So I've been sitting in starbucks for like an hour and a half now and it's apparent to me that windows download servers svck, (No it isn't Starbucks connection) and I was wondering if it's possible to download the service pack from a 3rd party? if so how would I go about updating it once I downloaded it from the third party? is it possible to open the file with the Windows Update program or would I have to do some complicated stuff to implement the service pack?

There are many ways to upgrade Windows.

1) Windows Update (automatic download)
2) Microsoft Download Server (manual .exe download)
3) Third-party Download (manual .exe download)

With option 2 or 3, simply click the exe that you download and it will guide you through the setup, like any other installation program. Option 1 sometimes will fail to download correctly.

2) Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c3202ce6-4056-4059-8a1b-3a9b77cdfdda&displaylang=en
For Windows 7 64-bit: windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe
For Windows 7 32-bit: windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe
3) Simply google: "Windows 7 Sp1 download". You should find multiple sources. Although I cannot guarantee the file is legit.

Yeah I was using the automatic update function, slow as *bleep*

Thanks for the link and the information! cheers.

Or, the most likely thing is Starbucks has a QoS in place to keep people like you from abusing the free service. Most free public WiFi hotspots do. Once you go over some magic number you get throttled down and/or certain traffic (such as traffic to update servers) is always automatically of a lower priority to other traffic.

MS has some of the best servers and probably has multiple links to the Internet backbone. It is much more likely that Starbucks is simply throttling your connection through their WiFi so you don't eat up all their bandwidth and ruin the experience for everyone else who is using their WiFi. I frequently cap out my cable Internet connection when downloading from Microsoft servers.

Moral of the story? Don't download huge files through Starbuck's free Wifi.