unique downloading speed issue

I have recently chosen a new ISP and am paying for a 1Mbps connection.The problem is that i get a very low download speed of say 16Kbps only when i download using IE. Howver when i use a download manager speeds move up to 100 Kbps and the download gets completed in 1/7th of the time.

Another thing that seems related is that even if i download 6 -7 files at one time (simultaneously) each one will download at around 16 - 18 Kbps totalling to the same overall seed that i expect to get on my 1Mbps connection

Is there something i can try from my end before i blame my ISP?

If you download the same exact file from the same location via another browser, are speeds normal?

Could it also be something in the settings of IE, that it's been told to download slower as to not over-ride any old ISP download limit or download speed? Just another n00bish thought from me... :\

Hi perfection,

Couple of things to consider:
1)As TGC said, is it specifically a IE problem, or do alternative browsers also suffer? If they do, then go to number 2

2) Does your ISP implement any sort of Traffic Shaping policy? This is where certain traffic, such as VOIP gets higher priority than others, like download servers such as Rapidshare. Which brings me on to point 3:

3) Is it all websites? Some websites? 1 website? what sort of websites are they?

4) When you say 16Kb/s do you mean 16Kb(its) which Internet speed is measured in or 16KB(ytes) which download speed is measured in?