Question : How fast is FTP on a broadband connection?

I have a cable modem, but when I FTP I find it dog slow.  What rate might it be communicating with?  Can it be sped up?

Nested directories take the longest.  If I send to many sites in parallel, will it be slower still?

Is there a way to zip up files locally and unzip them at my website.  (I do not have a dedicated virtual server in which case that would be a yes)

thanks
newbieweb

Answer : How fast is FTP on a broadband connection?

The FTP speed will be based on whatever speed you have at your end as well as the speed that is set at the other end.  Most hosting companies will limit the amount of bandwidth used for FTP to make sure that there is enough available bandwidth available for people browsing Web sites.  

The reason that nested folders take longer is that, technically, FTP does not allow for folders to be copied.  Windows has to do some stuff in the background to create those folders on the remote host, switch to those folders, and copy each individual file.  

As for zipping a file and then unzipping it on the FTP server, this won't work because your computer will have to extract the files locally and copy them back to the server.  It would take even longer.

There really is no way to speed it up unless your hosting company will increase your available bandwidth for FTP.