Slow speed, port inexplicably closed

[soap_box]

Hi,

I am suddenly getting very low download speeds on utorrent. When I check my port, it says it is closed.

This issue has come up suddenly. Until a few weeks ago the port was always open. I have followed portfoward instructions (in fact, I was the one that submitted my router's details to portforward.com, and figured out how to do it myself anyway). I have a static IP set up and am not using any firewall software except Vista's own (which utorrent is added to the list of exceptions for, as is the specific port, and it doesn't work even when the firewall is turned off).

Please can somebody let me know if I am missing something stupidly obvious? I didn't change anything to make the issue occur, and even if I had, I've formatted since then.

Here's a screenshot of my port forwarding settings

[n1nA8RFL]

This happens to me too, sometimes the green circle at the bottom turns to the triangle. If I reboot the program it sometimes fixes the problem. My port was working for a while until it just stopped being open even if the green circle is present.

[soap_box]

Hm unfortunately I don't think a reboot is going to solve this issue as it has been the case for quite some time (weeks) and the computer has been on and off since - always a yellow triangle or red circle for me.

[jewelisheaven]

If the problem started after the format, you need to check, and re-check all settings you made. Be sure the settings are still the same between you and your ISP. AND be sure no extra software is running which can interfere with this including firewalls, filtering, or security suite software which may have additional components.

[soap_box]

It started before the format, but nothing was solved by the format - and the screenshot was made since. I haven't installed any kind of third party software or anything like that.

[jewelisheaven]

K then I'd go through the How-To checking from one end of your connection to the other. I made some guidelines to follow @ my post which was helpful to people suffering problems after upgrading. If after going through that the problem still persists you will want to try changing your settings to a different port and checking with one of the test torrents either http://slackware.com/torrents/ or http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/ and see if you get incoming connections then :/ If not your ISP is blocking ports and there's not much else you can do but search for an open port.

[soap_box]

Thanks for your help, I've looked through your guidelines and I'm guessing my ISP has just decided to crack down on P2P. Oh well....

[Switeck]

What ISP is that?

Opal Telecommunications in UK?

ADSL or cable?

[soap_box]

Talk Talk (under Carphone Warehouse) - ADSL in the UK.

While googling my issue I discovered things such as a peak user time, including suggestions that I might have better luck between the hours of 00:00 and 08:00, as well as other complaints and claims that a large scale P2P crackdown was taking place. I guess I remain confused because this issue sprung up so suddenly. It probably started about 3-4 weeks ago, I've been with Talk Talk for 7 months now and until the issue arose, I always had a green circle and an open port.

[jewelisheaven]

That's the thing about ISPs. As the recently publicized Comcast case shows they are reluctant to give out their management details and presumably try to keep their network running as transparently as possible. If you've isolated the problem to the ISP then definitely keeping track of these limited-use times would help you configure the Scheduler (the only method currently) so your uT doesn't try to overtax itself during the limited times. It would also be good to know so that if you want you can schedule uT to NOT try downloading during part of your limited time which might help keep you from being marked "heavy p2p" user. When you're around you can just verify your connectivity with the test torrent for 1-3 minutes to verify you 1) can connect to trackers 2) connect to peers 3) are not shaped to your previously experienced LOW download speed.

Additionally regional settings may be a factor too. Large ISPs don't rollout these new methods all at once. So reporting on an appropriate forum (perhaps where you did some of your research for your ISP) with your general area may help others noticing this exact problem. It's all about information, and users keep other users informed since the ISP is not likely to widely publicize the limits it's placing on users outside of the usually-long-and-drawn-out EULA/AUP/FUP.

[CaptinHairybely]

I have exactly the same problem and i am also on talktalk and have the same router. According to sources on the internet talktalk is not listed as having anti p2p measures, but they surely must do - i mean thier not exactly going to advertise it. bloody talktalk.

if your thinking about it - dont go with talktalk...they block ports so you cant use p2p programs.

EDIT - incidentally, does anyone have a way around this? Thanks

[socrates28]

Yes TalkTalk do mess about with ports etc.

I have the solution - switch ISP's ASAP - look at O2 or BeUnlimited but there are tons of forums you can look at who list friendly ISP's