ftp vs http vs p2p

[nocilah]

Okay...

simple question... I am stupid n lazy so if someone could help me understand this I will be somewhat more informed and slightly happier as a human being... erhmm yeah.

I have a server which I down load stuff from. Servers location is in Holland, Rotterdam.
If I download a file (average size 8Mb) using cuteftp comes down at about 4KB

However if I download that file using Firefox or IE it comes down at 10KB

Why should that be? Is CuteFtp a crap prog. This doesnt happen with local servers.

P2P flies down on my side and does minimal interference to regular surfing n stuff... I used to have problems but I found a site that explains how to tweak your p2p not to interfere... okay so you only get 8kB instead of 13Kb but I mean... whats the diff...

Anyways... insites... answers would be appreciated.

myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.

 

[koffiejunkie]

vowthorn, it's a bit of both. I wan't impressed by the free version of CuteFTP - couln't speak for the Pro version though, but I get much better speed with wget, and wget lets you throttle your download and stop/resume. There is a windows version, just google for it.

With regards to FireFox, I think Opera does this too. When you click on a download link, it starts downloading it immediately in the background, while it gives you the "what to do" and "save as" box. Then, when you finally click "save" the download rate calc kicks in, using a download that has already started, agains a time that only starts now. So the displayed download speed is a little skilled, but it should taper off.

--
koffiejunkie

 

[nocilah]

yeah I figured that about the speeds with brosers, but fact is when it does taper off it is still twice as fast as ftp...

odd that

myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.

 

[Nickste]

Are you downloading the file from Firefox off http or ftp? Maybe Sentech are doing a Telkom and shaping some ports?

Chow, Nick

Nick Smit
broadband@nicksmit dot za dot net

 

[nocilah]

with firefox its http
with cuteftp I am logging into the server and then downloading using the ftp protocol

I think its shaping and crap BW from Sentech at the same time

myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.

 

[Nickste]

I would also be interested to know if FTP and HTTP are "equal" in the way they are written, etc. For instance the one has better compression or less errors than the other. This might influence the speed.

Chow, Nick

Nick Smit
broadband@nicksmit dot za dot net

 

[nocilah]

yeah...

I think ftp is less secure, but thinking that ftp is designed for file transferring you would think it be better to
transfer files with... but then Sentech has this uncanny ability to change the norm to completely weird.


myWireless 128, 64, 48, 16 - depends on its mood.