Not talking about using your browser to connect to sites. I'm talking about your LW connecting to the gnutella network. The network has nothing whatsoever to do with connecting to sites, you are connecting to other users.

LW Pro connects to 5 ultrapeers instead of Basic's 3, thus should improve in searching for rarer files by reaching a wider audience of file sharers.
LW Pro has the ability to download from up to 10 hosts per file compared to Basic's 8 hosts per file, thus should in theory result in faster downloads.

In the past, whenever I made my upgrades and/or renewed my membeships, I did experience faster downloads. However, these have been short lived. Where I never changed my sharing settings or preferences, I have experienced initial quick download speeds with full bars across the board and then within a short period of time, very long download speeds, little downloads to choose from and only one bar.

If I've not changed my Limewire settings but only upgraded and paid for PRO, why would my service be downgraded?

What am I doing wrong, if anything?