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raster hippie · Sep 28, 2005, 04:53 PM

My friend invited me to this bittorrent community where you need to keep a certain download/upload ratio to stay a member.

I've set up port forwarding on my DSL router and on the bittorrent client (port 6999), and made sure the bittorrent port is open on my firewall. My friend is getting download/upload speeds on his torrents in excess of 80kbps, and i'm topping out at about 10kbps download, and usually no more than 5kbps for uploads.

It's really frustrating, because he and I have almost the exact same setup... we're both mac users on the same ISP (i'm actually on 2megabit while he's on 1). I know my port forwarding is set up right because it says so on my userinfo. It's not an issue with the peers I'm connected to, because the site we're getting our torrents from force you to keep a good ratio, so there's lots and lots of seeders with their port forwarding set up correctly. I don't understand why my friend is getting vastly greater transfer speeds to me.

Does anyone know why I'm not able to utilize my maximum bandwidth with bittorrent? Is there something I'm completely missing?

Thanks!

himself · Sep 28, 2005, 04:58 PM

which bittorrent client are you using?

P · Sep 28, 2005, 05:16 PM

Some ISPs limit bittorrent bandwidth. Easiest way around it is to use a non-standard port - one of the high ones between 50000 or 60000 usually works well. Isn't the default port tcp/6881, btw?

There is also a differnce between clients. The official one only uses one port these days, but the others, based on older versions of the ode, can use many, so you have to forward a lot of ports.

Apfhex · Sep 28, 2005, 06:40 PM

I would have also thought ISP, however, the OP mentions that his friend uses the same one (even with a slower connection) with better results. Still, it couldn't hurt to change the default tcp/6881 port to something else.

If you're using the "official" client, I would recommend another one with better control (Azureus, Bits On Wheels, etc.).

Grrr · Sep 28, 2005, 06:50 PM

As someone else mentioned.. I really don't think you have opened nearly enough ports..
I've been using bit torrent for a while now, usually with good speeds. I've opened 6881-6999. And even then, im pretty sure that is more than is required.

And yes, Not all ISP's are bit torrent friendly either. Im using Pipex here in the UK, and fortunately they don't care less what I use my connection for

raster hippie · Sep 28, 2005, 06:59 PM

I would have also thought ISP, however, the OP mentions that his friend uses the same one (even with a slower connection) with better results. Still, it couldn't hurt to change the default tcp/6881 port to something else.

Yeah, that's the strangest thing about it. It's not the ISP, because my friend has the exact same service at a slower speed, and he's still getting significantly faster transfer speeds than me. We also both live in the same area.

We're both using the official BitTorrent client, and we're both forwarding the same port (6999). The only difference between him and I is that we've got different routers (he has NetGear, and I have Belkin).

Could the brand of router have anything to do with it at all?

Thanks for everyone's advice so far. I'll try out Azureus and open some more ports and see if that makes any difference. All very strange nonetheless...

P · Sep 29, 2005, 06:40 AM

The router might have something to do with it - it affects how your client is seen from the outside, including how stuff like the trackerless protcol works, etc. And try changing the port, that never hurts.

Grrr · Sep 29, 2005, 04:03 PM

Usually on routers, you have to open ports, and assign those to a specific local IP number. Have you done that? and made sure its assigned to the right one?
Also if your network settings are set to regular DHCP (Default) then your local IP number my change. Rendering opened ports to a certain local IP number, useless. Using DHCP with a manual address will help.

raster hippie · Sep 29, 2005, 06:11 PM

Ok I tried changing the open port in my router and BitTorrent to something really obscure (50001), and it didn't make any difference. Actually it seemed to make my transfers slower. So I changed it back to 6999.

I also downloaded Azureus and moved everything over there, and I'm still getting the exact same speeds as I was in the official BitTorrent client. It's usually no more than 10k/sec globally either direction. I do like all the extra features of Azureus though so I think I'm going to stick with it.

I have set up a static IP on my mac (making sure it wasn't in the DHCP range), and set the port forwarding on my router specifically to my IP. I know my port forwarding is definitely working, I'm just not getting these glorious transfers speeds that are supposed to come with it!

If anyone is able to find whatever it is I'm doing wrong to make this work, I will have to make you a nice chocolate cake or something. This is driving me absolutely up the wall!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far

ghporter · Sep 29, 2005, 09:34 PM

This isn't as much about BitTorrent as it is about networking. That's where it belongs, so there it goes.

Super Glitcher · Sep 30, 2005, 02:14 AM

dood, for a chocolate cake I'll d/l the files for you put them on my ftp =)

you mentioned your 'DSL router' - so is your connection DSL or Cable?
If it's cable then the overall usage of your physical community can cause
the network to be very slow. If it's DSL, your physical distance from the
tel companies dist. hub can also play a significant role.. I've got family
on the outer limit or their tel. companies service (1mbit DSL) and I swear
I've had faster dial up then them.... they recently switched over to cable
and are jammin' now.

That's no fix... but in it's absence it's a reasonable hypothesis..

nredman · Oct 3, 2005, 03:19 PM

my bittorrent download speed are very slow, almost to the point where its not even worth the download - then again the files i am downloading are huge

rwhiffen · Oct 4, 2005, 09:28 PM

Do you get good transfer rates outside of bittorrent? It might be a simple network thing. Try going to one of those connection speed test sites like http://www.dslreports.com/tools and see what kind of speed they tell you. If you still get poo poo performance then you can rule out bittorrent as the issue.

Just a thought....

Cheers,

Rich

Originally Posted by raster hippie

Ok I tried changing the open port in my router and BitTorrent to something really obscure (50001), and it didn't make any difference. Actually it seemed to make my transfers slower. So I changed it back to 6999.

I also downloaded Azureus and moved everything over there, and I'm still getting the exact same speeds as I was in the official BitTorrent client. It's usually no more than 10k/sec globally either direction. I do like all the extra features of Azureus though so I think I'm going to stick with it.

I have set up a static IP on my mac (making sure it wasn't in the DHCP range), and set the port forwarding on my router specifically to my IP. I know my port forwarding is definitely working, I'm just not getting these glorious transfers speeds that are supposed to come with it!

If anyone is able to find whatever it is I'm doing wrong to make this work, I will have to make you a nice chocolate cake or something. This is driving me absolutely up the wall!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far

Oct 5, 2005, 04:10 AM

Whenever this happens to me, I reset the modem while my downloads are still active. My UL/DL speeds then go way, way up and stay there for several hours. (I usually reset my modem by simply unplugging it for a minute or two and then plugging it back in--all while leaving Azureus still active).

Doesn't hurt to try this...