Slow iOS app and firmware update downloads in iTunes All my iOS related downloads (firmware updates and app downloads) are incredibly slow in iTunes. Right now, a single 70 MB app is an estimated 3 hours download making the transfer rate lousy 52 Kbit/s on an 8 MBit/s ADSL.

When I download my .ipsw firmware updates (400 - 600 MB) in a browser from a direct download link (appldnld.apple.com) the transfer rate is normal though.

I suppose my iTunes is connecting to geographically "wrong" servers. Changing Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) to my ISP's DNS servers doesn't solve the issue.

Is there a way to improve iTunes download rate?
It sounds like the itunes servers are still cached in your DNS cache after changing from Google's DNS severs to your ISPs.

Once you change the DNS servers, clear your DNS cache using terminal

dscacheutil -flushcache


I would also quit the iTunes Helper process (via Activity Monitor) and restart iTunes.