The download speed depends on many things. Your own connection speed (dial-up, cable adsl,etc,), the connection speed of the file hosts, the number of hosts in general, sometimes your ISP (if they throttle the download speed at certain times).
You could try to test download a file from magnet to see how fats you can download from there:
http://www.magnetmix.com/video.shtml

When you've done so, get back here and post the results.
And try to have already prepared answers to following questions:

1. OS version? (eg: Windows 98)
2. What firewalls you have?
3. How much ram?
4. Hard Disk space available?
5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.)
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers?
7. Where are you trying to connect from (home, school, work, etc.)?
8. What version of Limewire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version.
9. Who is your isp provider (Internet Service Provider)?
10. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up.
11. Is this a your 1st try at LW or is this a new problem with an experienced user.
12. Do this simple test for us. Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say 'Your test worked!'. What happens when you go there?

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"Never Argue With An Idiot. They Will Drag You Down To Their Level, Then Beat You With Experience"