Uploads and Downloads
Why my upload/download speed is low?
We always keep more bandwidth than we really needed in order to avoid such problems. However, it might sometimes happen due to network conditions or too many users. If you consistently get low speeds even with download managers, please contact us.
How many files may I download simultaneously?
There is no restriction on the number of files you may download simultaneously, but running too many downloads at the same time may cause problems on your computer and the files may not be received properly. How many downloads you may run safely depends on your computer and internet connection.
Why is my download broken? Can I resume broken downloads?
This might happen at times when the server is too busy or due to broken internet connection from either side. You can resume the broken downloads from the position where the link was broken. However, this is only possible if you had used a download manager or your browser supports resuming.
If my Upload is broken, can I resume uploads or do I need to start afresh ?
You need not start afresh if you are using the Java Version to upload. Just drop the same file in the upload box and the the upload will start from the same broken point.
Which download-accelerators can I use?
Free download manager(FDM), Nettransport, Wellget, Flashget and Download Accelerator Plus are being used by a number of members without any problem. In general, any download manager capable of detecting clicks from your browser and which supports cookies can be used.
Do not copy the links from this site and paste them in your download manager as it will not work. You must either right click the link and select your download manager or you must left click the link and the download manager will 'catch' it.
Download-acclerators and Filescheap: How they work?
Servers transfer data to clients in pieces / packets / chunks. When we use only the browser to download, the entire file is broken up into packets and are sent one after the other, serially, to the client. On Filescheap, each chunk is 500,000 bytes, or slightly less than 500 KB. So, if you are downloading a file of 1.1 MB, it will be transferred in 3 chunks of 500+500+100 KB approximately.
When download managers are used, multiple streams are opened to the same file. The first stream tells the server - 'give me the whole file and start from the beginning', the second stream tells the server - 'give me the whole file starting from byte number 367000' and the third stream tells the server - 'give me the file starting from byte number 733000'. The thing to be noted here is that the command is not 'give me byte number 0-366999' for the first stream, rather the download manager is asking for the whole file.
Hence, Filescheap will transfer 500,000 bytes to the first stream, 500,000 bytes to the second stream and 367,000 bytes to the third stream, the total bandwidth consumed - 1.367 MB instead of 1.1 MB. If one were to use 5 streams instead of 3, the bandwidth consumed would have been 2.22 MB.
After the download manager gets the first packet in the first stream, it realizes that it needs no more for that part because the second part will handle from that point onwards, so it sends a message to the server to stop sending more for stream 1. But by the time the message reaches the server, the next chunk has already been sent out.
Some download managers don't even bother to tell the server that they don't need more. They just drop the connection for that stream and the server has to use its own timeout thresholds to decide that the client has gone away.
The reason we use download managers is to increase utilization of the available pipe, to reduce download times and to be able to resume the downloads in case of a disconnection. However, neither of these reasons holds for small files. In fact, since more useless data is being transferred, it can actually reduce the overall performance of the connection.
If one tries downloading a few files from any server with different numbers of simultaneous streams, one will find that there is very little to be gained from using a very high number of parallel streams. If the parallel streams are high, the performance will actually drop. The thresholds depends on a lot of parameters like total connection speed, ISP, geographical location, congestion and contention on the shared pipe etc. but as a general rule of thumb, we have found that 3 streams is a good value.
I have a different question, who may I contact?
You can send a private message to any moderator or administrator on eXBii or you can send email to gf@exbii.com.
