iOS 8 update download takes forever

Is_This_IT wrote:

Just because it worked for you and a few other people ....

I was not speaking to you, and you are not speaking for 'other people'.

Clearly what you do not understand, is that i am speaking for others as i have experienced the same issues, and i am speaking to you. You also need to understand that every time a new OS is released that there will be bugs, especially with internal servers from companies. Not only am i speaking from experience but i am also speaking from countless years in the IT field. This is a constant with Apple.

I would have thought that an IT professional would appreciate the simple manner in which one of the variables can be eliminated from the problem.

But you can (or not) do as you please.

Oh i can but to completely reiterate the fact that someone needs to change their locations countless times after telling you they have, its a little much. But its ok i like to get under peoples skin every once in a while and your mannerisms in how you state simple facts over and over again like unexperienced IT professionals is quite fun 🙂 Have a great day now!!

I certainly will, and FYI. The word is spelt inexperienced.

Ooooh touche sir, very nice!

wgogo wrote:

so let me get this straight, if people have problem update their iOS at home, the solution is going to starbucks (a public wifi connection supposedly with slower speed) to download the update? and btw, i am not the only one with problem update download. this is wider spread problem. also noted, i was able to update my iphone two days ago within an hour. there is nothing wrong with my internet connection, there is something wrong on apple server side.

it may not be slow for you, please do not assume that is fast for others based on a sample of one.

Nothing will solve your slow download problem if the source of the problem is Apple (update) servers. They're getting hammered with millions of update requests simultaneously.

As a side note, Starbucks has partnered with Google to provide free WiFi access. Have you tried their free WiFi? I was pleasantly surprised to see the speedtest result, 80+ Mbps down and 5+ Mbps up. I've never seen free public WiFi that fast. One problem though, most Starbucks shops in my city are still offering AT&T WiFi with average speed of 1Mbps down/up.

Me too ios8 went on my phone in about 1 hour and I can not get it to my iPad or my husbands iPhone. LUCY we have a problem!

Apple needs to take a break from marketing and fix this issue

My internet speed is consistently 86mb/sec. Yet while trying to download iOS 8 the best speed that I can get is 173 kb/sec. So I know it's not my internet connection. Any suggestions?

The "Pause/Resume" Trick worked great. I've been trying to download this for days.

wgogo wrote:

i finally be able to download the iOS update for both my iPad Air and iPad mini within 15 minutes. This is how to do:

When connected to iTunes and prompted the new iOS. click on "Download only"

then bring up the Downloads windows via "Menu->Windows->Downloads"

you will see "iPad Software Update". if you click on the progress bar, it will show the download speed.

if the speed is very slow (like 50kbps). then right click and choose "Pause"

then right click again and choose "Resume".

you might need to do several tries to get a reasonable speed, it took me 5-10 tries to get a 11.4Mbps speed.

My guess is there are some very slow servers on the other end and even if you are patient enough to wait, the server is not and eventually drops off. By pausing and resuming, you get a chance to connect to a faster server and be able to download the update within reasonable time.

This actually works... no doubt they have really slow servers and really fast ones.. I went from 48Hours to 8 min in one pause/resume click

Sounds dumb but it works. Thumbs up.

wgogo, sounded promising... but every time I pause and resume... i get estimates somewhere between 24 hours and 34 hours... ugh

Managed to get IOS8 onto my iPad in a matter of about 6 hours on the 17th, but the next day when we tried to download it to my wife's iPad2 we kept on getting errors, so tried it through iTunes and it initially came back with 99 hours for the download and then dropped to 43 before I gave up. Might try that trick about pausing and resuming to see if we get a better connection. The Apple servers are getting hit big time, I heard that approximately 20 million people have either downloaded, or are currently attempting to download IOS8. Mind you what is Apple thinking, at the same time as they release IOS8 they also release an upgrade to OS X, so even more people will be tapping into their servers.

The restarting thing works on iOS as well, if you need it. Simply turn off WiFi and turn it back on. Eventually you'll get a better download speed.

Thank you Wgogo!!!!

Worked - I went from 60 plus hours and countless timeouts to 9 minutes!! Lifesaver - as I am trying to restore my iPhone 4S from a previous bad install of ios8!!! I was stuck without a phone until I tried your solution - it took about 10 tries, but I eventually found a connection that took me to btwn 15 and 17 MB/Second....

THANK YOU ! !