...the Speed column indicates what connection the source you are downloading from has, rather than your connection.

All types of connection are compatible with each other. How fast you can actually download depends on a number of variables, but broadly speaking a download from a modem source will be slower than one from cable/DSL.

This is where the number of sources becomes important: if a file has (for example) ten sources, then LW will download one tenth from each source. In theory this means that the download is ten times quicker.

So you can see that the number of sources is usually more important than the host's connection speed: a modem connection with several sources could be faster than cable/DSL with fewer.

Additionally, downloading a file from more than one source gives you a greater chance of success: if one source drops out you will continue to receive the file from the remaining sources (but more slowly).

One final note of caution: spam will be hosted by many sources (say fifty or sixty) whereas a genuine file is not normally to be found being hosted by more than ten or twenty sources at any one time.

Regards.