router/bittorrent help
 

It's been a long time since I've been here, so I'm not quite up to speed on where this goes...I've been using my roomie's wireless modem to try and download some stuff through bittorrent but it's been going really slow.

Actually, let me back up a little bit. My roommate uses a Netgear CG814WG that was given to him by his ISP. However, we can't use the wireless aspect of it. I think it's because it's an unsecured access point. (I think everybody in the building is leeching off of him.) So we've had to resort to actually hooking an RJ-45 cable to his modem and using the internet that way. Anyway, I've tried to enter the gateway IP address and configuring the ports and stuff to make the bittorrent work faster. However, whenever I try to enter in the address in my browser I get an error page, or an unable to connect page.

Is there a way I can remedy this? I would like to be able to fix this stuff. If you can help me and my roomie out about the whole unsecured wireless thing, that'd be alright too. He seems to think that only the ISP can secure the network. I think he's wrong.

Moving to the Help Desk.

This website should help you setup your router for bittorrent usage.

http://www.portforward.com/

That kinda helped, but there are still circumstances when the internet will just stop co-operating. I mean, the modem will still stay connected and I'll be registering an "excellent" signal, but when I check the status of the connection, packets are going out, but not in.

Double Post:
Bittorrent speeds are still crawling at less than 10kB/sec with the rare spurt to 25-30 kB/sec. The internet still likes to kick out several times a day, although everything seems to be connected. I've already done all the configurations and stuff with the router and with the torrent app, but it still is crawling along, or the internet will stop working. I don't know what the hell is wrong with this damn thing.

Would you by any chance have a firewall?
If so then be sure the port used for incoming connections is allowed in your firewall.

I forgot all about that thing...it's Norton Internet Security.

Which torrent app are you using, this way we're on the same page.

BitComet. I opened up the firewall and added the ports into the filter, but it doesn't appear to have changed anything.

He's wrong, indeed. Your router will show you what IPs/MACs are connected to the router, and you can choose from a variety of security methods, the first being to disable broadcasting the SSID. Another is using encryption, which you may have bells ringing if I say "WEP Key."

Checking the manual or help page for SSID, encryption key, and broadcast should give you some ideas as to what's going on and how to secure your network.

Nope. Nothing. Nada. Still sucks. 25 kB/s down, 29 kB/s up. I think when they offer me a house, I'm going to specifically request that I use my own router, or they give me something other than that netgear.

You see, when it does work, the bittorrent sucks. However, on regular downloading, I sometimes see speeds of 1000+ kB/sec, so I know it's not the line that sucks.

Torrents aren't always stupidly fast, you know. They're like your typical P2P service where the number of seeders and their speed determines your download speed.

500+ seeders?

How many are actually uploading to you?
What speed?
Does your torrent software have a download speed cap? A max seeder cap?

etc.

Somewhere between 10-20 sometimes, usually at less than 1 kB/sec. I'm using BitComet.

Problem solved. It happens.

Still. Torrents aren't the only problem. Can't connect to games, and quite frequently I can't use the internet.

And how many people are connected to your router at any given time?

for the most part, it's just me. Every so often my roomie (who owns the router) will use AIM. I'm not going to worry about it anymore. He's going to Iraq, and the internet will go as well. That's why I went ahead and got me an internet card from sprint yesterday.

It's not as fast as the broadband connection, but that's because the local tower hasn't been upgraded yet. I'm sure in the near future I'm going to be on here griping about something else though.

No, you see....the router connects to your broadband modem...and that speed is split between the users. You don't lose speed using the router, unless your router is a home to your entire neighborhood.

It's not. It's been encrypted the entire time I've used it. It was the first thing I did.

Hmm? I misread your OP then

And how is it not "faster than the broadband?" What sort of connection do you guys have?

It was an unsecured connection. I secured it. However, the wireless part still wasn't working. I went out and got some RJ-45's and plugged them into the back of the router. This works only little bit better.