It is possible, and common, to send much more than that. With current (last few years) common server hardware, it is no problem at all to push ca. 11 Megabyte per second down a fast ethernet link, under normal server operation of e.g. an ftp server.
Anything slower is either the result of an unfortunate window size, or a sign of how contemporary software can slow things down by animating window borders, or something.
best regards Patrick