Slow downloads with apt-get? Change repos with Select Best Server
May 7, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) came out at the tail end of last month and since upgrading, any operation with apt-get or Synaptics has been excruciatingly slow. For a time, probably the first 24 hours after having upgraded, apt-get update commands were even timing out! At that point, I manually changed my mirrors in /etc/apt/sources.list to a UK mirror just to get off the ground.
When the US mirrors began working again, I changed it back. However, they’ve remained incredibly slow for me, even with my 15mbit connection. Luckily, Ubuntu includes a handy utility to choose the best mirror and get you back up to speed.
Selecting a Better Mirror
- Select System > Administration > Software Sources
- Select Other… from the Download from: dropdown menu
- Click Select Best Server and wait for the tests to finish
- Click Close and allow the app to update the sources
After performing this, you’ll be installing software at better speeds in no time. I jumped from an average of 4-20KB/s to 800+KB/s.
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June 19th, 2008 at 4:37 am
[...] has a built in app to help speed up apt-get and Synaptic operations and get you up to speed inhttp://tipotheday.com/2008/05/07/slow-downloads-with-apt-get-change-repos-with-select-best-server/How City Dogs Can Become An Apartment-Dweller&39s Best FriendApr 23, 2007 … How City dogs Can [...]
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Thanks a lot, I was stuck at 10kbs or less and now…much better.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Ah thanks a lot! was downloading like 90 mb through synaptic. said it would take 8 hours. after 2 hours i found ur trick and i downloaded it in 5 min
thanks a lot 
April 27th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Thank you very much you are a life saver
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Worked great for me too. Was downloading the 1.5 JDK at 209 bytes… yuck. Done in a couple of minutes after this.