Given that you're on a cable based internet platform, your situation will be dramatically different.
First, we need to understand the difference between line speed and actual file size transfer. Speed is measured in bits, kilobits, megabits, gigabits, terabits, etc
File size transfer on the other hand is measured in Bytes, KiloBytes, MegaBytes, GigaBytes, TeraBytes, etc
Bits are measured as follows:
1 b = 1 b
1 kb = 1000 b
1 mb = 1000 kb
1 gb = 1000 mb
1 tb = 1000 gb
Bytes on the other hand are measured as follows:
1 B = 8 b
1 KB = 1024 B
1 MB = 1024 KB
1 GB = 1024 MB
1 TB = 1024 GB
So… 10 mbit line speed upload would be calculated as follows:
(10 mbit) x (1,000,000 b/mbit) = 10,000,000 bits
(10,000,000 bits) / (8 b/B) = 1,250,000 B
(1,250,000 B) / (1024 B/KB) = 1,220.70 KB
(1,220.70 KB) / (1024 KB/MB) = 1.19 MB
So... Seeing 1.4 MB being transferred would suggest that you're actually getting the full speed that you're supposed to. On some connections, I find that running a torrent client at more than about 85% of the line capacity can make for a very problematic connection. So... For this reason, I would suggest limiting your connection speed to about 1.1 MB/s for optimal performance.
On a Gigabit service, as long as you have Gigabit ethernet between your computer and your modem/router, your max speed should peak out as follows:
(1 gb) x (1,000,000,000 b/gb) = 1,000,000,000 b
(1,000,000,000 b) / (8 b/B) = 125,000,000 B
(125,000,000 B) / (1024 B/KB) = 122,070.31 KB
(122,070.31 KB) / (1024 KB/MB) = 119.21 MB/s
So yes... The difference will be unreal. 