The longer I use it, the SLOWER it goes!

[ed_in_fresno]

Hi! I've had a problem with uTorrent for some time, now: The problem is this: The longer I use the program the slower it goes. No, the problem is NOT with my 1) internet connection (speed tests show that my cable connection is 12 percent faster than the average user of my isp. 2) it's not with my half open connections limit. I've set that to 50 and that still doesn't change anything. 3) my share ratios are fine. I always do my very best to share a *minimum* of 1.5 and have, on occasion, shared as much as 7 to 1. 4) my isp. They told me my connections are just fine and I'm running at a better than normal rate.

Okay, so, what's the problem? I don't know but I strongly suspect it's the way the program and network, itself, is set up because the longer I use this program the slower it goes. When I first started using uTorrent I had download speeds of 50 kilobytes/sec up. after a while that dropped to 40 then 30. It stayed at 30 for a long time but, recently, it's dropped to between 5 - 20 kilobytes/sec. that's DIAL-UP SPEED, people!!! What's the point of having high-speed internet if the best I can do is dialup speeds on this thing? You folks really need to work the speed bugs out of this software.

Ed in Fresno

[Yenkaz]

And you really need to learn how the bittorent protocol works.... You can only download as fast as others are uploading to you.

Furthermore, you also, really, need to decrease the number of half open connections..

[ed_in_fresno]

Thanks for your reply. I noted what you said about "learning how bit torrent protocols work" however I also noted that you gave absolutely no information regarding that. You're right! Spam IS for eating, not for posting! I'll continue to wait for an intelligent, knowledgeable reply.

[SL83]

You wouldn't happen to be using a router would you? And if so, what kind and which firmware?

[ed_in_fresno]

Hi Sl83. Good question and, no, I'm not using a router. I have direct internet access on high speed (768 KB/ps) cable modem. Thanks for your reply.

[SL83]

Does the speed slow down happen in µTorrent only? Or does the slow down occur with browsing the web and other network applications? Also, if you shutdown µTorrent and restart it, are your speeds back to normal? The same? Or do you have to restart the cable modem and/or your computer to get your speeds back to normal?

[ed_in_fresno]

Again, that's a very good question. No, uTorrent doesn't affect my web browsing and uTorrent doesn't slow down when I web browse. I have noticed that I had the same very slow download speeds when I used Bit Torrent. The good news is that I think I might have solved the problem: When I looked through the peers list in both uTorrent and Bit Torrent I noticed that the vast majority of users had their upload speeds set very low and, occasionally, my download speeds would increase dramatically when there were one or two, sometimes three, peers who'd set their upload speeds high. Now, I've also noticed that a lot of people post complaints of slow download speeds on this and other forum sites and I think the cause is so many peers with the very slow upload rates. That being the case I've decided to be part of the solution instead of the problem and I've set my upload speed as high as my cable modem bandwidth will allow. (In this case my max upload is 35 KB/ps.) I know this won't help my download speed but I hope it'll help others to get the files they want more quickly and to inspire others to set their upload speeds to a high rate. I think if everyone did this we could all get our files much more quickly and it'd make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone. Thanks!

[Yenkaz]

Actcually, it should help your download somewhat, since the more upload you offer, the more 'interested' other clients gets in uploading to you.

You should try testing your speed by downloading a file with a large number of seeders compared to downloaders, try this one:

http://www.mininova.org/tor/355400

[Switeck]

Even though many people may be uploading at close to max for their connection, they probably have alot of upload slots.

So if someone's uploading at 30 KB/sec total, running 6 torrents with 5 upload slots each...their 'apparent' average upload speed to others is:

30 KB/sec divided by 6 torrents divided by 5 upload slots (per torrent) = 1 KB/sec.

The way to avoid this yourself is keep running torrents reasonably low. And if you must run multiple torrents at once, reduce the number of upload slots for each (even manually set "hopelessly" slow torrents to 1 upload slot) so that your average upload speed per person is at least 2 KB/sec but less than 20 KB/sec.

Too few upload slots means fewer peers will be receiving anything from you at once and thus you'll probably only be downloading from those fewer peers. Too many upload slots and the many peers you're uploading to will ignore your trivial upload to them and give you little to nothing in return. That's why I say make average upload speed per person at least 2 KB/sec but less than 20 KB/sec.

There is 1 exception: SEEDING!

While seeding, you don't really care that you get nothing back...and it costs slightly less bandwidth to upload 20 KB/sec to 2 peers at a time than 2 KB/sec to 10 peers at a time.