Using too much upload slots?

[thany]

My connection slows down dramatically when uploading through many IP connections at the same time. Because I still want to seed torrents, I decided that it's probably best if I upload to a small amount of peers at the same time. So I went ahead and set "number of upload slots per torrent" to 1 and unchecked the checkbox beneath it. The number of total connections and connections per torrent is 5000.

With these settings, I'd expect to see a seeding torrent only open a single connection to upload through, while a downloading torrent can still open hundreds of connections. Unfortunately µTorrent opens tons of connections for uploading.

Is this a bug in µTorrent or am I the one making a mistake? Maybe I'm mistaken in the meaning of the term "upload slot" (which I don't find to be explained anywhere) or maybe µTorrent simply doesn't respect the upload slots setting correctly?

In any case: help

[DreadWingKnight]

5000 peer connections is how to kill your internet connection in one easy step.

Connections could potentially transfer data in both directions (either up, down or both at the same time). BitTorrent clients don't differentiate between a connection for downloading and a connection for uploading.

Additionally, because of protocol requirements, uTorrent will force a second upload slot open. One that stays relatively fixed in position, and one that rotates through the peerlist randomly. You typically want 1 upload slot per 1-5kbyte/sec available. You also should keep in mind that upload slots are per-torrent, not global, so there will be a minimum of 2 upload slots PER ACTIVE TORRENT.

[thany]

So even if I set 2 upload slots per torrent, why does µTorrent still open 5, 14, 20, 26 (or whichever amount above 2) connections when seeding a torrent?

The problem with these connections is that µTorrent somehow abitrarily decides to which peers it'll open connections to. Even if I set the global amount of connections to 100, it would mean that when downloading a lot of torrents, only a few connections per torrent are allowed. And I _can't_ exactly say those connections are connected to the fastest peers in the peer list.

Bottom line is that I _have_ to set the number of connections to 5000, just to "catch" that one fast peer. In any case, the way I see it, µTorrent opens more upload connections than I allow it to. So I still don't understand what an "upload slot" is, or it's still broken.

[DreadWingKnight]

Do you have the "Use additional upload slots" checked?

The problem with these connections is that µTorrent somehow abitrarily decides to which peers it'll open connections to. Even if I set the global amount of connections to 100, it would mean that when downloading a lot of torrents, only a few connections per torrent are allowed. And I _can't_ exactly say those connections are connected to the fastest peers in the peer list.

You're saying this like the unused connections don't cycle.

Part of your problem with slow speeds has to do with the fact that you're causing your connection to be eaten alive with protocol overhead.

Follow the connection setup guide and you'll get better speeds.

The key to finding better speeds isn't catching that 1 super peer. It's playing the right amount of nice to get a lot of lesser peers to upload to you.