System.Net.WebClient unreasonably slow

Question

When using the System.Net.WebClient.DownloadData() method I\'m getting an unreasonably slow response time.

When fetching an url using the WebClient class in .NET it

Answer 1

I had that problem with WebRequest. Try setting Proxy = null;

    WebClient wc = new WebClient();
    wc.Proxy = null;

By default WebClient, WebRequest try to determine what proxy to use from IE settings, sometimes it results in like 5 sec delay before the actual request is sent.

This applies to all classes that use WebRequest, including WCF services with HTTP binding. In general you can use this static code at application startup:

WebRequest.DefaultWebProxy = null;