Speed of upload of a file to an ftp area - why slower than a manual upload?

[J Trahair]

Hi all. I have a general query regarding uploading a file from within a VB.net program to an ftp area. On my computer, in a VB.net project I am developing, any file is uploaded quickly to a private ftp area to which the program has access.

One of my customers has the same application and tried to upload a file to the same ftp area, but sometimes it takes ages and times out, other times it uploads quick enough.

I know very well that the internet is a variable thing, and that different cities and even different streets in the same city have differing broadband speeds. But always, this customer can skype me or email me successfully, and can show that other uploads/downloads carried out manually happen quickly eg. downloading a file from DropBox or a photo skyped him by a friend. It seems that the only failure is for my software to upload the file as quickly as could be done on his computer using CoreFTP or similar.

The code is as follows, and always works well on my computer. The code below ensures the ftp subfolders exist then it renames the file by prefixing the file name with '_part ', it uploads it and when successfully uploaded it removes the '_part ' prefix and the job is done.

This question is not primarily about what code to use, it's about the general idea of why it is slower than opening FileZilla etc.

Any ideas? Thank you.

            mstrFileToCopyFrom = OpenFileDialog1.FileName
            mstrFileToCopyToEndsInFilenameAndTag = strPathOnlyEndsInSlash & "_part " & strFileNameOnly
            mblnOverwriteFile = True   ' or False
            Call CopyFile()
            'Process mblnErrorInCopyFiles

            Try

                Dim request As FtpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create("ftp://123.456.789.123/public_ftp/" & mstrFTPMainFolderName & "/" & "Prospects")
                request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("qwe123456", "passw0rd")
                request.KeepAlive = True
                request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.MakeDirectory

                Dim response As FtpWebResponse = request.GetResponse

                response.Close()

            Catch ex As Exception

            End Try

            Try

                Dim request As FtpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create("ftp://123.456.789.123/public_ftp/" & mstrFTPMainFolderName & "/" & "Prospects" & "/" & Mid$(mstrComboBox1Text, 1, 6))
                request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("qwe123456", "passw0rd")
                request.KeepAlive = True
                request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.MakeDirectory

                Dim response As FtpWebResponse = request.GetResponse

                response.Close()

            Catch ex As Exception

            End Try

            Try

                Dim request1 As FtpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create("ftp://123.456.789.123/public_ftp/" & mstrFTPMainFolderName & "/" & "Prospects" & "/" & Mid$(mstrComboBox1Text, 1, 6) & "/" & gstrSubFolderName)
                request1.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("qwe123456", "passw0rd")
                request1.KeepAlive = True
                request1.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.MakeDirectory

                Dim response1 As FtpWebResponse = request1.GetResponse

                response1.Close()

            Catch ex As Exception

            End Try

            Dim request2 As FtpWebRequest = DirectCast(WebRequest.Create("ftp://123.456.789.123/public_ftp/" & mstrFTPMainFolderName & "/" & "Prospects" & "/" & Mid$(mstrComboBox1Text, 1, 6) & "/" & gstrSubFolderName & "/" & "_part " & strFileNameOnly), System.Net.FtpWebRequest)
            request2.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("qwe123456", "passw0rd")
            request2.KeepAlive = True
            request2.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.UploadFile
            request2.Proxy = Nothing   'skips long lookup
            request2.Timeout = 480000     'any big number
            request2.ReadWriteTimeout = 480000    'any big number

            Dim file() As Byte = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(strPathOnlyEndsInSlash & "_part " & strFileNameOnly)

            Dim strz As System.IO.Stream = request2.GetRequestStream()
            strz.Write(file, 0, file.Length)
            strz.Close()
            strz.Dispose()

            Dim request3 As FtpWebRequest = DirectCast(WebRequest.Create("ftp://123.456.789.123/public_ftp/" & mstrFTPMainFolderName & "/" & "Prospects" & "/" & Mid$(mstrComboBox1Text, 1, 6) & "/" & gstrSubFolderName & "/" & "_part " & strFileNameOnly), System.Net.FtpWebRequest)
            request3.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("qwe123456", "passw0rd")
            request3.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.Rename
            request3.RenameTo() = strFileNameOnly
            Dim MyResponse As System.Net.FtpWebResponse

            Try
                MyResponse = CType(request3.GetResponse, FtpWebResponse)

                Dim MyStatusStr As String = MyResponse.StatusDescription
                Dim MyStatusCode As System.Net.FtpStatusCode = MyResponse.StatusCode

                If MyStatusCode <> Net.FtpStatusCode.FileActionOK Then
                    MsgBox("Upload " & strFileNameOnly & " failed. Try again.", vbExclamation, mCompanyName)
                Else
                    'MessageBox.Show("Rename " & "_part " & strFileNameOnly & " to " & strFileNameOnly & " ok at " & Now.ToString)
                End If
            Catch ex As Exception
                MsgBox("Upload " & strFileNameOnly & " failed due to the following error: " & ex.Message & ". Try again.", vbExclamation, mCompanyName)
            End Try