Slow Cloud Storage Speeds? It’s More Common Than You Think

In a fascinating video from YouTube's Linus Tech Tips about upgrading to 10Gbps internet – also known as 10 gigabit, 10G, 10 GbE, or 10 GE – Linus faced a surprising challenge. Despite having a dedicated 10Gbps fiber line, his speed tests maxed out around 2.6Gbps. Frustrated, he exclaimed, “Alright, we’re going to have to find something else. 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

Bottlenecks can be frustrating, but they help prevent computer hardware and software from getting overwhelmed and crashing altogether. They also help network providers manage their costs. Accommodating 10Gbps bandwidth requires powerful servers, better cooling, maintenance, and other costly upgrades.

As explained in our network congestion blog post, download and upload performance are only as fast as the weakest link in your network. This includes all hardware, cables, applications, configurations, and whether or not you use WiFi.

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

Although networking technology has advanced since Linus made his video in 2019, the bottleneck problem hasn’t changed much for large studios and post houses with costly 10Gbps connections. To maximize that connection, users must optimize their entire network and infrastructure, including their cloud file transfer solution.

Cloud File Transfer with MASV

How MASV Distributes Network Bandwidth

So, why do some cloud file transfer tools deliberately choose to be slower than expected, especially with a 10Gbps connection? The answer, as mentioned, is money. Most consumer-grade file sharing, sync, and transfer services aren’t willing to invest in the infrastructure or pay extra server egress fees needed to accommodate gigabit-grade data transfer.

Freemium-style platforms like WeTransfer offer services for free or a low monthly fee. It doesn’t make financial sense for them to incur significant infrastructure costs when most users don’t need such high performance.

For example, transferring with Google Drive will inevitably top out at Google Drive’s speed limit, assuming your file isn’t too large for Google Drive’s strict file size limitations. Many cloud file transfer solutions, like WeTransfer, are browser-based and thus limited by browser speed even if they upgrade their infrastructure.

Self-Hosted vs Cloud-Based: A Common Misconception

"Self-hosted file transfer is faster than cloud-based file transfer."

This is true if you’re sending files within your ecosystem, but it becomes complicated when sending externally. Setting up self-hosted file transfer is usually cumbersome and slow, requiring software installations, opening new ports, updating firewalls, and training.

Issues with self-hosted file transfer are greater in remote work scenarios. Local servers accessed remotely can slow down transfers, especially for global workers. VPNs can help but often slow things down, are costly, difficult to patch, and cause disruptions.

Cloud-based file transfer software, like MASV, is accessible to everyone and easy to set up. MASV uses private, high-speed networks to accelerate files beyond what the public internet can achieve.

Can Cloud Services Support 10Gbps Speeds?

Are production facilities with 10Gbps bandwidth doomed to expensive self-hosted solutions or throttled speeds until cloud file transfer solutions catch up? The answer is no. MASV is the only cloud file transfer solution optimized for true 10 gigabit delivery.

Our 10Gbps optimization allows studios, post houses, and large-scale production facilities unmatched upload and download speeds. Any MASV user with more than 5Gbps of bandwidth can enable this feature by downloading the MASV desktop app (since browsers can’t handle this speed) and turning on 10Gbps availability.

MASV is the first cloud file transfer solution to optimize for 10Gbps transfer speeds, using the same infrastructure without expensive upgrades.

What Makes MASV Faster?

Most cloud services optimize for user volume rather than performance. MASV, being pay-as-you-go, focuses on speed and reliability since we don’t make money until the file is successfully downloaded. Our new 10Gbps optimization extends this focus to larger organizations.

MASV offers a feature to maximize productivity for everyone on your network. MASV’s Speed Limits let you control and schedule upload and download speeds, ensuring flexibility in various situations:

• Set different speed limits for uploads and downloads
• Specify days or times to apply speed limits

This means heavy file transfers can be scheduled during non-peak hours, preventing network congestion during busy periods.

Gigabit File Transfer

Whether it’s 1, 5, or 10Gbps, MASV can handle it.

What MASV’s 10Gbps Optimization Means For Cloud Delivery

For large organizations with 10Gbps connections, MASV’s new optimization offers unmatched speed. Our recent speed test showed a significant increase:

• 1 TB package (1Gbps) = 2h 37m 11s
• 1 TB package (10Gbps) = 16m 13s

While this feature benefits a few clients immediately, the long-term benefit is that MASV can scale with your organization’s growing needs.

As technology advances, 10Gbps will eventually become standard, and MASV will be ready.

Want to conduct your own speed tests using MASV? Sign up for a free trial and send up to 20GB for free today.