Optimizing upload speed when seeding

[Milo63]

I've just finished downloading and have 2 torrents in seeding status.

How can I setup nTorrent options to optimize upload speed?

My connection is 2Mbit dsl. Tested dnl speeds are 376-492 kbs, and tested upload speeds are 41-69 kbs.

Whatever I do with settings I can get only 25 kbs total for both torrents.

[jewelisheaven]

32 KiBps theoretical maximum is equal to a 256Kbps speedtest.You're already performing above that.

[Milo63]

OK, that would mean that however I setup nTorrent options, speed would satisfy.

Is there anything I could do wrong, i.e. to make a mess with global connections, upload slots or other settings?

[Switeck]

Too many connections at once or too many half open connections at once can burn up a bit of your upload speed.

Too few upload slots, such as only 1 to 3, can cause uTorrent to temporarily slow down due to uploading to very slow connections.

The xx/256k setting tries to find a balance...but it allows far more connections than you should need to max out your upload.

[Milo63]

Thanks. I'll go that way. I'll activate xx/256k speed setup and than I'll tune connections separately. Say... 100? Maybe 80?

Is it Ok to setup, let's say, 48 upload slots for a xx/256 speed guide setup? Should it be around that number. Maybe less, or more (as it is automatically set to 3 upload slots)?.

Up to now, I tried different numbers of upload slots. Actually, I don't understand completely what are they for and how they function, so I tried various numbers, i.e. 2, 3, 10, 12, 48, 100. It seems that change of upload slots doesn't cause any speed fluctuations, but I can hardly distinguish it from speed fluctuations due to internet connection quality, anyway. It changes a bit a stream of messages in the Logger/Log Peer Traffic. Again, I don't understand much of it, but I can tell that I don't want to have messages like "Too many local connections" or "Peer error: offline (timed out), or anything similar.

[jewelisheaven]

Upload speed / (Upload slots * total active torrents) SHOULD NOT < 3 KiBps. I actually recommend > 5 KiBps, but it's up to you.

[Milo63]

Thanks. For now.

[Switeck]

Upload slot per torrent is how many people you're uploading to on a torrent at any given moment.

Setting it above 10 for xx/256k is just nuts...and not very nice as you would see if you were on the receiving end.

[Milo63]

If I understood well, this means that more than 10 upload slots would cause more than 10 people sharing files with me, but at low speed? Because the upload speed available would be divided (more or less?) equally to all who are connected.

I plan to only seed for some time (a few days), and not to download anything. Is this, what you are saying, applicable for only seeding. In other words, if I'm only seeding, is it better to have more slow connections to more people, or it is better to have fewer faster connections?

[Switeck]

10 upload slots is how many people uTorrent tries to upload to at once PER TORRENT.

But if you have 4 active torrents, each with 10+ peers on them, your uTorrent will try to upload to 40 people at once...splitting your upload speed 40 different ways, and giving each person probably less than 0.5 KiloBYTES/sec each. (Note: dial-up is positively fast compared to that.)

People often upload to you even if you're uploading nothing/little to them, but it basically sabotages the system if people upload very slowly...even if uploading very slowly to LOTS of people at once.

So, to answer your last question, it is VASTLY better to fewer faster connections. Total upload slots should stay fewer than your total upload speed in KiloBYTES/sec...by a lot...so each upload slot gets about 3-10 KiloBYTES/sec.

For a 256 kilobits/sec upload bandwidth max line, that works out to be as few as 3 total upload slots or as many as 9.

[Milo63]

I've got it. To sum up, there are only 2-3 options within nTorrent that I can setup and make other users happier in sharing files. It's clear enough from your descriptions, and I'm already applying it.

Thanks a lot.

Is there any other way, a program on the net, a setup of my dsl modem or anything else that can improve the basic upload speed?

[Switeck]

Your ISP decides how much upload and download your modem can do.

uTorrent does a pretty good job maximizing upload...slightly less so on download, but you can't FORCE people to upload to you.

Find a better ISP or pay for a more expensive line is usually all you can do.

But getting the most out of what you have often means removing programs from your computer rather than adding them. A "fancy" software firewall on top of a router...can mean slightly delayed packets and higher pingtimes...and slower overall speeds.