Why Are Most Cloud File Transfer Services So Slow?

Slow Speeds Are More Common Than You Think

There’s a fascinating video from YouTube’s Linus Tech Tips about his upgrade to 10Gbps internet – also known as 10 gigabit, 10G, 10 GbE, or 10 GE – back in 2019.

After switching to a dedicated 10Gbps fibre line and running speed tests, no matter what he tried, Linus couldn’t get his new connection to run higher than around 2.6Gbps.

“Alright, we’re going to have to find something else,” he eventually says, his frustration mounting. “What can we… like, what can we hit with this?”

Turns out there wasn’t anything readily available. Web browsers generally max out at around 3 to 4Gbps.

Indeed, it’s a common scenario among those who require the absolute fastest internet performance possible. But why?

Bottlenecks from network congestion

Bottlenecks suck but they help keep computer hardware and software from getting overwhelmed and crashing. They also help network providers manage their costs. 10Gbps is a lot of bandwidth. To accommodate all that bandwidth, cloud services would require powerful servers, better cooling, maintenance, etc. All those upgrades cost time, money, and energy.

What is network congestion?

The term “network congestion” refers to the deterioration of quality of internet services which leads to packet loss and queue delays or the blocking of incoming connections (e.g. how fast files upload to a server). Network congestion occurs in cases of traffic overload to an internet connection, when a network has too many requests coming in which it can’t handle.

It’s usually pretty easy to spot a case of network congestion: in a nutshell, things move slowly (or even not at all). Users typically experience noticeable latency — otherwise known as delay or the time it takes for data packets to travel from start to finish. They also experience jitter, which is variability in delay, resulting in unpredictability. This can mean spikes and stalls where data is moving quickly one moment and grinding to a halt the next.

While congestion can and does occur at the ISP level, it’s also very common to experience these issues because of problems at the device level.

• Download and upload performance (and, therefore, overall file transfer turnaround time) are only as fast as the weakest link in your network. That includes all your hardware, cables, applications, and configurations (along with whether or not you use WiFi and, if you do, how often you use your microwave oven).
• Even with the most expensive and capable router or other equipment, you’ll still inevitably run into traffic congestion with a standard broadband connection because all users and devices on your network must push through this shared, single pipe.
• Multiple devices on the network or the use of older devices are common culprits thanks to the internet of things (IoT): too many devices like smart fridges and TVs. One of my house’s biggest bandwidth usage offenders is my smart washer/dryer combo, which generates around 60 GBs of traffic per day, and I still have no idea why.
• Too many Wi-Fi (and other electrical devices) in a small, tightly packed area typically means too many signals. Wi-Fi or voltage signals from all your connected (and unconnected) network devices tend to compete. Too much noise from too many signals means they’ll inevitably cancel each other out, leading to — you guessed it — network congestion.

Dong Knows Tech provides a great rundown of potential bottlenecks in your network.

Although networking technology has advanced a great deal since Linus made his video in 2019, the bottleneck problem hasn’t changed much for large studios and post houses who have invested in a costly 10Gbps connection.

To get the most out of that expensive connection, users must optimize their entire network and infrastructure to handle such speeds — including their cloud file transfer solution.

How MASV distributes network bandwidth

How do I reduce network congestion?

At the ISP level, the best thing you can do to reduce network congestion is to boost your bandwidth. Increasing bandwidth is a simple way to minimize congestion. Using a higher bandwidth network can handle more devices and data while simultaneously processing more data than it could with a single bandwidth.

Unless you’re willing to pay for more internet, your hands are pretty much tied here. The good news is that, from a network device level, you can immediately do something to correct these issues.

1. Get a smart router that uses quality of service (QoS) protocols, which help prioritize critical traffic, so the most important data gets through first. Most routers don’t have much memory, and if their queue fills up quickly, they’ll start dropping packets. Better routers have larger memories and allow you to prioritize traffic.
2. Use cloud services over on-premises setups. This is specific to file transfer protocols. Cloud services are infinitely scalable with just a few clicks (or automatically), whereas on-prem configurations can’t scale quickly to meet huge spikes in demand. If you want to scale your on-prem setup, it’ll take way more CapEx and time than cloud.
3. Get a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connection to reduce pressure on your single internet connection, but getting it installed will be expensive.
4. Ensure you don’t have too many devices running at once on the network.
5. Upgrade your older router and modem with newer network equipment.
6. Keep your cables short.
7. Keep signal interference low (always locate your router about 20-30 feet away from your microwave).

Why Some File Transfer Tools Choose To Be Slow?

Self-Hosted vs Cloud-Based: A Common Misconception

Can Cloud Services Support 10Gbps-Plus Speeds?

So are production facilities with 10Gbps-plus bandwidth doomed to expensive self-hosted solutions or throttled speeds until cloud file transfer solutions can catch up to their infrastructure?

The answer is no. MASV is the only cloud file transfer solution available today optimized for true 10 gigabit-plus delivery.

Our 10Gbps-plus optimization allows any studio, post house, or other large-scale production facility unmatched upload and download speeds.

Any MASV user with more than 5Gbps of bandwidth can enable this feature. Simply download the MASV desktop app (browsers can’t handle this speed) and flip a switch to turn on 10Gbps-plus availability.

It’s all on the same infrastructure on which MASV was built, with no expensive upgrades on our end required.

What Makes MASV Faster Than Other Cloud Providers?

It’s a fair question.

Up top, we mentioned that most cloud services aren’t willing to spend the money for speeds of this magnitude.

The difference is, we already did. From the start, speed and reliability have been MASV’s core focus, which is why we never throttle deliveries.

Global accelerated edge network

MASV goes a step further through its private, globally-distributed high-speed network powered by AWS CDN to accelerate large file transfers beyond what the public internet can achieve.

MASV also establishes multiple connections for the same transfer by splitting large files into chunks and sending each chunk separately, reassembling each file at the data center. While each connection has a physical limit, they become a force multiplier that dramatically improves performance when added together (this also helps when recovering file transfers due to network interruptions).

Furthermore, MASV’s extensive global network of services also means your transfers never travel far before they hit our accelerated network (keeping the server closer to our users means better performance).

MASV Desktop App

Users have even more control through the MASV Desktop App, which features built-in bandwidth utilization and speed controls. So if you’re sending a file, but your kids are learning remotely, and your partner is on a video call, you can throttle your transfer back whenever you need to and open it up again when others don’t need that bandwidth.

In addition, our desktop app also includes a pause and resume feature to, well, pause and resume transfers at will. So, if you feel your network is congested, you can pause transfers that aren’t as important and give the critical files more bandwidth. Or, you can use our transfer priority feature and let MASV take care of the network balancing for you.

Finally, MASV automatically recovers from bad connections or network drops. Even if you have a bandwidth hog on your network, MASV will retry your transfer – not too aggressively, mind you, but relentlessly – so you can move on with other tasks without babysitting your transfer.

Speed Limits

With MASV’s Speed Limits tool you can free up bandwidth by controlling the speed of both your downloads and uploads. You can set different limits for uploads and downloads individually, and choose the hours and days on which speed limits will apply.

This feature is perfect if you and your team need to be flexible in a variety of situations. For example, you can limit download and/or upload speeds during busy times in the office and open it back up during evenings and less busy periods. If you’ve got MASV Multiconnect enabled, you can assign various speed limits for each interface.

It can also come in handy when your team holds conference calls, streams video, or performs other bandwidth-heavy tasks. In these scenarios, it might be difficult for you to transfer heavy files or you could cause issues with others who need bandwidth.

A good way to maximize your bandwidth using Speed Limits is to schedule heavy transfers overnight, during weekends, or in other moments when your network is freer. You can reduce or remove speed limits during these periods. That way, you won’t disrupt your coworkers’ tasks by eating up all bandwidth during the workday.

What MASV’s 10Gbps-Plus Optimization Means For Cloud Delivery