Port Forwarding

[fitica]

So by reading other people post regarding this issue I noticed that utorrent has a status icon on the bottom that i have never noticed. Part of this has to do since I manage to get a good connection speed while the torrent have seeders. My download speed is 1250kbps and upload is 415 kbps. I average around 50kbps and have gone up to 115kbpd as a max. I went to port forward and tried to set up a port and I made it to the end except for the fact that the ipconfig screen had the same number listed for the DNS servers where the example on portforward had two different ones. I read some post and it looks like Ill have to get in touch with my ISP provider. My questions are...

1) Is there a way to get the DNS servers numbers without contacting my ISP? Did I do something wrong?

2) exactly how much faster will this allow me to download?

3) Will this static ip change affect the other two computers affected on my network or will they still be able to obtain an automatic IP number when they connect?

I have windows xp, Linksys BEFSR41 ver. 2 router, Trend micro pc-cillin firewall.

Thanks in advance

[5618]

1) a google search should probably supply you with DNS server IPs specific for your ISP

2) looking at your download bandwidth, you may max it out

3) it shouldn't matter. If you disable the DHCP server in your router (assuming it has one) the other computers should just keep their current IP address and keep functioning.

[Switeck]

Are you using the xx/384k speed setting in Speed Guide (CTRL+G)...or something similar?

[fitica]

Yes I am using the 384k settings in the speed guide

[Switeck]

1) Is there a way to get the DNS servers numbers without contacting my ISP?

Yes, your router "knows" the DNS server numbers under its status screen...use the ones there for your computer's static LAN ip settings or just use your router's ip as the gateway AND DNS server/s.

2) exactly how much faster will this allow me to download?

Your reported connection speed is in kilobits/sec but what you see in µTorrent and downloads from websites in your web browser are in KiloBYTES/sec. So after being unfirewalled, far more often you will be downloading well over 50 KiloBYTES/sec if not maxing out your connection at roughly 130-150 KiloBYTES/sec. Your upload will also more consistently be at the 35 KiloBYTES/sec max you set it to.

3) Will this static ip change affect the other two computers affected on my network or will they still be able to obtain an automatic IP number when they connect?

You can have a mix of static and dynamic LAN ips computers on your network, just remember to shrink the DHCP dynamic ip range so there's NO chance that one of the dynamic LAN ip computers can *EVER* get the same LAN ip as your static LAN ip computer. By the same token, leave the DHCP dynamic ip range slightly larger than the total number of dynamic LAN ips computers you use...this way if 1 crashes or is rebooted really quickly it still has a new dynamic LAN ip to use, as the one it previously used is typically not reusable for a couple minutes on some routers.