I should add - my iOS downloads (iPad and AppleTV) were very quick, suggesting the downloads are mirrored around the world; and the US downloads were so slow simply because the US iOS user-base is so big.
However, the failure was happening on authenticating when starting the Restore process: this is probably not mirrored but a single point of failure (or single cluster) in the US.
Not much point in everyone around the world being able to download the update from fast local servers, if everyone has to go back to an overwhelmed server in the US to authenticate.
However, the failure was happening on authenticating when starting the Restore process: this is probably not mirrored but a single point of failure (or single cluster) in the US.
Not much point in everyone around the world being able to download the update from fast local servers, if everyone has to go back to an overwhelmed server in the US to authenticate.