Ubuntu pkg download extremely slow

apt upgrade for Tailscale runs very slow for me, in the order of ~20kbps.

Get:1 https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/ubuntu focal/main amd64 tailscale amd64 1.22.2 [18.0 MB]

18 MB reports 11 mins to download.

I have a 100 Mbps connection and other downloads run super fast. Is anyone else facing this issue, or something wrong with my connection?

Additional data point: The update runs an order of magnitude faster on my raspberry pi connected to the same network. (1 Mbps)

Get:1 https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/raspbian bullseye/main armhf tailscale armhf 1.22.2 [16.9 MB]

I just did an upgrade on my Ubuntu cloud box, and got 22MB/s. It could have been an isolated blip.

If anyone else has seen suspiciously low download speeds, please let us know here.

Could you do a traceroute to pkgs.tailscale.com?

It could be that your ISP’s (Tier-I) upstreams do not connect well to the Digital Ocean hosting in SFO.

Thanks, it indeed appears to be an ISP issue.

When I use a VPN, it is much faster.

FWIW, my download speed hovers ~600KB/s which isn’t quite good but since the server is 300ms away, I guess it can be expected.

I was told by Avery a while back that distribution via CDN was planned.

so, this made me curious about the apparent “instant” install i got with VPN, and… I was wrong.

turns out apt remove tailscale && apt install tailscale just installed the cached local deb file, and i missed that (sry, was multitasking!).

after cleaning the cache and retrying, I get the same ~20-40 kbps. so VPN didn’t help.

but then, I’m 9000 miles from SF, and avg ping time to server is 600ms (with huge variations - going from 200-1000ms, (wonder why?)), so I guess laws of physics apply.

hopefully, CDN distribution arrives soon

Well it’s been a while and the company that received $100 million in funding “to fix the internet” still cannot put a CDN behind their download servers.

Hi. Download speed too slow. 10-20kB/s.

Get:1 https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 tailscale amd64 1.34.0 [22.0 MB]  10.9 kB/s 6min 41

traceroute

# traceroute -n pkgs.tailscale.com
traceroute to pkgs.tailscale.com (167.172.11.40), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  * * *
 2  5.39.223.253  0.478 ms  0.470 ms 5.39.223.251  0.448 ms
 3  * * *
 4  * * *
 5  216.66.88.146  0.512 ms  0.552 ms  0.546 ms
 6  * * *
 7  4.7.18.10  145.145 ms 4.71.117.218  144.348 ms  144.301 ms
 8  * * *
 9  * * *
10  * * *
11  * * *
12  * * *
13  * * *
14  * * *
15  * * *
16  * * *
17  * * *
18  * * *
19  * * *
20  * * *
21  * * *
22  * * *
23  * * *
24  * * *
25  * * *
26  * * *
27  * * *
28  * * *
29  * * *
30  * * *

tcptraceroute

# tcptraceroute pkgs.tailscale.com 443

Tracing the path to pkgs.tailscale.com (167.172.11.40) on TCP port 443 (https), 30 hops max
 1  * _gateway (*) 1.781 ms *
 2  5.39.223.251  0.343 ms  0.910 ms  0.273 ms
 3  port-channel4.switch1.ams1.he.net (184.104.204.37)  0.730 ms  54.885 ms  39.282 ms
 4  port-channel1.core1.ams1.he.net (184.104.198.118)  0.559 ms  2.733 ms  10.157 ms
 5  * * *
 6  * * *
 7  * 4.7.18.10 145.356 ms  145.008 ms
 8  * * *
 9  * * *
10  * * *
11  * * *
12  * * *
13  167.172.11.40 [open]  148.750 ms  148.456 ms  148.482 ms