topping out at 150kb/s on dsl

+SBC DSL, the faster of the 2 deals, up to 3mb/s I think?
+Linksys WRT54g, attached with 3 pcs and 1 wireless laptop.
+Modem they gave us

If I download something via bit torrent, no matter how many seeders, I top out at around 150kb/s. I've seen people get upwards of 250-300+ using the same torrents.

This will happen whether I'm the only one on the internet in my house, or even if the other 3 computers are on the internet, and they will have no decline in their speed. So basically, each computer even if they are all being used at the same time, is not getting faster speeds than 150.

I can have my brother in his room download the same torrent, and get the same speeds somewhat.

Is it the router? and how would I tell if it's the modem? I don't exactly have extra routers or modems laying around as this is our first dsl setup ever.

bittorrent isn't an accurate way to measure your download speed

Go check your speed at broadbandreports.com and make sure your torrents are all closed out and you aren't downloading or uploading anything anywhere before you run the speed test.

And when an ISP says UP TO, that doesn't guarantee you'll get the full speed. I had the same plan a while back and I only got about 2mbps.

Your download speed : 1296602 bps, or 1266 kbps.
A 158.2 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 412427 bps, or 402 kbps.

so that looks to be about right, in what i predicted my speed on this pc tops out at. So, "up to 3mb" in this case means 1.266mb?

wait, what's the "transfer rate" versus download speed?

Transfer rate is just a fancy way of saying how fast you can upload/download. Have you tried plugging the modem straight into a computer? If it speeds up then it could be your router. This is doubtful but still try it out. If you're only getting around half of your promised speed I'd call SBC and see what is up. You might be too far from the CO or something and they can try and fix that for you. Good luck.

Are you running wirelessly? If so check signal strengths etc, if youre wired, try putting the machine in the dmz and see if it ups your downlaod speeds, worked for another guy who was having the same problem. I think its an issue with those routers, they cant handle enough connections, although it may be the modem.

With dsl the immediate answer would be distance from the CO, as already mentioned. You can go to dslreports.com and map out where the Central Office is you use, as well as a general distance to it from your house.