Problem with seed/peer connections

[daklaw]

Hello,

I've been using torrents for a while now (used to use Bitlord 1.1) and decided to switch to a simpler program like utorrent.

My problem with utorrent is that it is extremely hard to get enough seeds/peers to help my DL speeds. In Bitlord 1.1 I used to get speeds from 300kb/s while DL'ing, but I am unable to even get 50kb/s with utorrent.

I can only connect to 4 seeds out of 2000 or so possible. Why is this happening?

I can also only connect to a few peers.

A little about my system:

utorrent 1.7.5

no firewall (windows firewall off)

kaspersky antivirus turned off while I have utorrent on

linksys wireless router

cable connection

Windows XP SP2

The status icon is green in utorrent, and the port is forwarded properly as the speed guide indicates.

I had a problem earlier with a new update of Kasperkey antivirus which blocked incoming connections so I had to turn it off while using utorrent.

I have attached an screenshot of the speed guide.

Any help to boost my number of connections and speed of DL and UL is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Switeck]

You probably cannot sustain uploading at 200 KiloBYTES/sec.

...So, reduce that to what your connection can sustain rather than just peak burst speeds.

Upload slots, max active torrents, and max active downloading torrents are set stupidly high and probably reducing your download and upload speeds further.

Total upload slots is the number of upload slots per torrent times total active torrents. That value needs to be low enough that EACH upload slot averages at least 3 KiloBYTES/sec if possible...and absolutely NEVER below 1 KiloBYTE/sec. If you try to go any lower than that, uTorrent will start restricting things to compensate.

If you have no networking problems, your 60 connections per torrent and 100 global connection max should be just fine.

[daklaw]

Thank you for your response.

I have tinkered with the settings to what you suggested but the problem still happens.

One thing that I have noticed is that I'm getting more seeds/peers now (around 30 out of 2000 possible), however my DL and UL speeds are still very low.

I may just have to switch back to an easier torrent program...

I will post a screenshot of my current speed guide.

Note: my usual speed test results are around 4mb/s down and 460kb/s up on Road Runner as my ISP.

[jewelisheaven]

Roadrunner doesn't do anything to HELP you download, so you'd be better off trying the 2nd post in Ultima's How-To disabling non-essential features and reducing that concurrent connections a bit further, along with forcing encryption and disallowing legacy downloads. 60x8 = 480 (Kbps) but I will admit I can regularly put out that much, but when I am on RR's limited speeds, I can only upload ~ 45 KiBps, so be aware of that. When you're not able to hit 60 sustained your downloading speed won't increase much past 1 Mbit in my experience.

[Switeck]

Even reducing upload speed 5 KB/sec below your theoretical upload max of 60 KB/sec (480 kilobits/sec) should see a major increase in download speed.

If 55 KB/sec upload speed still seems "laggy", reduce it to 50 KB/sec.

Also try allowing 4 active torrents at once, 3 downloading torrents, with 4 upload slots each.

That will still be a little faster than 3 KB/sec per upload slot, as there is only 16 upload slots max...16 x 4 = 48...less than 50.

Have you tried disabling DHT (both kinds), Resolve IPs, Local Peer Discovery, and UPnP?

Are you actually connecting to the router via wired ethernet or wirelessly?

(wireless = far less reliable!)

[daklaw]

Thank you both for your tremendous help!

I am now DL'ing at more respectable speeds (115kb/s avg) than before.

Although this isn't as high as what I got using Bitlord 1.1, I am still very happy to get such speeds with a much cleaner and simpler program.

The changes I made (for future help-seekers with similar problems):

-Disabled Resolve IP's

-Disabled Local Peer Discovery

-Forced Encryption

-Disallowed Legacy Downloads

I left both DHT's enabled, as well as UPnP because my speeds were satisfactory already. I may tinker further by disabling them when I get greedy.

Here's another screenshot of my current speed guide.

Thanks a bunch! You guys are not only helpful, but nice and know what you're talking about. One of the better forums I've been to. Happy torrenting!