Increase download speeds in Firefox

[walia_ns]

How to increase download speeds in firefox
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Firefox is configured by default for dial-up speeds. If you have high speed internet access such as DSL or cable, you can change a few settings in Firefox and increase your download speeds. If you change the number of connections that Firefox uses to download, you will see a dramatic increas in your bandwidth. The larger the file you are downloading, the greater the speed will be, because more connections can be made to the server.

1. Change Firefox connection setting by typing "about:config" in the address bar of Firefox.

2. In the "Filter:" bar, type "persistent"

3. You should now see two preference names with their values:

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy user set interger 4
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server user set interger 2

4. Double click on each of the preference names. A window will pop-up allowing you to change the values for each. If you have cable or DSL use a number between 20 and 30!. Click OK.

5.Restart Firefox and you will be able to download more files simultaneously and each file a lot faster.

[Ethel]

Will give it a whirl. I am a big fan of Firefox.

Is this any different to fasterfox and similar twizzles?

[walia_ns]

Dear Ethel,

It is a Tweak in Firefox, you try it and I am sure will certainly feel the difference in Downloading.

Best wishes..

[rojash]

When I went to these settings, I found that they were already set to 16 and 8 respectively. I increased them to 28 each, closed Firefox, and checked a few AB pages. I found that each page loaded significantly slower than with the existing settings. E.g., opening this page took 3.594 secs with the original settings, and 12.735 with the new settings.

[Ethel]

Mine were also set to 16 and 8.

I have changed both to 30. Still testing.

[fo3nix]

Ignore all this.

Just download fasterfox.

Does all this with a nicer interface.

[Ethel]

fo3nix - I've been using fasterfox for a long time.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't use both fasterfox and this tweak?

What do you think?

[rojash]

Ethel, this is one of the tweaks that fasterfox does for you and, as fo3nix says, with a nice interface.

If you go to fasterfox options and select "Default" you will find that these values are set back to 4 and 2 respectively.

[Gromit]

Does any still use Netscape? In the good old days before Safari and Firefox, this was my preference over IE. I still have the latest version for testing purposes, but they ruined the interface about 3 versions back.

[Ethel]

Thanks Rojash. :)

Never used Netscape.

[fo3nix]

Ethel: what Rojash said:)

Gromit: yup, I remember firefox when it was still firebird. Even before that, when it was still Mozilla M3 (or whatever the version codename was). Ah, the days...