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YASP (Yet Another Speed Problem)


iarkin

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Hello,

Connection and software:

Got Network OK

Network: Nvidia nforce2 network card, DSL. 26kB/s, upload: 6-7kB/s. My ISP does not shape och hinder p2p traffic.

OS: Windows XP sp2, updated.

Firewall: Look'n'Stop 2.05, configured to allow UDP/TCP on port 6881 (which coincidentally is the port uTorrent is configured to use).

Relevant (?) uTorrent configuration:

Network options:

|-port: 6881

|-randomise: disabled

|-UPnP: disabled

`-Max upload: 4kB/s

Torrent options:

|-max connections: 200

|-max connected peers per torrent: 30

|-uploads slots per torrent: 2

|-use additional upload slots: enabled

|-max active torrents: 8

|-max downloads: 1

`-DHT: Disabled

Advanced options: (only options i changed)

|-net.low_cpu: false

|-net.max_halfopen: 12

|-peer.lazy_bitfield: true

|-peer.resolve_country: true

`-diskio.write_queue_size: -1

Here's yet another speed problem post. I don't know if the squishware (me) or software (uTorrent) is faulty, but i but i lean in the direction there is something wrong with uTorrent. That is truly sad, because uTorrent is the most competent bittorrent client to date (IMHO).

Why do i think there is someting wrong with uTorrent?

I have tried different torrents (>10), with /each and every one/ of these torrents i have had drastically lower download speeds using uTorrent (the other clients i have used are Azureus and BitComet 0.60, mostly bitcomet though). It does not matter if i let uTorrent sit all night with the torrent, when i check in the morning it's still chugging alog at 0-5kB/s. If i open the same torrent in bitcomet i get 26kB/s within seconds or minutes. And it stays that way.

One thing i have noticed with uTorrent is that after about a minute or two the download speed spikes for 5-20 seconds before returning, and staying, at ~2-5kB/s. And this is more of a rule than a coincidence.

I hope you'll be able to find what is wrong with uTorrent, or show me what i am doing wrong :)

Peace out,

/iarkin

EDIT: Typo, clarification, added diskio.write_queue_size, updated settings

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I might have found a possible solution.

I have played around with the max upload rate setting after reading this [utorrent.com]. I suspected that the upload rate is the limiting factor, since i couldn't think of anything else that might cause it ;)

I set the max upload 2kB/s (my real max upload is 6-7kB/s), and lo and behold uTorrent started to get nice download speeds, same as I have with other bittorrent clients. Schweet!

I downloaded a bandwith monitoring tool (Bandwith monitor pro) and saw to my great surprise (and joy) that it reported an average of ~5kB/s.

<WRONG>

My guess is that the problem is the way uTorrent calculates your upload speed and then applies the rate limit. The upload bandwith usage reported by uTorrent is erroneous and the max upload setting is applied to this value. A possible explination for this could be that uTorrent doesn't account for the overhead and only counts the bytes that are torrent data.

These findings also explain why i could get maxed download speed for 5-20 seconds when starting a torrent. Before i get any pieces i can share i get to download at full speed, but as soon as i start to upload my download bandwith is throttled by the upload.

My recommendation is that you set your upload limit at a very low value, download a bandwith monitor that shows your actual bandwith usage and ajust your upload max settting accordingly (just remeber to not have any other web applications active at the same time ;)).

</WRONG>

As you can see below in Boo's post DHT actually eats a non-trivial amount of bandwith (if you have my kind of connection). Just remeber to account for the 2-4kB/s DHT uses when setting your max upload bandwith.

Finally i can start using uTorrent as my primary BT client.

Cheers,

/iarkin

EDIT: Added <wrong> tags and the section with italic text.

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Relevant (?) uTorrent configuration:

Network options:

|-port: 6881

|-randomise: disabled

|-UPnP: disabled

`-Max upload: 4kB/s

Torrent options:

|-max connections: 200

|-max connected peers per torrent: 50

|-uploads slots per torrent: 4

|-use additional upload slots: enabled

|-max active torrents: 8

`-max downloads: 1

I see a possible problem:

Max upload is 4kB/s and uploads slots per torrent is also 4.

BitTorrent protocol usually doesn't engage in 'tit-for-tat' until you're uploading at least 2-5 KB/sec to someone. Since 4 KB/sec split 4 ways is at most 1 KB/sec, and because it's not uncommon for actual uploads to be 1-3 more than what you set upload slots per torrent to...you might be only uploading at 0.5KB/sec or less to people!

Try lowering upload slots per torrent to 3 or even 2, disable DHT -- as you are getting enough peers to at least hit 20 KB/sec download and 5 KB/sec upload anyway and the extra bandwidth useage doing DHT doesn't benefit you.

Also, reduce the max connected peers per torrent -- just being connected to them means you lose bandwidth for actually downloading/uploading pieces of the torrent file/s. Max peers per torrent could even be as low as 20 for good torrents without a problem, but I suggest 30-40 in case you get a few bad apples...who may be having the same problem as you!

All in all, if I had to guess, your ISP is simply crippling BitTorrent traffic almost to the point of unuseability...even if they SAY they don't!

Btw, try using a different ip port for uTorrent. Use a 'high' ip port between 10,000 and 65,000. If you can find a special-purpose ip port that your ISP supports a special service/application on, you might even want to try it.

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Try lowering upload slots per torrent to 3 or even 2, disable DHT -- as you are getting enough peers to at least hit 20 KB/sec download and 5 KB/sec upload anyway and the extra bandwidth useage doing DHT doesn't benefit you.

Also, reduce the max connected peers per torrent -- just being connected to them means you lose bandwidth for actually downloading/uploading pieces of the torrent file/s. Max peers per torrent could even be as low as 20 for good torrents without a problem, but I suggest 30-40 in case you get a few bad apples...who may be having the same problem as you!

Done. Thanks for the help.

All in all, if I had to guess, your ISP is simply crippling BitTorrent traffic almost to the point of unuseability...even if they SAY they don't!

You can say they do cripple BT traffic in a very real way when they limit my upload to 1/4 of my download bandwith.

But, they don't do any kind of shaping of the traffic. I cannot of course be sure, but i base my assumption, firstly, on the fact i have no problem reaching my max download/upload with other BT clients, and now also uTorrent, and keeping it there. Secondly, i have never heard or read about my ISP, or any ISP in my country for that matter, shaping or limiting p2p traffic. And i imagine, or at least hope :), things like that would spread pretty quickly.

All in all, maybe i'm wrong, but uTorrent is now working the way i expect it to. I'm just trying to push my upload limit a little higer to be a Better Peer[tm].

Cheers,

/iarkin

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grr i have a speed problem but your method doesn't seem to be working

with utorrent i connect to 3 peers (that's all) and i get speed no more than 500k and then falls down to 100 or 0 sometimes..

with bitcomet i connect to them and get 1.5 mb/s in seconds and it's stable for minutes..

i said to myself - accidently..

tried again and again the same shit.. and that's not the first time it happens.. as a matter of fact i get the same problem when i am a seeder - almost never reach more than 150-200k, with bitcomet i get upto 2 mb/s connecting to the same peers (DHT network disabled..)

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i saw the topic in the feature request section..

correct me if i'm wrong but i understand it like this:

bitcomet is encrypting the data to avoid the restrictions by the ISP?

if i'm right probably that's not the solution.. my ISP doesn't stop me by no means from using torrents

on the contrary it even encourages us to use torrents.. we have a private tracker..

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Odd. Is your ISP tiny, or is it one that controls a fairly large chunk of the ISP market? If it's a tiny ISP, it may be leasing lines from a bigger ISP which doesn't like BitTorrent and therefore is capping/shaping BitTorrent traffic as a result... :| Other than that, maybe BitComet just works better for you and your particular situation.

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