Site and download very slow

[GeekyDeaks]

Perhaps checking download speed using a speed test site might be interesting?
I generally use fast.com when doing a speed test.

The only problem with using that kind of test blindly is that it will default to the closest server to avoid throttling due to latency. Ideally, you want to pick a target server near the RD one to try and make the test more representative. I don't see the option to set the server with fast.com either, so it might be a bit limited for testing. I seem to recall someone posted details of a speedtest.net host that was in the same region, i3D Rotterdam maybe?

 

[trichens]

Very true, but the fast.com test would show local speeds; if that's a problem then you'll have slow download. Using speedtest.net I'm getting the above right now.

There is an option on the speedtest page that allows you to change a Connections setting; changing from Multi to Single changes the results of the speed test..

 

[trichens]

A traceroute test with KeyCDN to www.racedepartment.com shows the number of points that a connection uses.

Frankfurt - 8 nodes
Amsterdam - 8 nodes
London - 9 nodes
New York - 9 nodes
Dallas - 14 nodes
San Francisco - 17 nodes
Singapore - 23 nodes
Sydney - 21 nodes
Tokyo - 20 nodes
Bangalore - 12 nodes

 

[Neilski]

I seem to recall someone posted details of a speedtest.net host that was in the same region, i3D Rotterdam maybe?

Yes, but sadly I've seen instances where the i3D Rotterdam server was speedy but the downloads from our site weren't (even for Premium) Things are clearly more complicated than I'd wish, and I have no reliable recipe so far for checking what's going on.

There is an option on the speedtest page that allows you to change a Connections setting; changing from Multi to Single changes the results of the speed test..

Oh, hadn't spotted that before - is it new? It makes no difference to my results but I can see how it might.

 

[Russboo]

You guys might have already had this conversation and apologies if you have, didn't fancy wading through pages - have you considered migrating to a cloud solution from where you are now? I'm not sure how you guys are funded, your current costs and what your model is in general but there does certainly seem to be an appetite for the premium account to boost download speeds.

Perhaps enough people paying for a premium account would fund the cost of that transition. Even if you were only transitioning your object storage i.e. your downloads for instance.

 

[Neilski]

You guys might have already had this conversation and apologies if you have, didn't fancy wading through pages - have you considered migrating to a cloud solution from where you are now? I'm not sure how you guys are funded, your current costs and what your model is in general but there does certainly seem to be an appetite for the premium account to boost download speeds.

Perhaps enough people paying for a premium account would fund the cost of that transition. Even if you were only transitioning your object storage i.e. your downloads for instance.

No need to apologise. In short, yes: cloud options are under consideration. However, the cost of serving several hundred TB per month is generally eye-wateringly large, whichever provider you choose...

 

[Russboo]

What kind of multiple have you seen so far versus your current hosting costs to moving to something like S3 for example?

With the right monetization strategy I'd imagine you could make it make sense, your site provides a huge service to the community. There's always the reduction in worries about maintenance, time saved etc. with cloud as well which is always worth taking into consideration.

 

[Neilski]

With the right monetization strategy I'd imagine you could make it make sense, your site provides a huge service to the community. There's always the reduction in worries about maintenance, time saved etc. with cloud as well which is always worth taking into consideration.

All true, but finding the right strategy isn't straightforward.

What kind of multiple have you seen so far versus your current hosting costs to moving to something like S3 for example?

Without getting into commercially sensitive info, let's just say "large"

 

[FriendOfJah]

Has anyone else here experienced absolutely dial up speeds when downloading files? I have 1GB Frontier Fiber Optic service and some downloads less than 250 MB can take upwards of 30 minutes to download. It's painful to say the least. Do they throttle non premium accounts back? I used to be a Premium subscriber but just couldn't afford the renewal price.

 

[Neilski]

Has anyone else here experienced absolutely dial up speeds when downloading files? I have 1GB Frontier Fiber Optic service and some downloads less than 250 MB can take upwards of 30 minutes to download. It's painful to say the least. Do they throttle non premium accounts back? I used to be a Premium subscriber but just couldn't afford the renewal price.

You'll find some recent posts above that address this, but in short: the server is very busy at peak times, resulting in slow downloads. Lots (many hundreds) of non-Premium users are sharing most of the bandwidth, with a portion available for Premium downloads. So while we're not throttling non-Premium users, the much smaller number of Premium users doing downloads do get higher speeds.
We are hoping to cure the issue but there is no timeline for this, yet.
Meanwhile, non-Premium users can generally get high speeds by downloading at off-peak times.

 

[FriendOfJah]

You'll find some recent posts above that address this, but in short: the server is very busy at peak times, resulting in slow downloads. Lots (many hundreds) of non-Premium users are sharing most of the bandwidth, with a portion available for Premium downloads. So while we're not throttling non-Premium users, the much smaller number of Premium users doing downloads do get higher speeds.
We are hoping to cure the issue but there is no timeline for this, yet.
Meanwhile, non-Premium users can generally get high speeds by downloading at off-peak times.

Thanks so much for the feedback on this topic.

 

[jgf]

Has anyone else here experienced absolutely dial up speeds when downloading files? I have 1GB Frontier Fiber Optic service and some downloads less than 250 MB can take upwards of 30 minutes to download. It's painful to say the least. Do they throttle non premium accounts back? I used to be a Premium subscriber but just couldn't afford the renewal price.

As stated previously, the connection from your computer to this site may go through a dozen or more nodes including satellite uplinks/downlinks; you may have a 100gB connection at your end but if any one node between you and here is running at 40k, then you have a 40k connection. And so many things can affect speeds - overheating equipment, bad physical connections, inclement weather, heavy traffic, etc.

This time of year weather is definitely an issue (look at what the US has had the past few days). If you experience greatly fluctuating speeds during a single d/l that is often the problem. This afternoon it took me 2hrs 20min to d/l a 200meg file, speed varied between 4k and 940k with 48k-120k being most common, it even cut off a couple of times.

If you use a VPN you could try a different server, this reroutes your path so you may get a better connection ...or a worse one, lol.

 

[Nabond]

Hey, i am in Germany and i have the same issue. I doubt it is my provider as i have downloaded with high speeds on race department before, but 100mb in 1 h seems out of line....

 

[RasmusP]

Hey, i am in Germany and i have the same issue. I doubt it is my provider as i have downloaded with high speeds on race department before, but 100mb in 1 h seems out of line....

Did you download just now?
6 pm CET during Christmas holidays with lots of people getting new parts will definitely count as "during peak time"

 

[Neilski]

Hey, i am in Germany and i have the same issue. I doubt it is my provider as i have downloaded with high speeds on race department before, but 100mb in 1 h seems out of line....

That's slower than I'd expect even at peak times, but maybe you hit a really bad time. For info, right at this moment non-Premium download speeds are such that a 100 MB download would take well under half an hour (which is still bad of course!).

 

[zenixlo]

Best advice we can give you is still in this post above. Only your ISP can offer any assistance with this I'm afraid.

it is a problem with your website. just accept it.
My internet speed is 500mbit/s and still takes 1 hour to install a 400mb map.

 

[RasmusP]

it is a problem with your website. just accept it.
My internet speed is 500mbit/s and still takes 1 hour to install a 400mb map.

It's already mentioned that the server is too busy since months but solutions are difficult.
Not sure why you're picking that one quote out of context to write an angry post?

It's EU afternoon on a weekend, during holidays with Christmas gifts/purchases made everywhere.

The quote you picked is only for when you have really bad download speeds during non-busy times too.

 

[Neilski]

it is a problem with your website. just accept it.
My internet speed is 500mbit/s and still takes 1 hour to install a 400mb map.

Yes, @RasmusP nailed it there. You managed to find a post that's almost 2 years old (!) and not relevant to most users... Sigh. Perhaps read the last page or two instead of the 2-year old stuff

 

[Noobiix007]

Honestly, it's starting to get a bit (and that is an understatement) infuriating.

Take a look at my fiber connection speeds from speedtest:

and now the speed that the files hosted on your website downloads, at midnight on a weekday in Europe:

How is it my ISP's fault?

 

[RasmusP]

Honestly, it's starting to get a bit (and that is an understatement) infuriating.

Take a look at my fiber connection speeds from speedtest:
View attachment 627932

and now the speed that the files hosted on your website downloads, at midnight on a weekday in Europe:

View attachment 627935

How is it my ISP's fault?

Did you download just now?
6 pm CET during Christmas Late evening during New Years - holidays with lots of people getting new parts will definitely count as "during peak time"

It's already mentioned that the server is too busy since months but solutions are difficult.
[...]

It's EU afternoon evening on a weekend, during holidays with Christmas gifts/purchases made everywhere.

The quote ISP argument you picked is only for when you have really bad download speeds during non-busy times too.

Yes, @RasmusP nailed it there. You managed to find an explanation post that's almost 2 years old (!) and that's not relevant to most users... Sigh. Perhaps read the last page or two instead of the 2-year old stuff

Btw if you can afford 2500 Mbps connection but can't download during non-peak times or wait for the slow downloads:
Maybe get premium

(right now)