Download Speed - Wat?

[JLCitadel]

So.. When I'm going to download something new, i always close out of all my programs I have open, so I can let it download as fast as possible, unless there's something important I need to do. Then I generally put off the download, but lately there's been a seemingly odd turn of events. I haven't been sticking to my usual 'close it before download' and my download speeds take a noticeable rise when the browser is being used as opposed to being closed down. I've observed this happening multiple times after noticing it once. I figured it was just the usual fluctuation, but I tried multiple different installers, at multiple times of the day.

 

What this leads me to believe is that my ISP is intentionally choking bandwidth and throttling speeds when the computer is under low use, to save them money. Then when a browser is opened they notice the PC is active and up the speeds. This is my only hypothsis and not exactly sure how they'd save money by doing this, but that's just idea number one.

 

The other theory on this is that it pulls more of the internet in my direction, like 6 people sleeping in a king size bed, when I open a lot of browsers and I'm running a download, my speed increases because i'm pulling more of the blanket in my direction. (Keep in mind no one else is on my internet or any other devices)

 

There's a clear noticeable change from 2-3 mb/s to 6-7 mb/s

(Megabytes) 

 

What do you believe could be responsible for this change?

Why?

Is there any way to make it work just as well while idling?

Should I just be happy it's easier to use my pc while downloading and keep a browser open when I'm downloading overnight?

[Leonard]

This is weird. You should find out what kind of package you have. If it is unlimited then this should not happen. Have you tried to check your internet speed with Speedtest.net ?