iTunes Slow Downloads?

[kgs]

Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but is anyone else getting super slow downloads from iTunes purchases?

I purchased a tv series and i'm getting like 80 KB/s downloads.

* Reset Router (Time Capsule)
* Reset Modem
* Did a speed test, got 25 megabits/sec downstream (5 upstream)
* Downloaded a small Linux distro image (needed something non-apple hosted) and it downloaded fast and leveled out around 900 KB/s.

It's been like this for a few days. Anyone else having similar issues?

 

[kgs]

Found the problem. Was somehow still using Google's DNS servers. Bad news.

Don't use Google's DNS servers.

 

[PaulKemp]

Found the problem. Was somehow still using Google's DNS servers. Bad news.

Don't use Google's DNS servers.

Why? Is this only with iTunes? I've done a test, followed a guide to 'find best DNS servers' about a year ago, and Googles came out best.

 

[kgs]

Why? Is this only with iTunes? I've done a test, followed a guide to 'find best DNS servers' about a year ago, and Googles came out best.

Couldn't say why, it was simply the solution for me. As soon as I changed it back to my ISPs DNS, download speeds increased to my peak bandwidth.

All I know is I refuse to use Google's junk. If it works for you, great, it didn't for me.

 

[pacmania1982]

I'm having intermittent problems with my downloads. My sister wanted Friends, so I set about downloading the 'box' sets. Some episodes took 5-6 mins to download (~950MB over 50MB fiber) where as others took 30-45 mins. I've found the same today when redownloading some movies I purchased and have since deleted. I'm downloading them in 1080p. Some take 20 mins (for a ~5GB movie), yet others take an hour or so.

Its really odd behaviour. I use my ISP's DNS.

Apple software updates, I get 4.5MB/s down (not Mbps).



pac

 

[pacmania1982]

So I've been downloading more Friends this evening (S03) via iTunes and I've had mixed results. Some episodes download super quick - like 6 mins for ~950MB, others its telling me 80 minutes yet the file size is the same. My only conclusion is the content is split over multiple servers and those servers are busy dealing with other users while the faster downloads are from less busy servers. Does this seem like a logical assumption?

pac

 

[jer04]

Why? Is this only with iTunes? I've done a test, followed a guide to 'find best DNS servers' about a year ago, and Googles came out best.

i had the same problem before, it's not just itunes. a lot of other big companies that use akamai suffer the same. after googling it, i found my answer.

because apple uses akamai to deliver contents. when u use google dns to resolve apple domain name, it appears to akamai that the request is from the location of google dns server and it will connect u to the 'closest' server which is in fact no where close to your actual location (if u don't live close to a google dns server) that result in slower speed.

all in all, the simple solution is not to use public dns or at least public dns server that is located too far away from your actual location.

 

[PaulKemp]

i had the same problem before, it's not just itunes. a lot of other big companies that use akamai suffer the same. after googling it, i found my answer...

I'm now using my Norwegian ISPs official DNS, and still having to wait 6 minutes for a 40 MB podcast. So no luck so far. And Im using a DNS close to my location. No slowness anywhere else on the net.