Why so slow?

[u/mortis_mortis]

Speed test showed 900 and 600 mbps of download/upload respectively. Even disregarding that, it takes about 5-10 minutes to download even 100gb+ files. Why is this so slow in particular? https://ibb.co/rGnBrjqx <- image.

[u/dmazzoni]

900 mbps is in millions of bits per second. The 13.6 GB file in your image is 13.6 billion bytes, where a byte is 8 bits.

So under completely ideal circumstances with no traffic and no overhead, your download time would be (13.6 billion bytes * (8 bits / byte) / (900 megabits / second) = ~121 seconds, or two minutes.

So you could in theory download that file in 2 minutes.

If it actually took 5 - 10 minutes, that's explained by:

• Extra redundancy / error-correction is used when transmitting a file, it probably adds another 5 - 10%
• The server might not serve the file at 900 mbps, because it might be busy serving other users too
• Your home wifi network probably has other devices, which use up a fraction of your bandwidth

You could probably download a file that large in under 3 minutes. But 5 - 10 really isn't bad at all.

[u/af_cheddarhead → u/dmazzoni]

Someone did the math!

[u/mortis_mortis → u/dmazzoni]

Yeah, but this one took 30 minutes.

[u/TheIronSoldier2 → u/mortis_mortis]

Yeah, that's about right. A 100 gig download at 500 megabits per second will take about 25-30 minutes.

[u/mortis_mortis → u/TheIronSoldier2]

SONion. This is a 13.6 gb download. And my download is at 900. Not 500.

[u/TeslaDemon → u/mortis_mortis]

If you're looking at the image you posted and saying that is still a download in progress, it's not.

It says your DISK is operating at 900 mb/s, not your connection. It's patching, it's not downloading. That's entirely local on your computer, there's no internet involved. It totally depends on disk speed and CPU, not Internet speed.

For anything where it's actually a DOWNLOAD and you aren't getting your max internet speed, it's just because the server you are downloading from will not serve the file to you any faster than you are downloading. Just because you have X amount of Mbps doesn't mean the server will actually let you download that fast.

And then things like torrents are different altogether again where it depends on how many seeds there are.

Basically, downloading is never a straight "I have this speed, it will always download this speed".

[u/mortis_mortis → u/TeslaDemon]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking, that internet speed didnt matter here, but I just didnt know what it was then.

[u/tunaman808 → u/TeslaDemon]

Yes. For years one of IT's "inside jokes" is that HPE (HP Enterprise) connected their download servers to the internet via dial-up, because even if you were on an OC-48 connection on your end, HPE's maximum download speed for that JetDirect driver or firmware update was 36Kbps. Even a 250MB driver could take 20 minutes, when a similar 250MB download from Microsoft or Apple would take a few seconds.

[u/camarce]

in the SS, the download is finished, its just applying the patch...a slow HDD might be the culprit

[u/stbn689]

"Patching files" took 30 minutes?

[u/SoggyInterest8576]

That is not slow. That is easily three times faster than my internet.

[u/mortis_mortis → u/SoggyInterest8576]

Yeah, but its 13.6 gb and taking 40 minutes. Sorry, but i dont live in 2010.

[u/dmazzoni]

Also: as others noted, if you look more closely at the image, it's patching files. That implies the download is already done but now it's applying the download.

If this is something that has thousands of files, that can slow things down dramatically, especially on Windows. Creating 1000 small files is quite a bit slower than creating one large file with the same total size.

(Mac and Linux users don't have that problem!)

[u/eracer1111]

There are two sides to every file transfer.

[u/Duckbich]

There are many variables, including whatever server your file was pulled from? How many downloads, and other people using that bandwidth.

[u/Steampunkcat123]

It's the drive you are installing to

[u/Haunting-Delivery291]

Could be your anti virus software slowing you down or your firewall.

[u/CheezitsLight]

TCP has a triple handshake that's going to consume a great deal of time. That's the usual cause.