Very Slow upload/download speed of Firebase Storage

Question

The Story

I am using Firebase Storage in my app to upload large files into the Firebase Storage. Files are mostly videos which can be even larger than 2

Answer 1

I offer this not to refute your observations, but just as a point of comparison. As a test, I used the code below to upload a ~50MB file and time the progress. The test was run on a Samsung Galaxy S3 (4.4.2) with a home WiFi connection (in California). The average throughput was roughly 760KB/sec.

I ran the same test on other phone devices using the same network with throughput ranging from 300KB/sec to 850KB/sec (Moto X Pure; Marshmallow).

private void uploadTest() {
    // This file is ~50MB
    final File file = new File("/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/20160821_101145.mp4");
    // Upload the file
    Log.i(TAG, String.format("uploadTest: Starting upload of %5.2fMB file",
            file.length()/1024.0/1024.0));

    FirebaseStorage.getInstance().getReference("test").putFile(Uri.fromFile(file))
            .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener() {
                @Override
                public void onSuccess(UploadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) {
                    Log.i(TAG, "onSuccess: Done");
                }
            }).addOnProgressListener(new OnProgressListener() {
        @Override
        public void onProgress(UploadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) {
            Log.i(TAG, String.format("onProgress: %5.2f MB transferred",
                    taskSnapshot.getBytesTransferred()/1024.0/1024.0));
        }
    });
}

This is the logcat produced, with some progress lines deleted to make the list more compact:

08-21 11:39:17.539 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: uploadTest: Starting upload of 51.79MB file
08-21 11:39:17.559 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress:  0.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:25.117 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress:  5.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:31.654 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 10.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:38.711 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 15.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:45.088 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 20.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:51.375 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 25.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:39:57.411 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 30.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:03.408 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 35.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:10.886 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 40.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:17.233 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 45.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:23.069 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 50.00 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:25.792 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onProgress: 51.79 MB transferred
08-21 11:40:25.792 18427-18427/com.qbix.test I/MainActivity: onSuccess: Done