Why don't I get full speed in uTorrent?

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MadScientist

Platinum Member
Jul 15, 2001
2,183
63
91
OP,
If you do an internet search of how to speed up uTorrent you will come up with at least 50+ methods, but the best place to find info is from uTorrent's forum or their help center. http://forum.utorrent.com/

Found this in their help center: http://help.utorrent.com/customer/portal/articles/1753715-connection-guide

To set your Max upload rate multiply the upload speed result from a speed test, http://www.speedtest.net/, which is in Mbps (megabit/sec) x 1000 = kilobit/sec.
Divide kilobit/sec (kbps) by 8 or multiply by 0.125 to get kilobytes/sec (kB/s), then multiply by 0.7. This gives you an upload speed of 70% of your tested max. If you are using a VPN, i.e., PIA, you should enable it before running a speed test. E.g., my upload speed is 5.70 Mbps x 1000 = 5700 kbps/8 = 712.5 kB/s x 0.7 = ~500 kB/s

I think we can all agree that the thing that affects your download speeds the most is the seeds/peer ratio of the torrent.

Yes, port forwarding helps but is not necessary. I do not have my port forwarded and am getting on average 1 -3 MB/s download speeds using PIA's VPN. If you want to though here's how: http://portforward.com/

I have tried other torrent clients, i.e., qbittorent, but keep coming back to uTorrent.
Here's a very good article on how to get rid of all ads and toolbars in µTorrent. http://www.ghacks.net/2013/06/28/how-to-get-rid-of-all-ads-and-toolbars-in-%C2%B5torrent/ This only takes a few minutes to do and the changes will remain when updated.

Quoting the author, "You have to pay attention to the installation or upgrade dialog of uTorrent to make sure that you do not install adware or other unwanted software on your system.
It is important that you read each page of the installer carefully to avoid making mistakes in this regard."

My current ad free uTorrent screen:
uTorrent.jpg
 
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TheRyuu

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2005
5,479
14
81
THERE IS NO NEED FOR A DAMN PORT TO BE OPEN!!!

I don't have a port open and like I said I get 2 MB/s download. Opening ports for that hackware and your asking for trouble. It's most likely his network.

As I said that's probably because you're the one initiating the connection. If others want to connect to you then somewhere you're going to have to open a port. I think you're confusing connecting to peers and the ability to download/upload. These are two distinct things and the latter can happen regardless of who initiates the connection.

You guys are stingy uploaders. Geeze. Thank goodness for private trackers.

Seedbox.

/THREAD
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
Anything and everything involving outside networks needs to have ports open, on one side at least.

The reason you get 2 MB/s download is problably because you have UPnP and/or NAT-PMP enabled on your router which in itself is asking for even more trouble.


NEGATIVE. Universal Plug and Prey is OFF! It's been off for the eight years I have had this router flashed with DD-WRT!
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
As I said that's probably because you're the one initiating the connection. If others want to connect to you then somewhere you're going to have to open a port. I think you're confusing connecting to peers and the ability to download/upload. These are two distinct things and the latter can happen regardless of who initiates the connection.


Negative. I was hosting a 9/11 DVD and had no port open at all. Imagine that. LMAO!
 

riahc3

Senior member
Apr 4, 2014
640
0
0
NEGATIVE. Universal Plug and Prey is OFF! It's been off for the eight years I have had this router flashed with DD-WRT!
NAT-PMP then. What you are saying is imposible.

Imagine that you blocked all ports on your router, incoming and outcoming. Would you still be able to access common websites hosted on common servers? No.

The only way I can think of is a proxy and even then........you wouldnt get those speeds.
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
Negative again. There is no, NO port mapping or UPnP on this WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT. I can tell you that the uTorrent connection icon says everything is fine. In fact here is a screen grab of using uTorrent with a VPN that doesn't even use port forwarding.
XqrgNbL.jpg


You can and should block all ports inbound to your network , but only allow outbound connections.

In post #21 I gave this link. Read it! https://superuser.com/questions/91994/how-does-seeding-in-utorrent-work-if-i-dont-forward-any-ports
 
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John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
Screen grab of router:

WmVzJIf.jpg



uTorrent settings Notice port used.

0tSef8w.png


TCP port forward check:

f683uU3.jpg


UDP port forward check:

XkJd7jI.jpg
 

riahc3

Senior member
Apr 4, 2014
640
0
0
Negative again. There is no, NO port mapping or UPnP on this WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT. I can tell you that the uTorrent connection icon says everything is fine. In fact here is a screen grab of using uTorrent with a VPN that doesn't even use port forwarding.
XqrgNbL.jpg


You can and should block all ports inbound to your network , but only allow outbound connections.

In post #21 I gave this link. Read it! https://superuser.com/questions/91994/how-does-seeding-in-utorrent-work-if-i-dont-forward-any-ports
Did you actually read that link? :D

It states what I am saying: You need to have ports open. Will it work with ports closed? Of course (among other things, there are ports that are never closed unless you specify it explicitly), but it will go slower. A lot slower.
 
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MadScientist

Platinum Member
Jul 15, 2001
2,183
63
91
If you are using the VPN PIA you can forward a port using their software.

From their website:
Enable port forwarding in the application by entering the Advanced area, enabling port forwarding and selecting one of the following gateways:

Netherlands
Switzerland
CA North York
CA Toronto
Romania
Sweden
France
Germany

After enabling port forwarding and re-connecting to one of the above gateways, please hover your mouse over the System Tray or Menu Bar icon to reveal the tooltip which will display the port number. You can then enter this port into your software, i.e., uTorrent.

They also state that:
Port Forwarding reduces privacy. For maximum privacy, please keep port forwarding disabled.
 
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riahc3

Senior member
Apr 4, 2014
640
0
0
I have used my regular IP too so there's no hole punching. You don't need to open a port to use uTorrent!
Whatever. If you know basic networking, you know it is impossible for it to work correctly and the way it should.

I do not understand why people make up false statements on the internet to confuse other people.
 

ithehappy

Senior member
Oct 13, 2013
540
4
81
I haven't forgotten the topic, I was just seeing what last few posts are saying, but I don't have any clue about port forwarding I am afraid to say.

Anyway, I have noticed something in past couple of days. I never actually monitored the desktop while a torrent downloads, I just keep doing my stuffs. But this is kinda interesting, or not, whatever. The torrent is actually being downloaded at full speed, because I noticed the NetWorx graph at task bar showing graph of full speed, so I used that software's Speed Meter and it showed that the torrent was downloading at full speed. But at the same time uTorrent was showing less transfer rates (upload and download speed combined). So I am confused as where is the rest of bandwith is going? I am sure its used by uTorrent too, but I don't know for what purpose.

I took a screenshot,
GuFoTtc.jpg


You can see qBittorrent shows 201 KB/s (194 download and 7 upload) while NetWorx shows 220 KB/s, which is almost full speed of my plan (230 KB/s).

So in this sense uTorrent was actually not downloading at any lesser speed than qBittorrent.

By the way, thanks a lot for that link which demonstrates how to make uTorrent AD free.

And about that port forwarding thing, I am confused with all the discussion. What should I do? Currently it's at default setting obviously.
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
Whatever. If you know basic networking, you know it is impossible for it to work correctly and the way it should.

I do not understand why people make up false statements on the internet to confuse other people.


Well it did. LOL! I'm not making false statements. I have upload, seeded and downloaded torrents WITHOUT opening a port.
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
I haven't forgotten the topic, I was just seeing what last few posts are saying, but I don't have any clue about port forwarding I am afraid to say.

Anyway, I have noticed something in past couple of days. I never actually monitored the desktop while a torrent downloads, I just keep doing my stuffs. But this is kinda interesting, or not, whatever. The torrent is actually being downloaded at full speed, because I noticed the NetWorx graph at task bar showing graph of full speed, so I used that software's Speed Meter and it showed that the torrent was downloading at full speed. But at the same time uTorrent was showing less transfer rates (upload and download speed combined). So I am confused as where is the rest of bandwith is going? I am sure its used by uTorrent too, but I don't know for what purpose.

I took a screenshot,
GuFoTtc.jpg


You can see qBittorrent shows 201 KB/s (194 download and 7 upload) while NetWorx shows 220 KB/s, which is almost full speed of my plan (230 KB/s).

So in this sense uTorrent was actually not downloading at any lesser speed than qBittorrent.

By the way, thanks a lot for that link which demonstrates how to make uTorrent AD free.

And about that port forwarding thing, I am confused with all the discussion. What should I do? Currently it's at default setting obviously.


What kind of router do you have? Who is your ISP? Try a VPN. Use Peerblock. I suspect your ISP or network is causing problems.

Sometimes it takes a good five minutes to get a good download speed. But depending on how many seeds there are you can't get faster speeds.
 
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