Slow torrent speeds

I mentioned this a recent journal entry but seeing as noone could help me, then I guess I'm going to have to ask.

Here's my problem. My torrent download speeds as ridicoulsy slow. At the moment I have 5Kb/s download speed. Whereas someone else that I have managed to persuade to download the same torrent is getting something nearer to 70Kb/s. What is the deal with this? They are using the same program as me as well.

I have tried just about all the torrent programs Bittorrent, BitComet, BitLord, Utorrent, Uzureus. You name it I tried it. I always get the same crappy speeds, except for in the small hours of the morning when I can get anything between 10Kb/s and 120 Kb/s download speed. I know that I could leave my machine on over night, but due to the amount of noise it makes that really isn't an option.

I have opened the ports on my firewall for the torrent programs, but still get the slow speeds. As for my Internet, I have 8meg DSL. So why isn't this liking me?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Here is something to try.

Manually set your computer's IP address for the internal network(I'd recommend something like 192.168.1.15 if there are other people on the network[or 192.168.0.15, depending upon your router's configuration])

Then set port forwarding to the port that you have set for your client, and turn off UPnP for your client as well.(you can do this with utorrent, and I recommend using that client for a multitude of reasons anyways)

Now, also turn off UPnP for your router too.

I've noticed that this can sometimes make a big difference in one's downloading capabilities, though I don't guarantee anything. =)

Also, if this doesn't work, then perhaps your ISP is deliberately impeding your torrent service. Who do you have?

How ya doing, buddy?

www.portforward.com has great explanations if you are running this through a router or something =U

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

How do I change my settings for my modem? I've got a Sagem F@st 800 E4. I don't know where to look for the settings for it. And just how do I go about changing my IP address.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, you don't want to mess with your modem. That will likely get you banned by your ISP, as it is possible for people to hack those things and unlock their bandwidth limitations, and ISPs don't like that at all.

Is your computer connected straight to the modem, or are you connected to the modem through a router?

If you are connected through a router, then this is what you need to do:
Anyways, to manually set your IP address, you will need to go to your "Network Connections" folder, and right-click on your active connection, and select "Properties." Then select the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" option and select the properties button. There, you should be able to set your IP address. You will also have to set the "DNS server" addresses as well, which can be obtained by going back to your Network Connections folder, right-clicking on the active connection, and selecting "Status." Select the "Support" tab, and click on "Details." There you will find your DNS server addresses, to switch back to your IP address configuration window, and enter those numbers. Select OK for everything, and now you have your manually configured IP address.

If you are connected straight to your modem, then get a router to mediate between your computer and your modem. This can be important because that specialty hardware does a good job of filtering out junk connections, various hack attacks, and limits the number of connections that can be made to your computer. (this is a good thing because if there are too many concurrent connections being made to your computer, your network card can be flooded, and won't be able to handle all the traffic, thus greatly diminishing your download potential)

EDIT:Upon reading your journal entry highlighting your problem ( I guess I should have read that first), it is my professional opinion that there really is nothing you can do to fix this problem. You are just going to have to learn to deal with the limitations placed on your bandwidth, unless you want to switch to another ISP, which is really your only other option.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by packrat

If you are connected straight to your modem, then get a router to mediate between your computer and your modem. This can be important because that specialty hardware does a good job of filtering out junk connections, various hack attacks, and limits the number of connections that can be made to your computer. (this is a good thing because if there are too many concurrent connections being made to your computer, your network card can be flooded, and won't be able to handle all the traffic, thus greatly diminishing your download potential)

EDIT:Upon reading your journal entry highlighting your problem ( I guess I should have read that first), it is my professional opinion that there really is nothing you can do to fix this problem. You are just going to have to learn to deal with the limitations placed on your bandwidth, unless you want to switch to another ISP, which is really your only other option.

Would connecting my modem through a router make any difference, or would I just be throwing my money away? I found this on my ISP's website. Is this true?

Quote:

Ethernet routers tend to perform better USB so it may be beneficial to upgrade to a router.

That site also mentioned that my speeds will be slower in the evenings. This is true for my torrent downloads, but as for my direct downloads these don't seem to be affected at all, in fact the speeds seem to be a little faster in the evening that during the day or in the small hours of the morning.

Further to this thread I went and got myself a new firewall. I now have Comodo (sounded good), but I'm having trouble with opening ports on it. Well, it's either this one or my Windows Firewall, which isn't even being used.


This is a image of my connection in UTorrent. I have opened the ports in both Comodo, and Windows Firewall and allowed the program access to the internet, but I am still getting the little yellow triangle. And also when I check if the port is opened or not, I get an error message saying that it isn't. Any ideas?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Well, if Windows firewall isn't on, then don't worry about it. 'Cuz its not on. =P

And no, you would not be throwing your money away with a router. Since you appear to be hardwired to your network, it looks like you can get by with a nice, cheap Linksys 4-port wired router(Linksys mostly because I have lots of experience with Linksys stuff =P). That should only be about 30 or so American dollars, if not less. A router is practically essential for home networks.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by packrat

If you are connected straight to your modem, then get a router to mediate between your computer and your modem. This can be important because that specialty hardware does a good job of filtering out junk connections, various hack attacks, and limits the number of connections that can be made to your computer. (this is a good thing because if there are too many concurrent connections being made to your computer, your network card can be flooded, and won't be able to handle all the traffic, thus greatly diminishing your download potential)

So a router would allow me to have more control over what can and cannot get access to my PC from the Internet? I just what to be 100% sure about routers before I go out and get one.

Quote:

Since you appear to be hardwired to your network

Sorry for the simplicity of my question, but what does this mean exactly? I'm not all that good when it comes to PC terminology.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Domino

So a router would allow me to have more control over what can and cannot get access to my PC from the Internet? I just what to be 100% sure about routers before I go out and get one.

Well, though it may not give you more control over your connection, it will definitely make things easier, and give you more convenient control where it matters.

Quote:

Sorry for the simplicity of my question, but what does this mean exactly? I'm not all that good when it comes to PC terminology.

I'm not even sure if that is proper compy jargon, but I use that term to mean that you are connected through an ethernet cable, instead of wirelessly.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks for all the help packrat. I really appreciate it. I think that I will go and get myself a router if it means that it is going to make things easier and more convenient for myself. It also means that I will be able to connect up extra PC's/ consoles through the connection as well, which would be good.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Common possible problems that can cause low torrent speeds:

- you are using ADSL, or any kind of other service where your Upload and Download depend on each other. In this case, uploading can hog your download speeds. This can especially hurt in ADSL where the download/upload ratio is around 1:10. Simply cap your ul speeds to around 3/4 of your max, or whatever value it performs good on.

- port forwarding, as mentioned above. Routers are nice if you need to split your net connection or you want embedded firewalls, but they are also a pain in the ass. If you just have a modem that connects to your PC, you shouldnt have problems such as this though. (So don't go and buy a router thinking that it will improve your speeds)

- If you are running Windows XP SP2, it limits your maximum halfopen connections to ten. This was done as an attempt to make worms and other kinds of virii to spread slower (less open connections = less traffic). In the long run, this can cause a huge problem if you have many applications connecting to the net at once. There's a patcher that can edit the number of possible connections though, google for EvID4226Patch223d-en.zip. Since Bittorrent is based on connections happening en masse, having more halfopen connections will absolutely improve your speeds.
(note: don't set the number of connections too high though. Your computer/cpu/network card may not be able to handle the strain, causing huge cpu usage, worse speeds, timeouts, ddos attacks, multiple homicides, tentacle rape and ufo abductions, and so on. Unless you have a monstre computer, something around 50 is just fine. I use 75 on my dual core cpu and 2mb adsl line, and so far encountered no problems.)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by evilboris

- If you are running Windows XP SP2, it limits your maximum halfopen connections to ten. This was done as an attempt to make worms and other kinds of virii to spread slower (less open connections = less traffic). In the long run, this can cause a huge problem if you have many applications connecting to the net at once. There's a patcher that can edit the number of possible connections though, google for EvID4226Patch223d-en.zip. Since Bittorrent is based on connections happening en masse, having more halfopen connections will absolutely improve your speeds.

This really does work. I've only got two torrents running each with one peer each at the minute and I'm getting between 10Kb/s and 20Kb/s for each torrent. I hope more peers/ seeds connect so that my speeds get even faster. Thanks alot for that evilboris.

Just off to install ZoneAlarm again, Comodo wouldn't let me have the port open so I'm ditching it.

And also, what does this mean?



I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I didn't read all the posts here (have to go to sleep like now)... but don't have more than 5 connections open! I have super good speed but I use to have 6+ torrents at the same time and that gave me some shitty download rate

So 5 connections max, test to see if your portals are open... other than that check to see who's uploading (country-wise) at the time... that worked for me at least

I was speaking idiomatically.

Okay. I'm getting okay-ish speeds now. Between 10Kb/s - 20Kb/s. Not lightning fast, but I can make do for now. But I have another problem. I've gotten rid of Comodo firewall as it was affecting my speeds and reducing them right down to less than 1Kb/s. I want to re-install ZoneAlarm firewall as this allowed me decent speeds, but I keep getting this error message when I try to re-install it.



I have uninstalled ZonAlarm, and tried several different sites to download the installer file from but I keep getting that message. At the moment I've having to go with Comodo as I don't like Windows Firewall. Can someone tell where I'm going wrong.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I Googled it and came across this discussion among people with problems similar to yours: http://forum.adiscon.com/topic,421.html

Of particular note is this bit that one person quoted from another site:

Quote:

Answer: TrueVector is the invisible gatekeeper portion of ZoneAlarm. It's the guts of the software that actually controls and monitors Internet access on your computer.

TrueVector runs as a service or a background process, depending on your operating system. It loads at startup but doesn't show up in the task bar, and, for the most part, you will never see it.

Because TrueVector already is running, it's possible an older version of ZoneAlarm is installed on your computer. If that's the case, you should be able to remove it using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

If ZoneAlarm isn't in Add/Remove Programs, or un-installing it doesn't help, then stopping the service is the next step.

Because you are running Windows 98, you should be able to press control-alt-delete to bring up the Task Manager. In Task Manager, select TrueVector from the list, and click End Task.

Windows NT, 2000 or XP users can open the Control Panel, then double-click Administrative Tools. In Administrative Tools, double-click Services.

In the resulting list, right-click on TrueVector, and select properties. In that dialog box, you can either click stop or set the service to not run at startup by selecting disable from the startup type popup menu.

Those steps should stop the service and allow you to finish the installation.

If you set the service not to start automatically, you'll need to restart before attempting to install ZoneAlarm.

Thanks Wiseguys.

The error message you received actually mentions needing to shut down the service, so I'm pretty sure that doing what is described above should solve your problem. I hope this helps.

FELIPE NO

Thank you Ridan Krad. That worked. Took some finding but I've managed to get it up and running again.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Tsunade

I didn't read all the posts here (have to go to sleep like now)... but don't have more than 5 connections open! I have super good speed but I use to have 6+ torrents at the same time and that gave me some shitty download rate

So 5 connections max, test to see if your portals are open... other than that check to see who's uploading (country-wise) at the time... that worked for me at least

Uh nonono. Your webbrowser already uses 2 connections (IE default - on Firefox it's probably more), that leaves you with 3 for torrents which is insufficent for about anything. Think about it, one connectino for tracker, and 2 for peers? You wouldnt be able to download anything with only 5 connections open.

This number was actually around 70+ in XP SP1 and earlier systems, they reduced it in order to make worms spread slower (since they have less to no free connections to use). So if you have a proper firewall and antivirus, you can leave it up at 50 or 70 and not worry about worms.

Jam it back in, in the dark.