Slow downloads with apt-get? Change repos with Select Best Server

Date 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

  1. Select System > Administration > Software Sources
  2. Select Other… from the Download from: dropdown menu
  3. Click Select Best Server and wait for the tests to finish
  4. 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.

One Response to “Slow downloads with apt-get? Change repos with Select Best Server”

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