Please help on techniques for faster uploads

[jolo]

To be honest, what most frustrated me in using my Bluehost web site is the slowness in which uploads are done. Could be me, could be my provider.
But I would like to make a list of potential techniques or software than can help this situation. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and experience in this

• Would it be faster to upload going directly into Bluehost Control Panel and using the file Management options ?
  __________
• Are there some configuration settings that I can make in my Bluehost setup that might help ?
  __________
• Are their any software applications or add-ins that might make for faster uploads ?
  __________
• Are their any superior FTP software products that focus on faster uploads ?
  __________
• Is it a thought to see about switching Bluehost servers that I might want to access that have faster uploading times ?

Which all sorts of security settings that are put into email clients these days, many times attachments will not reach some of the people I am sending a photo or short Divx video too. Even documents and certainly any .zip files.
I have been uploading files more and more to my Bluehost web site and referencing the files via a hyperlink rather than sending an attachment.

I just started an upload of a short 4 minute home movie of my son's graduation, which is in Divx format. That really is irrelevant, what's is important is that it is just a binary file.
I am using WS-FTP Pro and the file is upload at 29.60 KBps. It is at a time at 3:28am U.S. Mountain Time where there should be very little traffic
My ISP is Comcast in Colorado, cable modem access.
I just did a test using speedtest.net and here are the results:
Download --> 17321 kbs
Upload 359 kbs

[Early Out]

... the file is upload at 29.60 KBps. It is at a time at 3:28am U.S. Mountain Time where there should be very little traffic... I just did a test using speedtest.net and here are the results:
Download --> 17321 kbs
Upload 359 kbs

That means that you're getting pretty much all the speed your ISP provides. The upload speed is 29.6KBps, which is kilobytes per second. Your connection speed is 359 kbps, which is kilobits per second. At eight bits per byte, plus some overhead, 29.6KBps translates to about 300kbps, so you're losing only about 20% to things like overloaded nodes between you and BH.

FTP client programs are all pretty much the same - none of them can magically provide more speed. There aren't really any "settings" that can help - the program is just moving bits, and bits are bits. The FTP program isn't doing anything else.

The bottom line is that Comcast is providing you with a slow upload connection. There's nothing you can do on your end, or at the BH end, to change that.

[Early Out]

By the way, I doubt that there's anything "wrong" with your connection. Comcast typically provides very asymmetrical service like that, promising 8mpbs download speeds, but often only 384kpbs upload speeds (max).

You might check with them to find out what your upload speed is supposed to be. If it's supposed to be 768kpbs or 1mpbs, have them check the provisioning on your cable modem - you may have the wrong config file on there (only they can change it - you can't).

[felgall]

The one thing that might speed the upload would be to zip the file before uploading it and then go into the file manager afterwards to unzip it. It depends of course on how well compressed the file is in the first place as to how much saving you would get in file size by doing that.

[Early Out]

Just remember that video, audio, and image files are already about as compressed as they can get, so zipping them doesn't help much.

Where zipping things really helps is if you have a large number of small files. This is because the FTP protocol establishes a new connection for each file that it's sending, which can chew up a lot of time. By zipping hundreds of little files into one big file, then sending the whole thing at once, you can save a substantial amount of upload heartache.

[brandonjp]

I've got the same problem. I access server space from 4 different hosting providers. Bluehost RARELY passes 30 KB/s. As I type it's actually a pretty steady 100 KB/s. However that still takes twice as long as it takes to transfer to my other servers which consistently accept my uploads at more than 200 KB/s.

My Bluehost server also has a common tendency to quickly jump up to 100 KB/s within the first minute or upload, then gradually slow down. When I started typing this message it was at 120 KB/s. Now, two minutes later, it's at 50.1 KB/s and still dropping.

I opened a support ticket, but was told it was a problem with my FTP application. I'm using Cyberduck. Bluehost support suggested I use Filezilla (which I tried, but nothing was different). Regardless, it doesn't explain why all the other servers I work with allow faster uploads even with Cyberduck.

[jolo]

By the way, I doubt that there's anything "wrong" with your connection. Comcast typically provides very asymmetrical service like that, promising 8mpbs download speeds, but often only 384kpbs upload speeds (max).

You might check with them to find out what your upload speed is supposed to be. If it's supposed to be 768kpbs or 1mpbs, have them check the provisioning on your cable modem - you may have the wrong config file on there (only they can change it - you can't).

Where I am located, Comcast is a monopoly is I want broadband Internet access or cable TV.
I hate what they are doing with compressing their TV and monitoring personal Internet usage. But, we don't have a free and open market place.

I do know that uploads are much slower than downloads.

What do you recommend at a tool to measure speed.

Many times I do things directly from the Bluehost site, without having to go threw client based, Windows software.

Others who I have try to access my Bluehost site have commented to me about its slowness in streaming. It does appear to vary quite a bit.

Jon

[jolo]

I've got the same problem. I access server space from 4 different hosting providers. Bluehost RARELY passes 30 KB/s. As I type it's actually a pretty steady 100 KB/s. However that still takes twice as long as it takes to transfer to my other servers which consistently accept my uploads at more than 200 KB/s.

My Bluehost server also has a common tendency to quickly jump up to 100 KB/s within the first minute or upload, then gradually slow down. When I started typing this message it was at 120 KB/s. Now, two minutes later, it's at 50.1 KB/s and still dropping.

I opened a support ticket, but was told it was a problem with my FTP application. I'm using Cyberduck. Bluehost support suggested I use Filezilla (which I tried, but nothing was different). Regardless, it doesn't explain why all the other servers I work with allow faster uploads even with Cyberduck.

brandonjp,

Thank you so much for your comments.

There are some items that I would like to do on my bluehost web site, but don't do, because of others comments to me about the inconsistent speed that is reported to me from others.

This especially involves streaming of original music and video. I also had technical support from Divx (very high quality compressed video) about their streaming video, where it was just so slow at times, it would not function, which was reported to me.
They took my files and HTML code and loaded it on their servers for testing. It worked a lot better when I accessed it, and when they accessed it. Of course I cannot leave it there.

It is very embarrassing for me for some clients of mine to report that to me, when the issue they are having relates only to web speed.
I can tell you something that can drive anyone crazy. It is to look at some program code that one things has bugs in it, but it really doesn't have any bugs at all !!
This is not the first time in the over two decades in It where that has occurred and I really think that it might be a good way to drive someone crazy !!

Thanks,

Jon

[felgall]

For most people accessing the web the most limiting factor is the connection between them and their ISP. The most common form of connection is called ADSL where the A stands for asynchronous which means that the speed in one direction is faster than the other. If you need faster upload speeds then you need to switch to some other form of connecting to the internet which isn't asynchronous. That isn't going to affect download speeds by others though and the limiting factor there will be the speed of THEIR connection. If people are not able to access your files properly that way then either the connection they have through their ISP isn't fast enough to support your files OR your files haven't been sufficiently optimised to allow for the bandwidth that your visitors have available.