I think you're getting confused here between kbps & KB/s. 250 kbps is roughly equivalent to 30 KB/s but you are not going to get that. There is always what's known as overhead where you lose a % of this. Check your real speed here: http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/speedtest/ & choose your state or country.
LW shows speeds in KB/s. So 12 KB/s is equivalent to about 100 kbps.

If you're using a router then you will be partially blocked by an internal firewall called NAT or other type. We'd need to know your model number to offer any advice how to allow it to give 100% access for LW.
For firewalls see here: http://www.limewire.com/english/content/firewalls.shtml & for Norton internet security see here: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=30505

Here's some hints on optimising LW: A well set-up LW can start to automatically continue its dwnlding after it's settled down perhaps 2 out of 3 times you open LW. Optimising LW & Maximising Uplds & Dwnlds A (1st post only) & also Part B which is even better & last & least are search & dwnld hints. The latter one I've been thinking about re-writing for some time. That's just for playing it safe. eg- I show all speeds & qualities.