Slow upload speed

[PC_Pal68]

If I dl a file from the Net (Mininova, Pirate, Reator, etc) my dl and ul speed are fine (200-300K/s and 40-50K/s).

If I create the torrent file myself, and have a friend or two downloading, my ul caps @ 5-10K/sec. My settings are ok since the upload from a "public" file is fine. I have a DSL and the downloaders have DSL cable or T1. I am using open pirate as a tracker. Private seeding is not beeing use.

A friend suggested that the problem is the number of connections. A public file will have 50+ people downloading from me, hence the higher speeds. Does that make any sens? Is there a way to push utorrent (or the torrent protocol) upload speeds even though there is a small number of downloaders?

Is there a setting "upload speed per user"? I don't wanna cap a user. What I would like is to upload 40K/sec total wether there is 100 peers or just 1 peer.

I've done a test with a friend: if I have him download 2 files from me, then he uploads @ 2 X 10K/s. So he could technically reach 20k/s for only one file... it's like something (utorrent or bit torrent protocol) is not permitting it.

If I can't get decent speeds when sharing a file for 2-3 persons, might as well go back to IM file transfert.. which would be a step back.

Regards.

[Ultima]

Have you tried testing with your friend not downloading/uploading anything else (meaning all other torrents are stopped), and you have every other torrent stopped as well?

[Switeck]

You likely have either lots of network activity hitting your ip from the outside (router logs would probably reveal a lot of it) or OUTGOING activity from your computer that is reducing reliability in uploading to a single ip. ...Or your friend is.

Excessive outgoing activity is likely to be hostile.

[PC_Pal68]

So what you guys are saying is if you host a large file to be downloadad by only one peer (friend), you'll be able to use all your bandwith... at least all the max upload bandwith set within utorrent?

Funny that we mention traffic. Would traffic be more of a concern if I had the problem the other way around???? I'm having slow speed when only one peer and good speed when there's a tonne of peers...

I could try to test something. I could seed a public file (with alot of peers) and a personnal file with only one peer. Alternatly starting and pausing the files and see if there is a difference in ul speed.

I'll get back with the results.

Regards.

[madimk]

If you are just trying to share a file with a friend or two, torrent may not be the best way to go. In your case I would set up a private FTP server on your computer and let your friends download files from you that way. This for sure will max out your upload speed, something you might not be able to accomplish with a torrent.

I know this is not an answer you were looking for but it should be a good alternative.

[PC_Pal68]

Madimk,

Tx for your suggestion. Unfortunatly, I already have a FTP.

This torrent service is for my gaming team (BF2). We share game recordings between us (200-400MB). I use to put the videos on my FTP, but then I'd be the only one uploading for my 10-12 teammates. So we thought we would do it over torrent. It is a great idea, because this is just what torrent is all about.

The guys don't dl at the same time. So the first one who dl gets (for some obscure reason) a very bad speed from me (5-12 K/sec). Once we got 2-3 guys with the file, the total speed (swarn) is fine... but I still upload at slow speed.

I would just like to figure out why am I seeding so slowly and why can't I "give" more bandwith to a few users since I have it available.

And again, I must insist:

Whenever I download a public file from a public tracker, I upload just fine (total of 50-60 k/sec for one or multiple files) and it's not unusual that I need to reduce my max upload speed.

Regards.

[jewelisheaven]

It is possible you are being shaped PER CONNECTION, but that's among the lesser common ways I've heard about.

Are you sure you're not shaped by the ISP....... during your test from public trackers, you upload near your max of 50 KiBps? Also to be sure you have a .5Mbit upload linespeed right?

Are you trying uploading in super seed mode? What about with your replay as the ONLY uploading torrent?

[Switeck]

Bell Canada is doing horrible things to BitTorrent traffic (as well as other protocols). Can't honestly call them a true ISP anymore.

Some of their disruptions are time-of-day, others may depend on whether you're connecting to others on the same ISP or international traffic.

But in any case, I'm almost positive the ISP is the cause of the strange behavior.

[junkdrawerblues]

I'm having the same exact problem, I can re-seed downloaded files with no restrictions, yet my own uploads are not moving above about 30 % of my upload capacity. My normal upload capacity is 80 kb/s.

I have Quest (Arizona) DSL.

Is it even possible for an ISP to determine which traffic is uploaded by me (in order to shape traffic), as opposed to re-seeded by me? [if you know]

I reviewed the tips given in the posts above, but nothing seems to address this...

There is nothing wrong with my upload speed, except when it comes to a torrent that I uploaded (to a public site, with a public tracker). There are 5 people trying to download and my upload speed never rises above 30 kb/s. BTW, not downloading / uploading anything else.

[jewelisheaven]

And you're uploading to how many people (how many slots) at once? Are they all "E" or "e" connections (denotes encryption of the datastream)... Have you tried/confirmed the behaviour at different times of day/week? It's possible you're stuck in a shaping period. By re-seeding I am presuming you mean you're uploading while downloading? It's not unheard of for ISPs to simply interrupt seeding connections. Does the upload shoot up if you say download http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/ for 1-3 minutes?

[junkdrawerblues]

Here's an update on my recent upload:

My upload speed reached top capacity once there 8 leechers (or more) on the torrent. And it remained at top speed - 80 to 90 kb/s (the number of leechers hasn't dipped below that so far). This seems to reflect what happened with PC_Pal68. If there are only 1 or 2 leechers, the speed is restricted (regardless of the downloader's speed capacity). Number of upload slots per torrent is set at 50, with the option to increase if capacity < 90%, checked.

While I was trying to seed my own uploaded torrent, I tested my upload speed / capacity by opening another torrent and re-seeding it for a short period - there were NO restrictions on the speed of upload for any other torrent, only for the one I created. I think that rules out my ISP.

Still racking my brain over what settings might be affecting it... When I created the torrent I left the Start Seeding option checked. I used 3 public, open trackers and their status always read "working." DHT and PEX were left enabled. And, this was uploaded to a public site. My port was always open. I changed the status from Initial Seeding back to Seeding (and back again) and it did not affect the upload. I understand how Initial Seeding works, so I didn't expect it to affect the upload speed with only a couple of initial leechers, but I tried it anyway. The status flags of all those connected to me were in capital letters, no one was reading "choked." I also changed the outgoing encryption status from enabled to disabled, and that didn't seem to have any affect either (allow incoming legacy connections is always checked). I have no restrictions set on upload or download speeds within uTorrent.

Any other suggestions or ideas would be much appreciated...

[Switeck]

junkdrawerblues,

Even were you to only run 1 torrent at a time, there's really no good reason to set upload slots higher than 20. That's how many people you're uploading to AT ONCE per torrent. The BitTorrent protocol needs each to get at least 1 KiloBYTE/sec at the absolute minimum to function correctly.

It is possible you're uploading to people on bad ISPs, so individually they cannot download fast from you...even though your line is certainly able to upload fast to them!

[junkdrawerblues]

Switeck,

I appreciate your response, but "bad ISPs" doesn't seem explain why my upload rate increases coincided with more leechers... In other words, it was pitiful with 1-2 (10-20 kb/s), higher with 3-5 (30-40 kb/s), full-speed-ahead (80-90 kb/s) with 8 or more... You see the pattern?

Like PC_pal, I tested uploading with a friend before uploading to a website because it had been several months since I had done it.. I know there was nothing wrong with my friend's Internet connection / speed, yet my upload speed never went above 20-30 kb/s with only one downloader.

I'm not a software programmer, so I don't have any working knowledge of the algorithms used in the bittorrent protocol in general, and uTorrent specifically.

I suppose the only way to really troubleshoot this effectively is to use another bittorrent client to upload a different torrent to the same site, using the same trackers, and see if the results are the same...

[jewelisheaven]

uhm... yes? if you are shaped to 10 KiBps per connection that fully would explain it.

[junkdrawerblues]

jewelisheaven, no - I've re-seeded torrents where I'm uploading to only 1 or 2 other leechers (on a private site with little traffic) and there are no such restrictions... Trust me, I would have noticed if I was uploading at a rate of just 10 or 20 kb/s per leecher. This has happened only with a torrent I created.

I understand that sometimes people are doing multiple downloads and therefore their download capacity is spread across several torrents and is therefore limited - but, that wasn't the problem here...

Edit:

When I have some time, I'll set up a test of my ISP using Pcapdiff (and that same poor friend of mine) to try and determine whether they Qwest is shaping traffic...

[Switeck]

It would be nice to know if Quest ISP is up to any funny business. (throttling/shaping/disrupting BitTorrent traffic)

[funchords]

If your piece sizes are small, that could explain the behavior you are reporting. The BT client would be frequently hashing (it hashes as soon as it has a complete piece), during which time its both under CPU load and waiting for the result of the hash before starting to download a second piece.

If your piece sizes are large, this effect disappears because you're transferring chunks (incomplete pieces) more frequently then you are completing full pieces.