Upload speeds starts out really high for about 2 minutes, then drops!

[bballer]

Hey Guys,

I am on a Comcast Cable connection. Here are my speed test results from a server close to home.

** Speed 14871(down)/1529(up) kbps **

(At least 297 times faster than a 56k modem)

Those numbers are fairly consistent.

After finishing a download, uTorrent moves to seeding it. For some reason the upload speed was never hitting the max I designated (max. 50KB/s). It was only around 40KB/s.

So, I exited uTorrent, gave it a couple of minutes and restarted it. I set the upload speed to unlimited just to see what kind of speeds I could get. I was amazed when the upload hit a little over 180KB/s!!

However, after about 1-2 min at staying at this speed, the upload speed dropped rapidly and within seconds I was down to a 35-45KB/s upload speed. It just stays at that speed forever. However, when I exit uTorrent and do what I described above I hit those extremely high speeds, but then drop down again.

What could be causing this?

[Ultima]

Connection overloaded. Look at the settings for xx/1Mbit and xx/2Mbit in the Speed Guide, average the numbers suggested, and set your settings accordingly.

[Switeck]

No, with ComCast, you can only use xx/768k with the 8 meg cable line or xx/384k with the 6 meg cable line.

SpeedBoost messes up your speed tests and cannot be taken as CONSTANT, SUSTAINABLE download and upload speeds.

[bballer]

@Switeck

So SpeedBoost is messing up my speed test results?

When I download from a regular web server my downloads stay pretty constant.

So this isn't Comcast throttling bandwidth?

[Switeck]

Correct, this is SpeedBoost in action.

Since you mentioned you could only sustain about 40-45 KiloBYTES/sec upload speed, then the xx/384k Speed Guide (CTRL+G) setting is most appropriate.

[bballer]

@Switeck

Thanks for the reply.

Why is it that when I am uploading via FTP to a web server, it maintains a much higher upload speed (usually sustainable 75-125KB/s)?

The only thing I was worried about is this: http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/

Also this: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/539031

[Nougat]

I just noticed something.

Yes, I'm on Comcast, yes I'm seeing the same thing. I set my encryption to forced, and am not allowing legacy clients. No dice.

When I right click a peer, and do Reload IPFilter, wait a few seconds - the upload starts flying again. For a short period, then it dies. This can be repeated multiple times.

[Switeck]

Firstly, SpeedBoost and ComCast's complex throttling of BitTorrent is probably the reason why other things go "faster".

Grab your last bill, read what the connection supposedly is rated for. If it's 6 megs down, then you are only promised 384 kilobits/sec SUSTAINED upload speed at most.

[Nougat]

Sorry, I should have clarified - my uploads quit completely after a few seconds. Then, Reload IPFilter and they come back full speed, again for just a few seconds.

[Switeck]

Word from others says ComCast in some areas is starting to totally disrupt BitTorrent SEEDING...any attempt to seed gets connections throttled to 0 or ip-to-ip links broken.

I don't know exactly how it works.

[Ultima]

They're periodically sending RST packets to reset connections, IINM.

[Ton80]

sorry if a hijack of thread but are you utorrent guys/gals DEVs working on a fix?

I'm an affected Comcast user and my ratio is going down the tubes. I'm not wanting to pass up good bootleg shows. But I may have to soon. At least I still have dc++ hubs.

See

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=271211#p271211 just saw that!

http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-wrongfully-denies-interfering-with-bittorrent/

more specifically the last paragraph!!!

[bballer]

@Nougat

Hmmm....That is strange. However, with me the upload rate will always start high, and then drop...big time. Then, it was stay at 45KB-48KB/s and NEVER get higher unless I restart uTorrent.

I know I should be getting higher upload speeds because I use FTP to upload stuff for my website and consistently get 70KB-100KB/s for extended periods of time (not Comcast's SpeedBurst). I have no clue what's going on, because if Comcast was throttling BT traffic, how does it always stay at that speed? Wouldn't it be much lower?

Also, I have a new problem. For some reason, my internet and general connection goes extremely slow when I have BitTorrent running. I am downloading at about 250KB/s and uploading at 40KB/s and my internet will slow to a crawl. I know have a TON more bandwidth available since I can download consistently at 1000KB/s-1500KB/s from HTTP servers. Would this slow down of general webpage viewing be a result of Comcast throttling or would this be my TCP connections being maxed out? Suggestions? Thanks!

[Nougat]

In another thread, I tried using QoS for the ports that bittorrent was using, and I thought it worked - but now I'm not sure. In any event, my torrent speed (up and down) is just fine.

I do, however, experience the general slowdown of everything speed when running bittorrent. I'm chalking that up to "the crappy router can't handle all the connections being made to it" myself.

[bballer]

Ok, with my new problem, the "general internet slowdown" happens across all computers on my network, not just the one BitTorrent is running on. So, this can't be because my TCP/IP connections are maxed out, can it? What could it be?

So you think it would be the router? Which do you have? I have a Linksys WRT54G.

Update: Hmmm... Just found this about my router. Looks like some other people are having the same problem with the router not being able to handle the connections:

http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=185001

Also, here's a list of "bad routers":

http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Bad_routers

[Ultima]

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=258231#p258231

[Nougat]

Yeah, I have a Linksys RTP300 (free one from Vonage for VoIP).

[bballer]

Hey Guys,

This is weird. I just checked my torrent and it only has 65 connections open, but yet I am still experiencing a big slowdown with general internet browsing. I have made to to limit my upload rate to about 80% and my downloads are no where near maxing out.

Could this be Comcast realizing that BitTorrent is open and therefore slowing down my ENTIRE net connection? I have read that guide, and still can't figure out what's going on.

[Nougat]

No, it's not about how much traffic is moving through, it's about how many connections are being made to the router, whether traffic is being moved to those hosts or not.

It's about peers checking with you. And dropping the number of allowed peers won't help either, because the request has to move through the router to get to bittorrent to be denied. The router still needs to handle all the connections.

And, some routers, particularly cheap home use ones, are simply not capable of handling the number of connections a popular torrent will bring. So every request made in and out gets put to the end of a growing queue, where it has to wait. Your outbound requests and others' inbound requests. You should notice that once a data transfer begins, it runs along just fine. It's just getting the data transfer started that's slow. Web pages seems to render very slowly because web pages generally have links to multiple servers (ads, statistics servers, offsite content, etc). Each one of those requires another request, another waiting in line.

[bballer]

Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation.

According to what I've read, my router can handle up to about 200 connections. My BitTorrent client was only using 65 or so. Wouldn't that be a lot of free connection slots?

[Nougat]

You've almost got it.

Your client runs on your computer. It will allow up to n connections, and refuse any connections n+1 and greater. In order for any connections to get from the internet-at-large to your client on your computer to be accepted or refused, they must pass through your router. So your router needs to be able to handle y connections, where y equals "everyone who wants to try to connect to your client at a given time."

All attempts to connect to your client are handled by your router, whether your client rejects the connection or not.

[bballer]

Oh, ok, that makes perfect sense now. I understand that completely.

That's too bad my router is so bad. Hmmm... I wonder if there is any way to tell which routers have this problem or not.

Thanks for your help, Nougat!

[spazpc]

In my experience any Cable connection I have tried throttles back at least every 30 min. They all run the same sort of software and because it is a shared connection they will not only block and or slow upload connectivity they also will cut you dpwn speed in half and in half again in most cases because of prolonged "Bandwidth Abuse" or being a bandwidth "Hog".

I just went through it with Cable One and am currently seeking possible litigation on some of their tactics. However it doesn't look too promising in the U.S. The U.S. isn't and has never has been a friend to any kind of shared information tools. Thus Bill Gates and windows which was never his baby.

The thing is if I use all of the bandwidth I am paying for it was cut in half after a few moments. Then it was cut in half again if that speed was prolonged for more the ten minutes. That came directly from CEO. They sytem is set to do this automatically. I had similar problems with Comcast and another one in 2004 which name eludes me at this late hour. I am with qwest and I have a couple issues with them on speed too but it is still much better in my humble oppinion. I have a dedicated connection that isn't shared and I get about 6 of the 7 Mbit connection most of the time time down. I can only upload at 900 Kb though. It is fast enough for what I want. I stream and have few problems. Their server has an issue though too. I get on my forwarded port 6 Mbit or so pretty consistantly but on any browser I have tried at the speed test site for qwest or any other it shows roughly half of that. I.e. I DL at 700 KBs+ and show 3.450 Mb on the test. I don't know why though I have tried to configure browsers and the lot. It isn't a think because Utorrent works at the right speed or close.