Try this ‘Fix’, if Ubuntu Software Repositories are Slow

In my experience, each time a new version of Ubuntu is released, for couple of days, the software repositories get a bit slow (especially if you are out side of US). And as a result, if you use software managers such as the ‘apt-get’, Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic, then sometimes the download speeds can be frustratingly slow.

I’m experiencing it (again) right now with my newly installed Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal. Not only some are slow and I could not even install some of my ‘must have’ software packages as ‘apt-get’ says it cannot contact a certain server.

Then I changed the main software source to ‘Main Server’ (by default, Ubuntu automatically sets the servers according based your country), and it was even worse!. So I changed it the ‘Server for United States’ instead, and it seems to have fixed the issue.

The download speeds still aren’t at their maximum (that should go away within a couple of days), but, it’s better than nothing!.

So, if you are too having a similar issue right now, then you too can manually change the Server to see if it helps. For that, please follow the below steps.

1. Search for ‘software sources’ in Dash. Then click on its icon and open it, as shown below.

2. Make sure you have selected the ‘Ubuntu Software’ tab, and then under ‘Download from:’ sub option, click on the drop-down menu and choose ‘Server for United States’. Then close the ‘Software Source’ configuration window.

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Update: Actually, there is an even better solution. If you select ‘Other…’ from the drop-down menu, then it will take you into another window that automatically tests and chooses the best (fastest and reliable) server for you!.

So, if ‘Server for United States’ does not work that well for you, then simply choose ‘Other’ from the menu and then click on the ‘Select Best Sever’ button. Then at the end, it will highlight the ‘best’ server, then simply select that and hit the ‘Choose Server’ button to confirm the changes.

A big thanks goes to ‘Alan‘ for giving me this tip!.

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3. This step might only be needed if you are using ‘apt-get’, nevertheless, enter the below command to properly update that information.

sudo apt-get update

That’s it.