Novice Torrentor having Connection & Speed problems!

[michaelc123]

Hello, have read uTorrent help and lots of this forum till my head hurts. So can I ask for help!!!

INFORMATION WE MIGHT NEED IF NOTHING ELSE HELPS

Problem(s) Summary:

1. Not connectable – Red Status

2. Slow downloads – around 4-5 KBs (often less) on average

3. Cannot seed &I think) - probably connected to #1

What I've tried & Other info:

1) Some configuration:

a. OS = Windows XP 2002 Home Edition Service Pack2 (Auto Update ON for updates from Microsoft)

b. Firewall = standard Windows XP

c. Anti Virus, etc. = AVG

d. Modem = Modem C-motech CCU650. Don't have a Router (that I know of!)

e. ISP = CAT Telecom Public Company Ltd, Thailand

f. Dell Laptop = 1.86 GHz 782 MHz with RAM = 1GB

2) Windows XP Firewall (did this stuff a few times & rebooted)

a. FirewallExceptions: added uTorrent.exe & port number 64687 as exceptions

b. FirewallAdvancedSettings: added port number 64687 to Services.

c. FirewallAdvancedSettings: Switched ON "Allow outgoing destination unreachable"

3) TCPIP.SYS Windows XP Hotfix KB892130 installed. I have Auto Windows Update switched on anyway!

4) Checked the "Bad" ISP list – CAT Telecom, Thailand isn't on it.

5) Speed Test using Speedtest.net and Bangkok – SLOW!

a. Download: 498kb/s = 62.5KBs

b. Upload: 60kb/s = 7.5KBs

c. Ping: 533ms

d. ISP: CAT Telecom Public Company Ltd

6) uTorrent Client 1.77.

a. Upload Limit: 5; Upload slots: 2; Connections: 15; Global Connections: 25; Max Active torrent: 2; Max Active DL: 2

b. Enable Encryption is ON

c. Changed 'net_maxhalfopen' to 4 (from 8)

d. 'DHT', 'UPnp' & NAT-PMP' is OFF

e. 'peer_lazy_bitfield' is ON

f. 'peer.resolve_country' is OFF

7) Port Test results:

a. Checking port 64687 on 61.19.67.223...Error! Port 64687 does not appear to be open.

b. Warning Status triangle appears followed a little later by Red Not Connectable icon

8) Tried test download from OpenOffice.org – achieved similar download speeds < 4KBs on average.

Sorry, there's a lot of info there! But maybe someone can see something I've missed or ....... I'd appreciated it.

[jewelisheaven]

:/ You're likely crippled in your area. If you have .5Mbit down and say xx/64 up... using those settings in uT's Speed Guide (Ctrl-G) since you already tested OOo, All I can suggest is 1.8 beta, it gets around some but not all shaping methods.

:/ Have you tried FORCED encryption and Dis-allow legacy connections as well??

[lisabradley100]

Hi Michael,

I too am a novice. I had similar problems and spent weeks trying to rectify everything (jewelisheaven as responded before me was brilliant - so pay attention to him/her). However, nothing seemed to clear up the problem completely - until I upgraded to utorrent beta yesterday. Now I have green lights straight across the board! Just a thought bought you might try to download the newer version, and if its still not working correctly, apply changes as directed by those who know more about it. Good luck - and thanks again jewelisheaven!

[michaelc123]

Thanks, I'll try 1.8.

Funny thing, this downloading business!! At one point today I saw a film rising to the unheard (for me) heights of 30KB downloading!! But only for 5 mins! Then back to 5-10KB!!

[Switeck]

Does your connection ever download faster than 30 KiloBYTES/sec for regular web page downloads?

[michaelc123]

Yes - ranges from 25KB/s to 35KB/s when I download from a Web site and there''s nothing else going on (such as torrent downloading!!) - I've just tried it with a big file.

Yes - I did read http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992 - that's where I got all the things to try and info to give at the top of this topic. I also went to PortForward.Com but my USB modem (Franklin C-motech CCU650 - from Korea) isn't there.

And now to try out 1.8 ........ can I install 1.8 whilst leaving 1.7.7 alone, do you know?

[Switeck]

You could install uTorrent v1.8 in a separate folder and run it from there...but you'll have to read the FAQs to keep both uTorrent program's settings completely separate from each other.

[michaelc123]

Well, 1.8 is now in and working and somewhat better - well, sort of! Initial indications are that DL speeds are better - sometimes! It's not consistent (even given my connection speed and the number of seeds available on the selected download). However, seeding is still a problem. And I still have my RED circle and failed port forward test.

So maybe the port forward is the place to concentrate now?

Forgive my ignorance here...... but I'm not 100% sure if I actually have a router!! To connect to internet I have a Franklin/C-motech USB Modem CCU650 with ISP (CAT Thailand Telecom) via CDMA/EVDO. I cannot find this CCU650 modem on the Port Forward list - and therefore I'm having real trouble figuring how to port forward or if it's really needed at all. Assistance from ISP is hard to get (hard to find someone technical who also speaks better English than I do Thai!!!) - anyway I don't want to highlight the fact that I'm torrenting.

So can I ask the forum:

1) Does the modem function as a router as well.

2) Do I need to "bridge router to modem", whatever that means?

Much appreciated........... =)

[Switeck]

USB modems and USB network cards typically cannot handle lots of connections at once. Even 50 total may be too much.

Fortunately, you only need about 20 connections per torrent to get reasonable speeds on many/most torrents. ...And if your max download speed is only ~50-60 KB/sec, then you may be able to reach >30 KB/sec download speeds even from 5-10 connections.