DownThemAll but it won't work with this Firefox).

Here is one cynical answer: Try another browser as your ISP or your local host of GOG downloads might dislike Firefox. Another cynical possibility, your ISP dislikes GOG but does not recognise it as GOG if you use some download managers.

Whatever. As i said, it doesn't matter what site.. what browser... what computer (been this way since forever).. what OS (XP, 7, and now 10).

If you just use the browser and try to download anything the fastest you get is 3.5MB/s (Been that way a long time too.. even though my ISP speed has increased at least twice in the years). Then when you install a download manager you get the speeds you should get for your ISP. I don't know why that is so hard for so many to just say.

ADDED: UGGHHH. And I have now tried THREE add-ons with this new Firefox and NONE OF THEM WORK. Dammit, this is why i didn't upgrade Firefox in the first place. DownThemAll worked EVERY TIME right when installed.

Makes sense... except for GOG. I can't imagine GOG having such limited bandwidth per client when their business is selling and downloading games.
well I'm now on my SIXTH download manager to try with this new Firefox. NOT A GODDAMNED ONE has worked right. It looks like another restore to yesterday and back to the old Firefox despite it not being secure. would rather have adequate download speeds than be secure if I have to choose.

Your local host of GOG files may have though.

Do you want to try using an independent download manager? I use Free Download Manager and I have it monitor Firefox. When I click on a download that is greater than 5MB (you set the limit) it starts automatically. When downloading from Gog it creates 10 different sessions (connections) so it's like 10 times as fast as the standard browser download speed

You may use GOG Galaxy just for faster downloading games. It works the same way as download manager but it eats some of PC resources. Turning it off after download is finished is recommended. Most probably

I don't know what that is.

Here's what I know. Since I've been at GOG (2008) I've used IE and Firefox mainly. And I would just double click the Firefox icon and it would open up to my home page. I go to GOG.com to my games page. I click on the game i want to download, and then I click on the file to download (sometimes I have to change from GOG Galaxy to Classic installer). And a box pops up where I would click "SAVE" or with DownThemAll i would click "DownThemAll" and it would download my games.

I have now tried 7 different "download manager" Firefox add-ons and NONE of them work (or at least work like that). When i go to my account, the only options showing up after clicking the file to download is the standard (SAVE) one that is the build in browser one that gets only 3.5MB/s no matter what.

For 10 years I've just clicked on my game and it downloaded, at a fast speed (dependent of course on my ISP speed at the time which is now at 200Mb/s) and now I can't. I just want to click on my game and have it download at a reasonable speed (at least 10MB/s).

AND THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM IS... why, in 2018, is 3.5MB/s apparently "the standard" download speed for web-sites? Because that's the speed I get no matter what browser.. what OS, what site it is.. NO MATTER WHAT. Why on earth would such a slow speed be the standard in 2018?

What I am saying is screw addons for a moment go here

https://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-download-manager.htm

and try one of these separate from Firefox download managers and tell us about the results.

Separate from Firefox? How do I point at my file on my GOG account if I'm not in Firefox? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean by separate?

You will go to the download manager settings and have it monitor Firefox for files greater than x MB, you choose x. Now when you click to download a file, while browsing on Firefox , the download manager will run automatically and you will just confirm the download / download location. It will take some reading/researching , each manager probably has its own settings.

Oh okay, I gotcha. I'll try a couple more add-ons and if they don't work I'll look into the separate ones and see if I can get it to work. Thanks.

As usual the truth lies somewhere in between.

First, you can't get a higher download speed than what your provider gives you. ISP usually tell speeds in Megabit per second (Mbps) while browsers and download managers usually report speed in Megabyte per second (MB/s). Since one Byte equals 8 Bit your maximum download speed is 25 MB/s.

There are many reasons why downloads can be slower than anticipated. It is certainly possible that GOG's servers are getting hammered because there is a sale going on or there could be too much internet traffic on the way between GOG's server and your browser. There is nothing a download manager can do to help with that. The only thing you can do is try again later.

It is also possible that the download speed is restricted per download thread as Cadaver747 said. The reason for that is that no server has unlimited upload capacity and the server operator doesn't want a few clients with high download capacity to hog the server for themselves until they are finished. That's where download managers shine because they usually open several download threads per file and get around the limit this way. If that's the reason why your download is slow then a download manager will boost your download speed significantly.

Having said that, GOG uses a content delivery network to host their downloads. That is a service that operates many servers in many different countries and whenever you download a file it chooses a server close to you that isn't too busy at the moment to deliver the file. It is possible that some servers are faster (or less busy at the moment) than others so it is pretty normal to get different speeds at different times even when the download speed is not restricted. Download managers can help here too unless the server is so busy that it is on the verge of breaking down, of course.

As you can see it depends on the reason for the slowdown if a download manager can help or not.

And if you don't find a good download manager for the new Firefox I suggest you switch to the ESR version of Firefox. ESR stands for Extended Support Release. The ESR version stays on older tech much longer than the common release version and only gets security updates. The disadvantage is that you get all the new bells and whistles of the new Firefox versions much later but the obvious advantage is that you stay on old and proven tech a lot longer.

The ESR version is still using the pre-Quantum codebase so all the old plugins (including DownThemAll) still work. You can download Firefox ESR from here.

Can't get a separate one to work. I right click the link under my account in Firefox,click on COPY LINK LOCATION, and go to the separate manager (in this case DAP), right click in the box to add new downloads, and it puts in something that obviously not the link to the file because it doesn't download the file.

Going into Restore now and am going to restore to my setting prior to updating Firefox. Fuck this shit.
None of that is the issue. The issue is that you are limited to a speed of 3.5MB/s in your browser.. no matter the browser, no matter the OS, no matter the computer, no matter the site you're downloading from, no matter the time of day or anything else internet related. That's the issue. And the only way to get past 3.5MB/s is with a download manager.