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Level 4

3,296 points

Slow downloads - all devices, all types of download, and Apple-only

Starting at least a week ago, not sure exactly when, ALL downloads of any kind from Apple have been glacially slow. All of the iTunes Radio stations I've tried have dropouts and stuttering that makes them unusable - on my Mac Mini, my iPad, and my iPhone. App downloads on my iOS devices - extremely slow. Software Update or Mac App Store downloads on my Mac - same thing.

At first I thought it might be due to last week's iOS and Mac OS X updates, but it has continued well into this week, and I don't know for sure that it started around the time of those updates. And it's clearly NOT my devices or network - iHeartRadio is fine on my Mac, I can stream iPad video from a local TV station's newscasts, web pages load fine on my Mac and iPad, etc.

For some reason - not a conspiracy theory, but maybe a CLUE to the problem - the ADS stream fine on iTunes Radio, just not the music!

On my iPhone, the dropouts actually stop the radio station - I have to tap on the "play" icon to try to start it up again, but that usually fails. Software Update downloads often fail and restart from scratch, presumably due to timeouts, wasting both MB and hours on the failed downloads.

This is being discussed in other threads, one of which I've added to, but this is a more general "everything is affected" posting.

Though I'm posting to the Yosemite area, it's not just Yosemite.

Posted on Aug 18, 2015 12:30 PM

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Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Posted on Aug 18, 2015 1:24 PM

Please test any of your devices on another network. Your ISP may be throttling Apple content.

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26 replies

bjandre

Level 1

0 points

Aug 20, 2015 11:06 AM in response to Doug Eldred

I also have CenturyLink DSL in Colorado, and I'm having the same issue: iTunes and App Store downloads are slow and error out. Manual downloads from a web browser are fine.

Doug Eldred Author

Level 4

3,296 points

Aug 20, 2015 12:52 PM in response to bjandre

If I update iPhone apps using T-Mobile while in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center, it's fine. That might suggest an ISP issue. BUT, if I use my iPhone and T-Mobile as a personal hotspot, Mac Mini web downloads (e.g. the same iTunes 12.2.2 file mentioned earlier on my ISP) are fine, but trying to download public beta 5 is as slow with T-Mobile as it is from my ISP. THAT certainly suggests that the problem is more Apple-oriented than ISP-throttling, at least to me.

Whatever this is, a fair number of people, in a fair number of places, with (presumably) a fair number of ISPs, are seeing the same issue with most Apple download/stream data being glacially slow and everything else being okay.

Aug 20, 2015 5:19 PM in response to Doug Eldred

I live in Colorado and have the exact same problem described by the other posters. We have Century Link DSL also. My phone and iPad work fine at work in Denver on a different network, but load app updates and downloads from the app store at an incredibly slow rate. Everything else loads quickly on our home wifi.

Aug 20, 2015 9:55 PM in response to Doug Eldred

I've been having the same issue as well. I also have Centurylink, and I've noticed this being an issue for about a week now. I only have connectivity issues using Apple applications (like for updates, music downloads, Apple music player, etc.), and I have these issues on any device I use on my wifi connection. If I use my Verizon data, I have no issues, and I also have no issues in Safari, Mozilla, etc.

Doug Eldred Author

Level 4

3,296 points

Aug 21, 2015 6:45 AM in response to lkrupp

Out of curiosity, what ISP are you using? If can do so, what happens if you temporarily use your iPhone as a personal hotspot instead of your ISP? In my case, I still get slow App Store and iTunes Radio, even using T-Mobile, but as with the ISP everything else (e.g. downloading iTunes 12.2.2 or a Combo Updater from Apple via Safari) are fine.

Doug Eldred Author

Level 4

3,296 points

Aug 21, 2015 6:46 AM in response to lkrupp

Doug Eldred Author

Level 4

3,296 points

Aug 21, 2015 7:31 AM in response to Matthew Jew1

My impression, not guaranteed to be 100% accurate, is that this started about the same time as the iOS and Mac OS X updates last week. I was able to download all of those at proper speeds. Since then, the glacial slowness has set in. Maybe they (or someone) throttled activity and has yet to restore things to normal? (I'd have thought that Windows 10 was a much bigger hit...) Even if I use T-Mobile data (via my iPhone and personal hotspot) it's slow, and with that and my ISP everything else non-Apple is okay, and even Safari downloads from Apple are okay. Strange.

Aug 21, 2015 7:57 AM in response to Doug Eldred

Okay, my issue appears to have been resolved after I hit the reset button on my router and returned it to factory settings. (I spoke too soon; I didn't notice that my phone had switched to LTE after I reset the router.)

lkrupp

Level 6

14,404 points

Aug 21, 2015 8:18 AM in response to corey10boom

corey10boom wrote:

Okay, my issue appears to have been resolved after I hit the reset button on my router and returned it to factory settings. (I spoke too soon; I didn't notice that my phone had switched to LTE after I reset the router.)

That’s the trouble with discussions like this one. People may have similar symptoms caused by different issues. Just the fact that people with the same symptoms gather together makes it look like there’s a real problem when in fact there is no problem, just different issues causing the same problem. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the various Wi-Fi troubleshooting threads.

Aug 21, 2015 4:56 PM in response to Doug Eldred

My issue appears to be Century Link DSL related. I used my iPhone 6 on Verizon as a wifi hotspot and was able to update 6 apps on a different device in about 90 seconds. I was unable to update even 1 app using my home wifi through Century Link. Everything else on Century Link works fine. A speed test shows my home wifi speed is 14.5 mbps. For whatever reason the Apple app store seems to be throttled way down by Century Link.

Doug Eldred Author

Level 4

3,296 points

Aug 25, 2015 8:15 AM in response to Doug Eldred

Whatever the problem was, it seems to be okay today. iTunes Radio is fine, I'm downloading the latest public beta fine, etc. I didn't knowingly change or do anything, it just works today.

Slow downloads - all devices, all types of download, and Apple-only