I tried downloading the standalone Windows XP SP3 direct from Microsoft and it was coming down at a constant 400K.
I stopped it then 10 minutes later start afresh and this time it it was a constant 200K.
Similar situation when downloading virus definitions. Can anyone explain why this happens?
basically it is web usage the more people on the slower it goes
It's a website, that's how traffic on the net works....you don't have a direct connection from your PC to where you're downloading from.
Berberis
09-05-2008, 12:40
quick answer - bandwidth.
Go to dos and do a tracert to microsoft.com and see how many hops there are. Then think how each and every one is a possible bottleneck.
One other thing to remember is the Microsoft site is not one server, its many many servers, so you are more than likely to have connected to a different server when you started again later. Each server has its own bandwidth issues too.
Lastly SP3 will be the top download from Microsoft at the moment, so just think how many windows XP PC's are downloading it from across the planet. It essence the number of downloads is parable to a DOS attack on a website and would probably take down most other sites if they had to content with such a huge amount of demand.
One other thing to remember is the Microsoft site is not one server, its many many servers, so you are more than likely to have connected to a different server when you started again later. Each server has its own bandwidth issues too.
Lastly SP3 will be the top download from Microsoft at the moment, so just think how many windows XP PC's are downloading it from across the planet. It essence the number of downloads is parable to a DOS attack on a website and would probably take down most other sites if they had to content with such a huge amount of demand.
Bril but thinking about it I thought that the IP routing protocols choose the best route and that Microsoft would be using load balancing between their servers?
The best route is not always the quickest, and as said above, MS will load balance their servers, but this download is probably the most popular on the planet at the moment, and will run slowly.