Download speed gets worse and worse

[Pooch 0]

First off, this is nor a claim nor a complaint, in fact I have always been happy to downlaod from Avsim.However, as also mentionned in other posts including those of the admin, the download speed gets worse and worse: from very frequent popups "we are very busy now, please try later" to download speeds of around 10k/sec, which is even extremely poor for a dialup connection, but ridiculous for a DSL connection.I agree that this is the result of the great popularity of Avsim where more and more files, bigger and bigger are available and downloaded by more and more simmers, so that the available bandwidth is at its limits in certain hours.....and the numbers will even increase.So I guess the situation will get even worse but not better.I do not know if the initiative of the donation program brings enough funds to upgrade the bandwidth. Reading Tom's sticky up here, I have some doubts. I have donated months ago but do not get any advantage over those who have not donated nor I believe to have any disadvantage respective those who donated more than me.Wouldn't it be more appropriate to install a "First Class Membership" similar to the "other" site ? I would not mind to pay a reasonable membership for having a fast and always available connection to this great site with thousands of interesting free files. A "normal" site could still be available for those who will not or cannot afford such a membership.Thanks, Peter

[ls25 0]

While I agree that a first class style membership would bring more money to the site, to help pay for bandwidth, that opens a giant potential for a perpetual headache for Tom, et al.There is complaining now due to low download speeds, and the site is FREE! I personally think that is absolutely idiotic that someone provides a service, for free, and people still whine, and complain that it is not instantaneous downloads 24/7 no matter the bandwidth cost to Avsim, or whomever, because it is free for them (the consumer)The complaining would be thousands of times worse when 'paying customers' are making demands because their speeds are not up to their standards, or because they did not get some special treatment that someone else got, or who knows what else.On top of that, if it works like the 'other' site, those that chose not to pay would be stuck with horrible download speeds, which would drive away the user base, which lowers ad clicks, which lowers the additional funding to provide the still overwhelming amount of bandwidth purchased to keep the pipe open from Avsim.com to the users.Yet another issue, the forums, if I am a paying customer, do I get some special thing, privilege, or whatever? If I don't, am I going to demand one now, because I am paying for Avsim (and you know that is coming, I work for the government & every 10th person I encounter that doesn't like something I do thinks they personally pay my salary.)I could go on forever. People are greedy, needy, and down right mean when it comes to them giving a few bucks for something & then feeling entitled to something special, and I would really hate to see the staff have to put up with that, on top of the BS they already deal with daily with the complaining now.I imagine I will be called a kiss butt, or something, but that is not the case. I learned my lesson about people long ago, and especially those masked by the internet when I put together a PMDG 744 file for FSBuild, and got blown out of the water with requests & complaints, despite putting in a readme that I offered no support after release...Just my opinion on this, though I am just one person, and your idea may work out very well here, if they decide to implement it.

[Chase 303]

Larry,"I work for the government & every 10th person I encounter that doesn't like something I do thinks they personally pay my salary.)"I have a feeling we may be in the same line of duty here... :) I get that a lot from my disgruntled "customers".

[Guest Gary Buska]

I have been downloading from AVSIM for years now and I am quite happy with the way things are. I use to down load from another site whose name I will not mention and they went with the separate sections if you paid for a membership you would get faster speeds than those who do not. This site went down hill in a hurry right after that decision was implemented The name calling got to the point that I wanted no part of it, even though I never bought a subscription I would hate to see this great site head down that path. You have to take things as you get them and stop expecting something for nothing. Yes there are times when the library is slow,and with more people finding out about the services that AVSIM offers for free the more that will join. I for one hope that AVSIM remains free to everyone :-)

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Gary, you can be assured that we are not going to go to the "pay for bandwidth" model. We decided years ago that we would not do that and we still maintain that philosophy. As for bandwidth and more importantly the hardware that the library runs on, at our Board meeting in December, we voted to approve the investment of monies necessary to upgrade the library server. That will be a substantial investment afforded by the great donations of hundreds of library users. That should eliminate many of the issues seen of late by library users. We'll post more news on that transition to a new server in the near future.