Page 1 of broadband speed vs torrents

hi guys
I`ve noticed that when i try and use bitcomet to download a torrent the speed goes all the way down to about 5kbs. normal speed is 512kbs. normal web usage isn`t affected by this speed reduction. isp is tiscali
just a couple of questions to tap into your infinate wisdom. ;) lol

[*] how do my isp know when i am using a bit torrent software?
[*] how can i improve the speed of my downloads?
[*] what is port forwarding and is this relevant?
[*] i`m using bitcomet - does the application you use have an effect to?
[*] which bit torrent app would you recommend?


whats the use of having broadband if restricted to dial up speeds?

KaTz

www.myspace.com/kattri
;)

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th September 2005, 15:46

Sorry for replying and not answering your question, but I have a bit torrent question too.

What is the difference bittorrent and alt-binaries news groups? My father in law gets all his stuff from NTL newsgroups (Using GrabIt), the selection available is immense (Music/Films/Software/Games etc,...) and seemingly available all the time.

Hope someone can answer the question.

Thanks,

Neil.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th September 2005, 16:46

thing to remember is you only download as fast as the person uploading it, so if someone on dialup is uploading a file at say 5kb/s then you could only download at that speed and vice versa someone with a faster upload speed means a faster download speed for you. If it happens with every single download then maybe some settings need to be adjusted but i`m sure someone more knowledgeable with that can help

Welcome to the world of packet shaping, ISP`s are now using packet shaping to slow down protocols that are causing slowdowns on there networks. Rather than in the past they would increase there capacity, by ordering more central pipes from BT, they now sqeeze more people onto the existing pipes and "shape" the connections at peak time.

Usual web browsing is not effected, but high bandwidth protocols like p2p, usenet and ftp can get slowed down so that normal users browsing the web do not experience a slowdown in service.

You can only download at the rate it is being sent at. So for example, if you are downloading a single Mp3 from someone with dial-up, you`ll only get it at the speed that they can send it to you.

Also, when downloading popular torrents remember that when alot of people are leeching, then chances are there aren`t many seeding. And that obviously means you can only download whatever the small amount of seeders are uploading at. So say 4 people are seeding a file at 10 kb/s each (making 40 kb/s) and forty people are downloading... well you don`t need to be a genius to see that you aren`t going to get a file very fast.

Try downloading something from somewhere like download.com to see what speeds the files come down at. Also, are you sure tiscali don`t cap the speed? I know on Homechoice if I donwload over 7gb in a week they will cap the speed for the following week down to about 5 kb/s.

Best thing to do when downloading a torrent, is to see how many people are seeding. If its new, lots will be leeching, not many seeding. Sometimes its worth giving it a day to wait for more seeders. Optionally, you could join a torrent site that encourages seeding (like one I probably can`t mention on here) so that you`ll always get those files you want at a good speed.

Quote:
how do my isp know when i am using a bit torrent software?
I`m pretty sure they don`t. :/

Quote:
how can i improve the speed of my downloads?
See above.

Quote:
what is port forwarding and is this relevant?
I think I know, but I`ll wait for someone who definitely knows to post an answer.

Quote:
i`m using bitcomet - does the application you use have an effect to?
Possibly in some cases, but I`m using it now and its downloading a file at about 30 kb/s at the moment.

Quote:
which bit torrent app would you recommend?
ABC is also worth trying. But BitComet is decent - are you using the latest version?

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th September 2005, 17:27

Many sites don`t use the default BT ports. Check and see if you need to change them. ISP`s are throttling known P2P ports.
If you have a router you will need to enable port forwarding. Otherwise people can`t connect to you. Lots of software won`t allow you to connect (download) from peopole that can`t connect to you - resulting in low speeds.
Are you getting the stuff from a public or a private tracker?

What is this Bit Torrent thing anyway?

Ste

Quote:
What is this Bit Torrent thing anyway?

:o :o :o

Neil
_____________________________

thanks guyz
hmm. i did read somewhere else also that tiscali throttle download speeds. what i normally do in bit comet is ; go to the peers section for the file and u can see howmany people have a 100% complete file. if theres loads i continue with the torrent, if not i find anotherone.
i`ve noticed that a lot of torrents are from exclusive sites and u can`t register with many of them.

someone posted a site on here to get uk tv programs from, but they don`t accept new sign ups.
I`m after the lost progs as I`ve not seen them yet - any ideas where.

Alt binaries???? isn`t that like edonkey and emule??

I`m suprised that sj doesn`t know what a torrent is - esp as I had him down as a technophobe. lol ;)

KaTz

www.myspace.com/kattri

I`m surprised, after giving all that blurb, neil thought I was serious... and you..
Me, a technophobe? :o lol. I know A LOT about bit torrent. for a start, stop using bitcomet. Use azureus or ABC.
Anyway, if you were to get 2 DVD`s with the whole series (in avi format) would you know what to do with them? ;)

Ste

lol!

I love the way that you give a detailed reply on BT, and they still think you don`t know what it is.

Whats the Internet by the way?

;)