Axel does the same thing any other accelerator does: it opens more than one HTTP/FTP connection per download and each connection transfers its own, separate, part of the file. Be forewarned that some FTP operators don't like it when you do this. You may either specify a list of mirrors to use or tell the program to search for mirrors. Axel puts all the data in the right file, in the right order, at download time. Axel is console-based and uses few system resources.
WWW: http://axel.alioth.debian.org/
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