Is there something like a data cap on your internet connection? I get the feeling that my speed is being capped after having downloaded an admittedly huge amount of data (100+ GB). Could be Astrill, too.

Every now and then, ours slows down a lot. I reset the modem and turn the whole thing off and on. No change.
Then we phone to complain, they say that there is nothing wrong and we need to just reset the modem. Which I don't, and lo and behold, it speeds up again.

I find there is a tremendous slowdown in the afternoon - every day!

Yes, my internet connection goes from reasonable to almost nothing. No definitive pattern, but afternoons are generally slower too. Its not a cap for me - I don't download that much - but I've wondered if it's due to other people using the same lines or, for some websites, America/Europe "waking up"?

good point actually Ocean. Since it's P2P, I assume it's America sleeping rather than waking up. I found out that other downloads seem to work more or less seamlessly, attaining up to 7MBps through the VPN. Solved then, thanks all.