Low download speed with cable connection

[ilanma]

Started using uTorrent a few months ago. Highest speeds I've ever seen are 20K~30K.

I'm using a cable connection with a Thomson TCM425 modem. I saw in another thread that cable modems do not require port forwarding - is that right?

The CPU is mostly idle when I download and there is no other application choking the network connection.

I tried to follow some hints I've found in other threads but none made a significant change.

Ran a speed test and the result said 678K, which seems fairly good. Regular Internet downloads seem to work fine.

What else can I check?

Thanks!

[Switeck]

Do thorough web searches using search engines such as Yahoo and Google for information concerning whether your ISP throttles BitTorrent traffic.

[ilanma]

Thank you very much for the quick feedback.

Found two conflicting items in the forum, but I tend to believe to the one saying my ISP does throttle BT.

In spite of that, I should see the network status indicator green, right? It is always red, even when speeds are at (my) maximum. Port forwarding says I don't have a port forwarded, but I'm not sure this applies to a cable modem.

If I don't need p/f, what else can make the network status go red?

Thank you.

[Firon]

Red generally means a personal firewall is doing it.

[Switeck]

There's always this guide to follow for general low speeds:

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992

...but it probably won't help if the cause is purely throttling by ISPs.