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by StudentStuff 2840 days ago
Sounds like your on some shifty cable ISP or an older ADSL based ISP. For cable provided internet, its truly shared, and one person plugging a VCR in the wrong way means your speeds may drop significantly.

Meanwhile, older ADSL terminals are often backhauled by a couple T1s, so 6Mbps may be split across more than a few customers, resulting in poor service. Centurylink calls it exhaustion when that occurs.