More downloads = slower internet?

[T-BosTheBoss]

Does downloading 4 items on a single device at a one given moment slow down the internet more than just downloading one, or does the device have a certain amount of bandwidth to use and just spreads it evenly to each download so it doesn't slow down the internet anymore than just downloading one

[suchamoneypit]

Say you have a 100mbps down connection. That is the limit. You can never exceed that. You cannot and will not download 4 items at 100mbps, you download 4 items at 25mbps each (although in a real scenerio its not gonna be an even split, likely one will hog it and it will go 1 by 1).

[LienusLateTips]

12 minutes ago, T-BosTheBoss said:

Does downloading 4 items on a single device at a one given moment slow down the internet more than just downloading one, or does the device have a certain amount of bandwidth to use and just spreads it evenly to each download so it doesn't slow down the internet anymore than just downloading one

It usually depends on your connection speed. For example I have 150 down I can download ~40Mb/s to each. But then your connection to the router (wifi, ethernet, powerline) can also make it even more varied.

[FlightRisk]

It can vary on the various configurations or hardware limitations.

Certain programs you can set download caps or amount of items downloading at any given time.

 

If you are talking about downloading on once device then using another within the same network. Again you come back to certain configurations some routers will easily allow you to prioritize one device over another or you can also have a situation where the device has a slower connection to the router so will not use the entire connection speed e.g. desktop is connected by a 100mbs line but your network has a 200mb/s connection that desktop will only be able to use 100mb/s which may then be broken down within to give 4 downloads ~25mb/s. Unless of course/again there is software configuration limits e.g. you have 4 torrents downloading but it is set up to only allow 40mb/s then splitting those 4 downloads up into 10mb/s each.

I could go on with hypothetical scenarios but I have incoherently rambled on enough.

 

Hope this helps.

[T-BosTheBoss]

say someone on the internet is trying to play an online game, but I'm downloading something, with our 65 Mbps internet speed, that's fine, but if I download 4 items simultaneously, will it slow down the person playing online to get better download speed, or will it slow down all my downloads to let the other person continue playing online lag free

[Ryoku]

18 minutes ago, T-BosTheBoss said:

say someone on the internet is trying to play an online game, but I'm downloading something, with our 65 Mbps internet speed, that's fine, but if I download 4 items simultaneously, will it slow down the person playing online to get better download speed, or will it slow down all my downloads to let the other person continue playing online lag free

unconfigured it will slow the the internet on a whole, though some routers have setting you can configure so you can set bandwidth limits so no one person/computer can hog all the bandwidth.  So yes if you start downloading 4 things and you manage to use 65mbit of bandwidth your going to make the other person start to lag.