help needed with torrents
 

can anyone explain why my download speed is so poor? im only getting between 1 and 10 kb/s on average. every now and again it might spike to 20 for a min or two but on average its low. Im using bittorrent and i have my upload and download speeds set at max. acn anyone help?

I get the same thing from time to time. I wrote it off as just not enough people serving the files.

You have to be allowing uploads - make sure that ports 6880-6889 are forwarded from your outside connection to your computer (assuming you have a router and are doing NAT)

When no-one else is seeding the file, then the primary seed isn't getting hammered and you can still download directly from it at full speed. :)

Edit - when I BT a new linux distro, I typically allow uploads but cap the rate at 5k/sec.

that was my take too. id10t, can you tell me how i can check that i have my 6880-6889 ports open?

go to torrentspy.com and click on the help tab - there's a big-type link there for improving download speeds. It may be a port issue - setting up port forwarding is a b!tch (for us non-programmers!) but a necessary evil to get torrents working properly. It's worth the effort, though. However, IIRC, if you're getting ANY download speed then your ports are set up correctly.

Assuming you have a Linksys or similar router, log into the admin interface for it and it should be under "Applications" or "Administrator" or something similar...

www.portforward.com
select your app and router and it will give you step by step instructions. it probably is a portforwarding issue. i use utorrent, in the lower there is a status bar that shows the network status as either a green yellow or red icon, most clients have simliar utility to check the network status. if yours is green and you still have that low bandwith then its probably just the lack of peers. i was on a fiber optic connection for 3 days last week house sitting, downloaded about 150 gigs and uploaded 100 or so. it was ****** sweet.

oh and get rid of bittorrent, its a memory hog, i highly recommend utorrent

+1 for utorrent - first time I was ever able to get torrents going after trying several other apps.

utorrent rawks! What was the health of the torrent?

Whats a torrent??

vinman - distributed downloading. Instead of one machine serving a download to anyone that wants it, it starts serviing to a few clients, then those clietns start uploading (small amounts) to other clients, creating a "swarm" effect where everyone is downloading and uploading for others. Allows large files (Linux distro install images, etc) to be distributed effectively and without the main hosting site having to pay for *all* the bandwidth - as long as others are downloading, they will be uploading and everyone gets faster download speeds because of it.

azureus... use encryption so the ISP's don't filter things...

nice one blokes, lots of good info. im off to get utorrent!

got utorrent, downloading the same torrent that i was having trouble with using bitorrent at much better speeds so thanks people. one last question-is it worth me raising my upload speed from 22 (default setting) to somewhere closer to my max upload speed? ( i did a test on my down/upload speeds and i can upload at like 230 kbs) ive read soemwhere that by raising upload speeds i can raise my download speed??!