Hey guys i setup our VSFTPD server i ask my neighbor to upload some files on it to test it, he first tried to upload a 12mb file that took 7 minutes then he tried to upload a 500mb file which will be uploaded in 12 hrs, its transfer rate is 12kbsp and yet my neighbor has a 2mb DSL just like ours. the setup in our network is we have 2mb DSL line connected to a broadband router (edimax), on the router port 20-21 is forwarded to my old PC P4 2.80 ghz 256mb DDR memory where VSFTPD Server is installed. do you know any another reason why it takes to long to download and upload. My neighbor also has the same problem when he setup his vsftpd server, also his neighbor who did has the same problem...

The problem may lie here :-

1. Your DSL connection may have a very high download speed but the upload speed may be very less. Check out your internet connection speed using :-
http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/default.asp
http://www.abeltronica.com/velocimetro/pt/?idioma=uk

Or

2. Your system is very slow. You should upgrade to 512MB atleast for better response of a linux box.

Yeah my thoughts is exactly..... tnx

Did you get the chance testing your DSL line? Try running the test during off peak hours.

Hmmm, I wouldn't think system memory could cause that much of an impact on internet speed. Run either htop or gnome system monitor and see if your memory drops significantly during ftp transfer. Adding more memory wouldn't hurt but still wouldn't cause ftp DL/UL to lagg.

By way of clarification, domestic DSL connections are ADSL, where the "A" stands for asymmetric. The asymmetry is that download is much faster than upload, as the other posters have been pointing out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADSL

Your ADSL connections are a bottleneck - even if 2mbps upload were available to your neighbour (and yours was allowing full 2mbps download) that's still a crawl compared to typical networking speeds, and your ftp server should be able to easily surpass 2mbps. I've just seen over 8 Mbyte / second sending data to proftpd running to a 700Mhz pentium 3 box running Ubuntu 7.10:

From my XP box:
...
ftp: 50980864 bytes sent in 5.76Seconds 8843.17Kbytes/sec.
...

On the ubuntu box:
> cat /proc/cpuinfo
...
model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
stepping : 6
cpu MHz : 732.344
...

(they're connected by 100Mbps ethernet via the same switch, and the ubuntu box did have 512M RAM)

If you want to truly measure your ftp *server* performance then do it from the same network. You have ubuntu on your old PC which implies you have a new PC also on the network (with windows installed?). Windows (up to XP - don't know about vista) has an ftp client available from the command line (type "ftp"). If you use this to upload a file to your ubuntu box, and they're both plugged into the same router, you'll then get a good idea of the true upload speed.
hope that helps,
Robin

Pretty typical. A 2Mbps (downstream) ADSL line will usually have 128-256Kbps upstream. Look for SDSL (or get a DS1) for better upload speeds.

Just a thought or two regarding the FTP server... we recently installed an FTP server and noted that our local ADSL ISP would not allow port 20 or 21 to be used on the lowest package... we had to upgrade to a plan that gave us access to those ports as well as supply a fixed address in their DHCP pool.
Wondering if your supplier throttles down your port 20-21 connections... I think it would be easier for them to block it rather than reduce your speed.
From previous experiences that I have had, our FTP speed has never allowed more than 90 Kbytes/s upload... and that's on our own network.
I'm interested in these lines of conversation as well.

Port blocking is easy, and is common on entry-level Internet access packages. Port throttling can be very expensive in CPU cycles on the upstream routers, unless special hardware is in use. Not very common (but I *have* implemented it before in order to allow a previous employer to offer cheaper services for those that don't need a lot of bandwidth).