Podcast Download Speeds
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Hi folks,
Pocket Casts is my default app for listening to podcasts, but I’ve noticed lately that download speeds have become tiresomely slow. It doesn’t matter which podcast it is, the download seems slower than it was, say, a month ago. My web connection is fine because I can download content via, for example, the BBC Sounds app, and the download speeds are zippy.
I don’t know enough about the content delivery networks work to say for definite, but the one common factor here seems to be Pocket Casts. So, I wonder if others have had similar experiences. I’m in the UK, if that’s relevant.
Thank you.
T
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Update: For additional info, I should mention that the type of connection makes no difference i.e. it’s the same result irrespective of whether I’m using cellular (data) or wifi. (Both are very fast and reliable.) Secondly, I’m using a iPhone 13 mini (on iOS 17.7.1, Pocket Cast v7.5.5). For the purposes of example podcast series, try The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics, Empire, The Dalrymple Report, Mark Steel’s In Town.
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@tommyrot9e0c9208ac thanks for sharing this information with us. We at Pocket Casts don’t host any of the files, so the speed it takes to download them will largely depend on the podcast authors server which is serving the files.
I am not noticing any issues when downloading episodes from the podcasts you mention. Can you share with us a specific episode as an example so we can try it out on our end? Also, let us know what your internet speed is being reported as via fast.com or similar.
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Hi Joey8,
My speed according to fast.com is 160mpbs. (I think fast.com inflates numbers, but it is reliably 135mbps on my usual speed checker). That’s plenty fast enough. I can’t pinpoint exact episodes; it seems to be a general problem, and an adhoc one. It’s especially noticeable, for instance, if one opts to download more than three episodes simultaneously. This leads me to wonder if it’s bandwidth/traffic throttling on the part of Goalhanger Podcasts – the production company behind The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is History, Empire etc. I’d expect some ‘management’, but not throttling of this order. Have you done this comparison of single episode download vs multiple episode download? If not, please do so and let me know your thoughts.
Many thanks.
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It certainly does seem like Megaphone (who hosts those podcasts) has some sort of rate limiting which is getting triggered. I can see a few other reports of such issues in the past.
I personally can’t seem to replicate the issue when downloading multiple episodes, but I also don’t actively listen to those podcasts, so it’s possible that my IP Address isn’t triggering anything as yet :)
I would suggest you reach out to Megaphone if the issue persists, as they might have more information on what restrictions they have in place.
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