all app stores suddenly have extremely slow downloads

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all app stores suddenly have extremely slow downloads

Since yesterday (January 28) downloads have been extremely slow for me here in the netherlands from the OS X and iOS app stores. (ive tested on 2 macs, a iphone 4, iPad and iPod Touch.) The speeds we're getting are below 23Kb/s (i'm on a 25 Mbit line.) Downloads from any other (non app store) source are fast as usual. I've noticed the same at the network at work so im sure it's not my connection or firewall or something.

Are there any known issues regarding this?

update: i just used the OS X Software update and it states that downloading 93Mb's wort of updates will take 3 to 4 hours! Seems all the apple Download servers serving the netherlands are slow as glue..

Message was edited by: dadj77

iPhone 4 | iPad 3G | iMac june 2009 model, 3,06 GHz, 4Gb | 2005 Intel Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.2), works on: 27" iMac, 8Gb Ram, 2.66GHz Intel Core i5, ATI Radeon HD 4850

Posted on Jan 28, 2011 11:47 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 28, 2011 12:03 PM in response to dadj77

Hi,

When you have problems with Software Update from your Apple menu you can use standalone installers from the Apple downloads page. See if that makes a difference in speeds.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/

Try restarting your Mac. That may help.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 2

dadj77 Author

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Jan 28, 2011 12:06 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

thanks for the ideas, no change though.. downloading from http://support.apple.com/downloads/ gives me a speed of 13kb/s and lower 😟

Restarting didn't make a difference either (i restart every day.)

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Answer 3

Jan 28, 2011 12:17 PM in response to dadj77

Ok...

From your Safari menu bar click Safari / Preferences then select the Security tab. Click: Show Cookies

Delete all Apple cookies. Type Apple in the search field top right corner.

Quit Safari (Command + Q) then relaunch Safari.

If that didn't help empty the Safari cache either from the menu bar or Command + Option + E

It has to be Apple since the problem exists on all the devices and just the Apple sites.

If you have anti virus software installed, that could be a factor.

🙂

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

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Answer 4

dadj77 Author

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14 points

Jan 28, 2011 12:23 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

ok, just tried all that but no good news to report. speed got worse even but that must be coincidental..
Here's a screenshot of the not so amazing speed: https://img.skitch.com/20110128-xw6ys631twi3rm5w1xeg7f84tt.png

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Answer 5

Jessevl

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Jan 28, 2011 3:56 PM in response to dadj77

Same here, also in the Netherlands. 60Mbit internet connection, working fine everywhere except for any Apple services (software update, app store, etc)..

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Answer 6

Jan 29, 2011 1:18 AM in response to Jessevl

My connection is UPC. Anyone using some other Dutch provider?

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Answer 7

dadj77 Author

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Jan 29, 2011 1:22 AM in response to Vincent Jacobs

UPC here as well. I doubt they are behind it though..

It's now the 3rd day and still slow..

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Answer 8

Jan 29, 2011 1:33 AM in response to dadj77

I don't think that UPC is willfully lowering the speeds... but it might be that something isn't right in the connection between UPC's network and the Akamai network (the service Apple uses to deliver content).

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Answer 9

dadj77 Author

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Jan 29, 2011 1:38 AM in response to Vincent Jacobs

ah yeah your right, that could be.
If you find out any more on this possibility please do post your findings!

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Answer 10

Jan 29, 2011 1:54 AM in response to dadj77

So it turns out to indeed be a UPC-related problem; http://www.chelloo.com/upc/index.php?topic=38963.0;all. UPC seems to be having problems with their DNS server. In typical UPC fashion, they haven't been able to fix it in the last couple of days, but fortunately you can enter your own (third-party) DNS servers.

There's two well-known options for that: OpenDNS ( http://www.opendns.com/) and Google DNS ( http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/). OpenDNS doesn't list their servers on their site because they want you to sign up first, but they are:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

I've just tried OpenDNS and it appears my troubles are over for now.

UPC has detailed instructions on their site on how to change DNS settings for the Mac: http://www.upc.nl/upclive/navigatieservice/2090/20906027.html?tdsite=1425564. Be sure to use the OpenDNS or Google DNS server addresses, and not the ones mentioned in the instructions!

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Answer 11

dadj77 Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 29, 2011 2:26 AM in response to Vincent Jacobs

Perfect that fixed it completely! Do these dns addresses ever change and will you have to change them regularly?

BIG thank you!

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Answer 12

Jan 29, 2011 2:33 AM in response to dadj77

They probably won't change.

I usually just use the UPC DNS servers, because they're in the UPC network and thus have (or should have) the quickest response time. OpenDNS and Google claim they're faster, but you should be aware that you submit the URL of every site you use to Google or OpenDNS. I don't know if they store that information somewhere or not.

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