Ubuntu downloads on cable horrifically slow, after a while

Has anybody else seen this? If I try to apt-get install something on my laptop
in the office [NTL:Telewest Business 10M cable] the download starts out fast,
then drops down to ~4kBps:

# wget http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...tu6.6_i386.deb
--progress=dot
--2009-12-01 15:49:55-- http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...tu6.6_i386.deb
Resolving gb.archive.ubuntu.com... 194.169.254.10, 2a01:450:10:1::10
Connecting to gb.archive.ubuntu.com|194.169.254.10|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 25375084 (24M) [application/x-debian-package]
Saving to: `openjdk-6-jre-headless_6b12-0ubuntu6.6_i386.deb.3'

0K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 0% 257K 96s
50K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 0% 667K 66s
100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 0% 896K 53s
150K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 0% 1.16M 45s
200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 1.04M 41s
250K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 1.39M 37s
300K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 920K 35s
350K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 1.29M 33s
400K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 1% 1013K 32s
450K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 1.38M 30s
500K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 1.23M 29s
550K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 1.22M 28s
600K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 1.17M 28s
650K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 2% 1.19M 27s
700K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 1.17M 27s
750K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 1.11M 26s
800K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 1.20M 26s
850K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 1.05M 26s
900K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 3% 1.18M 25s
950K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 948K 25s
1000K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 1.45M 25s
1050K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 262K 28s
1100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 79.2K 39s
1150K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% 4.84K 4m1s
1200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 4.80K 7m7s
1250K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 4.66K 10m3s
1300K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 4.58K 12m49s
1350K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 4.26K 15m36s
1400K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 5% 4.26K 18m11s


So, it runs at full speed for the first meg or so, then drops off. If I kill
it and restart it with '-c' [continue where it left off], it will be at full
speed for another meg or so, then back to slow. So, is this official
policy from VM or what? I can put the file on a different web server and
pull it down at full speed. I can download at home from Ubunutu repos at full
speed.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
15:47:06 up 45 days, 25 min, 5 users, load average: 0.10, 0.13, 0.15
Plant food is a made up drug

In message <1wbRm.593$(E-Mail Removed)2>, Peter Andrews
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Downloaded in 21 secs on my telewest broadband (Croydon)
I wouldn't normally comment, but that's about how long it took to scroll
down to your reply, learn to snip n quote properly please.
>
>Peter
>
>

--
Clint Sharp