Is this the work of my ISP ??

[Myros]

Hey people, I'd appreciate some help on this matter.

Firstly, I'm on µTorrent's latest version (build 3265). Yes, I forwarded my ports correctly. Kasperky allows all µTorrent connections, and the windows firewall is off. No viruses or Spyware detected after scans. TCP limit is set to: 50 concurrent connections.

Moving on, I always capped at 115 kb/s for the past year on my connection (which is my max speed). But last month, I faced a frequent disconnection problem. I called my ISP, and they resolved the issue after 5 days. Now, after the disconnecting issue has been resolved I've been getting HORRIBLE speeds on µTorrent and Ares (a P2P program, such as LimeWire). Yes, I do know everything about seeders and peers, and my upload speed is never set to above 80% of my maximum limit whilst downloading.

Surprisingly, my HTTP downloads still cap at 115 (and sometimes, 118). µTorrent remains atrociously slow, though !! (30kb/s - 40 kb/s.. sometimes I'd hit 70kb/s, but after 2 mins, I'm stuck somewhere around 20kb/s - 35kb/s !)

I've contacted my ISP regarding the issue. Several days later I was contact by SMS on my cell-phone stating that the issue has been resolved. But, I still suffer from the same problem !

Now I'm quite sure there has been NO change in my software settings, or whatsoever. I contacted the ISP today and I made a rather huge fuss about them ignoring my connection's problem, since my P2P downloads are still running slow.

Now, since I'm having some lingering doubt, I tried out µTorrent 1.6 as well, thinking maybe the new versions just aren't working for me, but to no avail.

What I noticed is, this whole mess started right after my disconnection issue was repaired. But, I'm being paranoid.. Is there any way that this problem is from MY PC and not from my ISP line ?

Is there something I've messed around with ? I checked my TCP Limit, and it's still set to 50..

If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd feel a bit more confident about this whole predicament.

Thank you for your time !

[Coolio10]

I believe it is your ISP. I also had frequent disconnections after using uTorrent for long times. I still have this issue but everytime i reset my modem/router it fixes but uTorrent also stays around 20-30kb/s. Evil ISP. I am using rogers.

[Ultima]

Have you tried a torrent from OpenOffice.org to see how it runs?

[Myros]

@Ultima: No.. But I did try to download from a torrent of a rather famous Japanese Animation.. (Won't mention the name.. but let's just say there is around 5,000 seeders and 200 peers).

I called my friend and asked him to run the same torrent as well.. H edidn't even patch his TCIP.sys file, and he doesn't have any ports forwarded, and he got 115 kb/s in.. 30 secs or so ? (we have the same connection, same ISP).

[Ultima]

http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/index.html

Do try.

[Switeck]

Tell us what speed tests say about your connection's download AND upload speeds.

Also, list ALL the settings you're using in µTorrent -- as shown by the Speed Guide (CTRL+G) window.

(...as well as any advanced settings you have changed.)

Do note that many times raising µTorrent's half open max beyond the default of 8 gives only marginal and even NEGATIVE speed changes. ...and it may even cause connection/computer instabilities if set too high for your networking hardware or software if there's anything of marginal quality.

[Myros]

@Ultima: I'm getting 48kb/s-68kb/s on the torrent. BUT, thats without uploading anything.. whenh downloading other files, I set my limit to 20kb/s upload (my limit is 25.. and yes,m I already tried setting it to 16 - 17, didnt help) When I DO upload as well as download, my speeds can HARDLY pass 45kb/s.

HTTP downloads still running on 115kb/s - 117kb/s.

Bt.connectspeed: 25

Net.wsa events: 4

Net.max_halfopen: 43 (as of now, my maximum open connections is 55)

But I don't think the problem is from those advanced settings at all.. I've set those for ideal performance.. It's strange that µTorrent would act weird all of a sudden after using those settings for 1 year..

Also, Ares (my other P2P program) is now hardly hitting 25kb/s.. downloading 2 very popular shows with many users..

My friends say my modem might need changing.. is it possible that its the cause of the problem ? Been using it for a year and a half now, I think.

I called the ISP yet again today, and submitted another report.. The employee had the guts to tell me that if they discover no flaw in the Lines, they would charge me a 100 dirhams (this is equal to $30), which is making me have more doubt in my system that I was so confident of :S

EDIT: Speed Guide settings:

Upload Limit: 20kB/s Upload Slots: 3

Connections: 65 (and I tried everything from 40 - 55, 70 was my default before)

Max Active Torrents: 1 Max Active downloads: 1

Connections (Global): 150 (<< this doesn't really matter because I never run 2 torrents at a time. I'm either seeding or downloading)

[Switeck]

Try lowering Net.max_halfopen back down to the default of 8. If you need to make 43 new ones at once to retain 65 connections max...something is dreadfully wrong with your networking hardware or software!

[Myros]

Hey Switeck, thanks for your reply..

It seems my ISP is the one at fault here.. They called me yesterday, and said that they fixed my line (I'm uploading 19kb/s and downloading 50kb/s at ease now) but theres no way I can go above 60 if I'm uploading.. They told me to call them if something still goes wrong, I'll do that tomorrow, since they're off for today.

A big thank you to everyone who posted