Not as fast anymore...?

[Kulluminatii]

Hi, I have recently switched to Utorrent and it has been working great so far. I switched from BitComet where the fastest I have downloaded was probably around 14kb. Now with Utorrent im usually at the lowest 20kb and highest around 35-40kb. Now all of a sudden Utorrent has gotten much slower, around 7.2kb currently, every now and then it gets in the high 20kb. Most of the time, my upload speed is higher then my download speed. I dont know for sure, maybe its the torrent Im downloading but just to make sure Utorrent is optimized for my DSL connection, I'd like to get your guys input on what I should do.

IF NONE OF THE THINGS LISTED BELOW THIS BOX HELP, provide us with the following information...

1. Color of the network status light in µTorrent's status bar is RED and has a !. When mouse is hovered over the icon it says "Not connectable- A firewall/router is limiting your network traffic. You need to open up a port so others can connect to you."

Im guessing that is my problem. My router is a Linksys WRT54GX2 but the firmware listed in the link: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=3456 states that it is for "users with Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS routers" it says nothing about the GX2, so what can I do about my router?

2. What the port checker from the Speed Guide writes "Error! Port 63796 does not appear to be open." I get this for all of the other ports I have tried as well. What can be the cause of this? My router or firewall?

I am unsure of what question # 2 is asking, I am guessing that the port checker is located at the bottom of the box that opens up once you press Ctrl+G. This is the message I recieve from the check.

3. What the Speed Guide shows your settings to be?

Connection Type: xx/640k

Upload Limit: 60 kb/s

Connections(per-torrent): 100

Max active torrents: 4

Upload Slots: 4

Connections(global): 375

Max active downloads: 3

4. My Operating System is Windows XP Media Center Edition

5. Security software I have installed are ZoneAlarm Firewall, AVG Antivirus, Norton Internet Security(expired subscription), Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal, and Avast AntiVirus(expired). I only use AVG Antivirus and I can not delete Norton for some reason so that is running too.

6. My router is a Linksys WRT54GX2

7. My ISP is Yahoo! SBC- Basic Version- Maxiumum DL Speed is 768 kbps

Maximum UP Speed is 128 kbps.

8. My Connection Type is DSL

The Results obtained from the Speed Test are:

Test 1: Zone Alarm, Norton, AVG running

DL Speed - 413 kbps

UP Speed - 315 kbps

Latency - 29 ms

Test 2: Without Zone Alarm or Norton running

DL Speed - 391 kbps

UP Speed - 316 kbps

Latency - 33 ms

Test 3: After system reboot with Zone Alarm, Norton, AVG running

DL Speed - 638 kbps

UP Speed - 315 kbps

Latency - 33 ms

Hopefully the information I have given will help you guys help me optimized dl/up speeds of Utorrent

If any more information is needed, I will be more then happy to provide it.

Thank you for taking your time to read through this.

*EDIT* While looking around the forums, Im surprised to see some people have download speeds nearing 960 kbs!!! I know I can not download 960 kbs since my max download speed is 768 kbs (realisitcly around 600-650 kbs) but still, If I can get near 600 kbs I would be extremely happy. I was thinking 30 kbs was fast, but if people can reach that high then I guess Utorrent has been extremely slow for me because of some problem I have, which hopefully you guys can help settle =).

[Ultima]

Select xx/256k in the Speed Guide and increase your upload limit to... 28KiB/s? As for your router firmware, just make sure you're using the latest version from Linksys, I guess. You still need to forward your port via instructions at portforward.com or something.

[Kulluminatii]

Ok thank you very much. I will do what you have said and post the results. Again, thank you very much.

*EDIT*

Ok I have changed to xx/256k and upload limit to 28 KiB and I have seen a fairly good increase in dl speed from around 20-30ish to high 40-middle 50's. I still need to forward my port and hopefully after that Utorrent will be optimized for my pc.

*EDIT # 2*

Ok I have tried to port forward and I am using the following link after setting up a static ip address

http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Linksys/WRT54GXv2/default.htm

When it tells me to type the static ip in the address bar of a browser, a box opens up asking for a username and password. They say that the default username is left blank and the password is admin, but it is not working. How can I find out what my username and password is?

[CarpeNoctu]

Try admin for both...