Hello,

I am having trouble in uploading files to my Ipowerseb web hosting servers through my ftp program. The connection seems to be reasonably fast (15 KB/s) at the beginning (considering I am in Australia) for the first minute or so and then get very slow (4 KB/s), unstable and dropping all the time.

I have an ADSL2+ connection with up to 1MB upload speed. Here are some other information:

1) I tried with all my 4 different domains hosted in different web hosting servers: host264.ipowerweb.com - host186.ipowerweb.com - host298.ipowerweb.com - host369.ipowerweb.com; all site settings are properly set (port 21, passive transfer etc.) in the ftp program and a connection is established for all of them.
2) I have no trouble in browsing the net with my internet explorer. The connection is fast and stable.
3) When trying with online upload speed test tools with my internet browser the connection seems to be working fine. Online tests, however, usually upload small size files and my problem occur after uploading constantly a large number of files.
4) I am using the fastest multi-thread FTP software (3D-Ftp). The problem occurs both with one or many simultaneous connections. I also tried with other Ftp programs. Ipowerweb supports up to six simultaneous connections.
5) I have no trouble in uploading files to my ISP members.iinet.net.au web hosting space. The direct ftp connection to my ISP is very fast (30 KB/s) and stable.
6) I have tried with three different modems, including Dlink G604T, Alcatel Speed Touch Home (no firewall) and a brand new Billion 7404VGP.
7) I tried both with and without my windows firewall and AVG antivirus. I also temporarily disabled the modem firewalls and do not have any other firewall installed. No difference.
8) I contacted the Level 1 Ipowerweb.com technical support several times and I have been told that there is no problem on their side and that it probably has something to do with port 21 or firewall. They suggested to contact my ISP and to check the size of the file [Incident: 061022-001090].
9) After calling my ISP iinet.net.au tech support I have set port forwarding for the port 21 in the router as recommended. No difference.

I the contacted again Level 1 Ipowerweb Technical Support and I received a reply saying that the matter would be passed onto Level 2 Technical Support.

After 20 days and many soliciting emails I still have not received a reply from Level 2 Technical Support.

I have always been satisfied with Ipowerweb services but I do not understand why I get this Ftp upload speed problem and why the Level 2 Technical Support is so slow to reply and solve the issue.

Has anybody ever experienced such a Ftp problem with Ipowerweb? Any solution for that?

Are there other reliable web hosting services (supporting multi-thread ftp connections) with a stable and fast ftp upload speed?

Thank you for your time.

Fabio

I received this reply for my web hosting support.

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Thank you for contacting IPOWER Technical Support.


The details of your system load average is pasted below. Ideally speaking it should be below 1. But you are having load average more than 2.5. Your ftp issue is only because of this issue. You can remove unwanted applications from the sytem. I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. If you have any further issues, please reply to this message and I will be happy to assist you.
===========================================================
-bash-2.05b$ w
10:50AM up 20 days, 8:30, 1 user, load averages: 3.06, 2.97, 3.08 USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE WHAT vtech p0 office207-232 10:48AM - w

-----------------------------------------------------


What does that mean? What does "system load average" mean?
Is it related to the multithread ftp connection?

I experience the ftp upload speed problem both with 4 or 1 simultaneous connections. Plus my web hosting Ipowerweb does support multi-threaded connections.

I have sent this reply to Level 2 technical Support:


Customer (Fabio Fatuzzo)
11/30/2006 04:26 PM

What does that mean? What does "system load average" mean?

Is it related to the multithread ftp connection?

I experience the ftp upload speed problem both with 4 or 1 simultaneous connections. Plus Ipowerweb does support multi-threaded connections.

Any other reason for this abnormal "system load average"?


And I get this pathetic reply back !!!


Response (Avery J.)
12/01/2006 07:19 AM

Dear Fabio,

Thank you for contacting IPOWER Technical Support.

FTP resources are not infinite, the number of simultaneous connections one user may open is limited.
Using a separate FTP program (such as FileZilla for example) instead may solve your issue. I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. If you have any further issues, please reply to this message and I will be happy to assist you.



First, I already explained in several messages, including in the one sent before this frustrating reply, that, not only I tried with different ftp programs, but I also tried with a different number of simultaneous connections (from 4 to 1) with my 3dFtp program. Is 1 connection an infinite ftp resource or an unlimited number? If I am not wrong the next lower number is 0. Probably Ipowerweb expects me to use 1/2 connection in order to limit their "system load average".

Second, Ipowerweb should support up to 6 simultaneous connections. After that limit a warning message appears in the ftp log advising that the max number of connections has been exceeded.

Third, when I upload my files (7000, 125 MB) I get after a minute or so an average connection speed of 5KB/s which translates into hours of ftp upload time. Multiply this number for three websites, all hosted by Ipowerweb, and you can understand the frustration in uploading files and receiving inconclusive replies form the Level 2 Ipowerweb technical support.
With my ISP webspace I can reach ten times (50KB/s) that ftp upload speed with no time restriction.


I am honestly frustrated with Ipowerweb support. They just do not care and seems like you have to repeat them the same things many times before they understand the problem, no matter how detailed the first communication is (see above the first message with all information I submitted). Even when they understand the problem, they reply with inconclusive emails not helping to resolve the issue.

I wonder if I am the only one to experience this ftp upload problem and this lack of professional technical support response. Any feedback is welcome.

It's usually very slow if you FTP the file out of US, but in US should be fast. But come back to the other word, upload more than 100M is really large.
My understanding about web hosting give your more than 50G space, that means you can grown your data to 50G, but don't expect you to unload so big file.

The problem has not been solved. I finally moved the website to aplus.net and now I have an ftp upload speed 5 times faster (28KB/s). Considering that I am in Australia it is not bad at all. The control panel is not as user-friendly as the iPowerweb vdeck but aplus.net offers plenty of features at a slightly higher cost. I am happy with their services and disappointed with Ipowerweb's customer service and ftp upload speed. They probably become too big ...

ftp upload/download speed may varies depend on thread and files involved.
i not understand is ipower mention removed unwanted software

may be the problem in your connection.