Download speeds usually depend upon your sources & what they have available or are offering. But your scenario sounds a little suspicious.

Try an experiment, download a magnet link from the following magnet site & tell us what happens re: connecting, download speeds, consistency in speeds, status, etc. + MagnetMix.com +: The Source for Good Content

You could re-check that UPnP is turned on in both LW & your Netgear. For LW under menu bar, Tools->Options->Advanced->Firewalls. Perhaps even change it do something else & then change it back.
For Netgear, see similar instructions on setting it up here to be sure it is turned on: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...gearMR814.mspx
Perhaps even try rebooting your router. Or turning it off for 10-15 mins & turning it back on.

I notice you edited your post after I first posted lol Not important.