[Ti] Need Some TCP/IP Insight Here

[b]

Okay, this might be a two- or three-part query.

But it's Saturday night and I'm takin' liberties.

My Ti-book, all is relatively well, BUT, dsl.. why is that my crummy 
(by int'l standards) 90KB download bandwidth, is 'narrowed', or 
'clamped' at around 18KB up?

I mean i'm paying for bandwidth. Ok, thats a opinion-type query.

Question 1.5 is: Is the line, itself, 'clamped' ( I see uploads 
initiate at around 25KB and swiftly narrow to 18)... OR, is it 
specific common ports that are monitored/and clamped?

(I'll bet someone can see the next question coming)

IF, the answer is 'yes' to the last question (port-specific), then 
can i port-forward around the 'clamp'?

I have a feeling the answer there is no, but I'd like to at least 
learn the how&why of my getting screwed by the telco, thank you.

However, heheh, if the answer is yes, or maybe, can i just cobble 
together a proxy server or is an app/protocol-specific port forward 
the way to go?

thanks,
~flipper