Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

It's now been a few weeks since I changed my DNS servers, and my downloads from iTunes are happening at blistering speeds. I just downloaded an HD movie in less than 15 minutes. Downloads have been consistent accross all platforms. This is not an iTunes problem. Incidentally, even my Netflix streams of House of Cards have imporved with the new DNS. All you need to do is to find what the fastest DNS servers are in your area. If you don't know, use Google's. 8.8.8.8 It hasn't been as fast 4.2.2.2 for me but it might be better for some.

Report your findings here if you solve your peoblem so everyone can stay informed. Meanwhile stop the senseless Apple bashing. I've found their customer service to be unparalelled not only at the stores, but on the phone too. They just replaced my 3 years old iMac monitor which was already out of warranty because of a known problem. I had already expected to trash it. It was going to be a $900 fix. It's now as good as new.

I'm glad if his worked out for you. I have tried various DNS without any measurable change. Also, why should I need to do this when all my other services work fine without any fiddling about ?

As for service I have found Amazon and Google to be much more responsive and also not high handed and GFY as Apple apperas to be on this forum.

In Sweden we just got the new 1080p content so went and redownloaded my movies

and it's dam ******* slow it's telling me it will take 230 hours and I'm on 24/2 mbps ADSL connection

have no idea why it's so slow, looks like the download is going from USA instead of from europe.

Not sure if this will work for anyone else, but i will share anyway. I was downloading two movies at the same time and one was 10 minutes and the other was 6 hours. I decided to go back and purchase the film again knowing that it would tell me i have already purchased it but not downloaded it. After doing this it went down to 7 minutes.

Im not sure if it was a fluke or it actually did something, but it's worth a go if nothing else works!

It's because Apple is the problem. I have been ordering and watching HD movies via my apple tv for about a year and the HD movies start within approx 5 seconds and play right through in real time to the end of the movie. Never had an issue at all until tonight. For the first time ever it said it would by ready in 5 hours and fifty seven minutes , huh? to watch a simple HD movie , ***? I stopped the slow asse download, demanded my money back from apple itunes via email ( as you cant call them) and watched the same movie via my cable company instead. If this happens again I will trash my Apple TV and say by to apple forever. It has to work 100 percent or its useless ( when you have friends over and popcorn ready and all that stuff this is inexcusable) . Of course I rebooted the Apple tv and the Internet was fine for everything except the Apple TV.

So stop wasting your time thinking its anything but Apples servers.

Apple, fix yer stuff!!!

I dont think that Apple cares about a user whos isn´t able to read the comments, especially the comments solving that problem.

If you are too dumb to read, dont blame others.

Or you are just another guy trolling the forums.

This is not a direct reply to you, but I just posted the issue on gamefaqs....For the past week with my iPad, iPod touch, & iPhone 5 I have been having extremely slow download speeds for anything from the iTunes Store, the App Store, and even downloading the 6.0.2 update for my phone has been horribly slow....

I've tried this with my home Internet, other places that have wifi, and also LTE, and NOTHING works....

I don't know what's been going on, but this ***** :(

I'm just lucky all my apps are already on my pc when I got my phone...well...except for RealRacing 3 and Flixter, and my god, these two are taking forever!

Oh yeah...BTW....Everything else that uses the Internet runs smooth and fast & am even getting my standard 16MBPS on the speed test app....From that to safari, to Netflix, etc.... every thing else is good.... >_>

Same prob here in Aus, everything coming from Apple is extremely slow. Tried DL'ing new Walking Dead episode and was getting 100Kps...(normally I would get 600kps) I thought I'd try torrent instead cause I was sick of waiting and instantly got 650-700kps so obviously there's some prob with Apples servers... Everything else is quick and checked all my router settings so not a prob on my end.

Btw, it's been like this for me since last weekend!

I can assure you that it's not Apple. To run a test, I just changed my DNS back to the original setup and my speeds went back down to crawlingly slow. Switching to the 4.2.2.2, and everything accelarated 100 times. That should prove that it's not apple servers. You need to find the best DNS set up for your area. There is a weak link in your connections with Apple servers. The same connection might work with Amazon or NFLX but not apple. If the problem originated with Apple, speeds would be consistently slow no matter what.

I still hold them to account, even if your solution works in your situation. Why should Apple alone require this kind of manipulation which an end user should not be expected to tamper with?

It might entail using a special DNS server for Apple traffic only. And if the DNS is specified in your router it might be laborious to impossible ti change it.

And if you travel frequebtly or have a holiday home the required DNS in you scenario might be different for each location.

I'd probably agree with you, but I'm out in town right now on 4GLTE on Verizon getting 30+MBPS down & 18+ up and EVERYTHING other than iTunes & the App Store are running fast, and iTunes & the App Store are still extremely slow...So I doubt it's that, or at least JUST that, it's obviously something on apples side too >_>

Apple cannot be held to account for the pipeline between their servers and your computer. To use an analogy, it's like getting stock in traffic on your way to the Apple store and then holding them to account for it. They can only be accoutnable for the lines inside their stores, not out on the streets.

I perceive a great deal of bias on this board. The lack of explanation doesn't prove fault. You just have to dig deeper to understand the problem. Requires a bit more rigor than a knee jerk reaction. Might also learn somehting on the way. That's how techonolgy really works.

I deal with 60 computers on a daily basis. Most of our users usually blame something which has nothing to do with the problem. Things are not alway linear.

I'm sure there are dozens of other professional IT guys on this board who an concur.

Well then explain why that I'm in town and any wifi hotspot in town and my 30+MBPS cellular connection is still slow when it comes to the App Store & iTunes & nothing else on the phone is....

shahindash wrote:

...

To use an analogy, it's like getting stock in traffic on your way to the Apple store and then holding them to account for it. They can only be accoutnable for the lines inside their stores, not out on the streets.

...

That's not an analogy, because in your example the user is in the public, determining their route to the store. In order for your example to apply, we'd need to develop our own iTunes applications and then complain that Apple was slow because we decided to use the wrong network protocol or something.

We're using an Apple product (or used to be, up until last week) that requires A) a computer and B) an internet connection, NOT C) a custom DNS router and/or networking knowledge that can only be acquired from this forum thread, combined with constant tinkering, if you're unfortunate enough to be travelling.

In other words, your argument is irrelevant.