Why is downloading via bit torrents so slow?

[biggiesmallz]

Why is downloading via bit torrents so slow?

What is normal download speed?

Is there any way to speed it up?

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

http://www.bittorrent.com/FAQ.html

Make sure your ports are properly forwarded.

Download speeds can range anywhere from nothing to well over 500KB/sec (my connection's max). It just depends on the swarm.

You're download rate is proportional to your upload rate. You don't want to upload at 100% though. 80% of your max is normally a good rule of thumb for setting an upload limit.

Too many solutionsto list for such a broad topic, experience (and the search button :thumbsup: ) are the best teachers.

 

[Snapster]

I'll agree with the 80% upload, any more and you can kill your download. Another reason you can find things slow is you've just picked torrents with leeches who cap their upload selfishly low, thus defeating the whole idea. Try downloading something with allot of seeds and peers (like an Linux distro) just to test your speed.

 

[vegetation]

Most important part is to make sure your ports are opened up. A router will block them by default and you can only receive stuff when you're actually sending, which severely impacts your speeds.

 

[biggiesmallz]

I'm getting speeds of 1kB.

That can't be normal.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: biggiesmallz
I'm getting speeds of 1kB.

That can't be normal.

If there are an extremely small number of seeders/leechers (<10), then it's quite possible. Low speeds such as your's though are often caused by improperly configured firewalls.

 

[CKent]

Because you touch yourself at night.

 

[Allio]

Some ISPs shape Bittorrent. Yes, even in America.

 

[biggiesmallz]

Why am I only able to download from 1 seed when the web page says there are 75 seeds?

 

[lozina]

yeah, don't use default port

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: biggiesmallz
Why am I only able to download from 1 seed when the web page says there are 75 seeds?

Webpage could be out of date, or, more likely, those seeds are using different trackers than you are. These things usually occure when people are using clients that don't follow the BT protocol.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

open up your ports, set it to something other than default, make sure if you are using a router that your ports are forwarded to the right port(s) and that firewalls aren't blocking anything.

 

[Maetryx]

Typically, you need to forward ports 6881-6890 (some say all the way to 6900) in order to get the full speed. But a lot of clients let you choose different ports, and you should because of ISPs limiting that port range.

World of Warcrafts big updates are based on BitTorrent, and you can't change their ports (that I know of). So I have stuck with forwarding ports 6881-6890 to my PC.

 

[talyn00]

Originally posted by: lozina
yeah, don't use default port

can changing ports really get around packet shaping?? Back when I was in school, they used to packet shape BT traffic, i'd be lucky to even get 1KB/sec

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: talyn00

Originally posted by: lozina
yeah, don't use default port

can changing ports really get around packet shaping?? Back when I was in school, they used to packet shape BT traffic, i'd be lucky to even get 1KB/sec

but how would they target BT traffic without specifying the standard/default BT port?

 

[talyn00]

Originally posted by: lozina

Originally posted by: talyn00

Originally posted by: lozina
yeah, don't use default port

can changing ports really get around packet shaping?? Back when I was in school, they used to packet shape BT traffic, i'd be lucky to even get 1KB/sec

but how would they target BT traffic without specifying the standard/default BT port?

maybe by analyzing the contents of the packet or some other characteristics

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: lozina

Originally posted by: talyn00

Originally posted by: lozina
yeah, don't use default port

can changing ports really get around packet shaping?? Back when I was in school, they used to packet shape BT traffic, i'd be lucky to even get 1KB/sec

but how would they target BT traffic without specifying the standard/default BT port?

That's a good question because since I've moved from Bellsouth to Comcast I can't get BT to work at all. My connection just completely dies and I have to restart my modem, router, and PC. Probably not shaping as much as it is just the Motorola modem I received from Comcast not being able to handle all the BT requests.

 

[hans030390]

you could try a different bittorrent client, that seemed to work for me. Try azureus if you haven't.

 

[biggiesmallz]

Very good guide to port fowarding!

http://www.portforward.com/english/appl...rt_forwarding/Torrent/Torrentindex.htm

 

[shortylickens]

Slyck.com has lots fo useful info.
It also has many alternate clients, though I know nothing of BitTorrent.
Am very happy with my preferred network. I can get all the Linux ISO's I'll ever want.

 

[imported_Indohottie]

i have been getting 200 plus kb per sec on my cable modem since I did some port forwarding..

worked very well for me...