Hey Zero, thank you for your suggestions. I focused on my internet connection and modem/router settings after reading the post (as opposed to looking at my anti-virus programs) and I had my router and modem configurations setup wrong since August. It didn't cross my mind that I had chose the wrong settings, but I must have been tired or something when I did it 5 months ago.
I set my modem back to bridged mode, set the router back to PPPoE and enabled gaming mode. It was either the 2 firewalls were turned on at the same time and slowed the connection, or it was because both my modem and my router were trying to find independent connections. Either way, I also have a bit faster download/upload speed :DDDDD.
Anyways, thank you very much. I hear other people have very similar issues as I on the steam forums so I will post my problem and solution there.