My advertised Broadband speed is 120meg, in reality by doing speed tests on PC I get around 90mb dl & 9mb upload (average).

However the WiiU eStore downloads are so much slower than they should be for some reason, maybe Nintendo's servers are not at the capacity, and/or maybe the WiiU's firmware is a issue. Hopefully in time regardless of why, download speeds will pick up.

I have however been spending the last week or so trying various things out which for me at least has helped increase my eStore downloads speed.
I wan't to share my findings in case It helps anyone else.
Firstly Set you WiiU internet connection ip adress manually and on your router reserve the ip address for your WiiU and put the WiiU into the DMZ and also disable any Router based firewall.

If you are using the internal memory storage stick to using the Wireless connection to connect to the Nintendo Network. I found Using a usb network adaptor will reduce your network speed for some reason.
If you are using an external harddrive I found using a usb2.0 network adapter is the best option so long as you Plug both the network adapter and the harddrive into the rear usb ports. This unfortunatly will mean you will need a powered by mains harddrive. By placing both the usb network adapter and hardrive on the rear usb ports it seems they are on the same usb hub and have a more direct connection.

There are a number of wiiu compatable Html5 speed tests about but they are inaccurate, its nothing to do with WiiU, it is the same on mobile devices, any connection above 2mbs will not test properly on any html5 speed test, its a limitation on browsers and the html5 code ( my best html5 speed tests on WiiU browser was just over 1mb dl and 700kb ul). The best way to check download speeds is to download from the eStore and time it. (don't just take the estore timer as fact). This is what I did over a space of 8 days, with differing configurations, repeating numerous times to get the avarage times it took to download 1gig of data from the eStore.
Heres my results (ps3/vita for console comparison):
Ps3 1gig dl 12mins wired, 28mins wifi
Vita 1gig dl 68mins wifi
WiiU wifi/internal storage 1gig 65mins
WiiU wired/internal storage 1gig 77mins
WiiU Wifi/usb storage 1gig 73mins
WiiU wired/usb storage 1gig 39min

I'm not saying everyone will find using a the Wiiu with a Usb harddrve and network adapter will yield the fastest downloads, its just what I have found personaly. Its also worth remembering you probably will not get your full connection speed.

I also checked my ping, jitter and packetloss with both the WiiU's Wifi and the usb2.0 network adapter and found both are more or less the same, at 0 packet loss, and around 15ms ping with 2ms of jitter.

My equipment I am using is VirginMedia Superhub, Seagate 2tb HDD, Plugable brand Usb2.0 network adapter.

Feel free to share your configurations, and download performances, maybe together we can all optimize the available network performance untill Nintendo do whats needed to be done to fix the slow downloads.

I'll take tomorrow off and read this.

Mine is factory default for my router settings, ext. Toshiba 2TB HDD, wifi., download speed at 7mb/s.
It takes about 1hr. 10 minutes to download 1GB., sometimes shorter, it just depends on the day.
Internet companies don't really recommend changing your settings on the router, because they are factory set to work flawlessly with your service provider. All you really ever need to do is make sure the firmware is up to date.
Wii U probably has slow downloads, but I don't have ultra fast internet to confirm any further. I have the minimum plan, which is apparently Wii U's max rate as well.
They may enhance the connectivity later when the minimum plan is higher at say 20mb/s, but it's rare that anyone ever gets an internet plan over 10mb/s as far as I know.

Or you could twiddle your thumbs. That passes time, playing on a portable video game console does too, an iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, or Android device, those would work as well.

Get better internet.

I just find it interesting when everyone says the internet speeds are slow on Nintendo consoles. I have the fastest internet out of anyone I know, and it's 7mb/s. You have to ask the internet companies to get super fast internet, but there has to be internet services running at a fast output rate to be able to take advantage of the fast speeds. Anyone with over 40mb/s obviously went out of their way to get it.
The average family never has internet over 10mb/s. My guess is that once internet providers are able to provide a higher amount at say 20mb/s over the current 9mb/s as a standard(which I've heard is the current max), Nintendo will make it faster to match the minimum.
Same thing with HDTVs, they were a luxury at first, but have become the standard over SD for the most part. I'd say it's safe to assume the same with internet service getting faster even at it's lowest rate.

Play your 3DS or get one

You can play WiiU games while things download in the background. That's the best help

Popcorn

Take a brick and smack your head on it several times. If it's not done downloading when you come to, repeat.

I like this idea, but can't recommend it without the possibility of being held, partly, legally responsible.

Get a girlfriend. They can make that hour wait feel like twenty minutes. (-;

Watch a movie or tv show.

Stare at the screen and your watch for the whole time