Noob Q: Upload issues with Linksys

[crillux]

Yes, I have read the FAQ (and the forum posts) about the issues with Linksys but I am still not sure I understand if I need to do anything more. The router is a Linksys WRT54GL and the firmware is "DD-WRT v24 (05/24/08) std - build 9526". Do I need to change the FW, or should I be able to fix this by altering router settings?

There are no issues what so ever with downloading, so it is only affecting the upload speed. I was using a D-link router until yesterday and normally get UL speed about 50 kB/s. Now it's down to 0.2...

I have changed the settings according to the recommendation in the FAQ, but I can't figure out what else to do. Any hints? Thanks.

[Switeck]

What firewall do you mean?

And have you tried the 1st and 2nd link in my signature?

[Ultima]

FW as in firmware, not firewall

@crillux: Indeed, you'll need to check the first two links in Switeck's signature. More information will be useful. I'm not really sure if you need to switch the firmware, but if you do (we need to figure that out with a bit more troubleshooting), then you can always try Tomato firmware.

[crillux]

Thanks a lot for your hints. I have activated UPnP in both uTorrent and in the router and it seems to work fine.

Two related question:

1) Does the activation of UPnP mean that I can remove the port forwarding in the router?

2) What are the risks of using UPnP (intrusion etc)?

[Ultima]

1) Yes, you should be able to remove the port forwarding without issue if UPnP is working properly for you.

2) It's (IMO) an overplayed security issue. Yes, UPnP makes it easy for malware to forward ports without your knowledge -- but that's if it's already infiltrated your other lines of defense and has infected your computer. If you're careful about what you download/run on your computer, and you have a good antivirus, then you should be okay. In the end, I still prefer manual port forwarding over UPnP since forwarding a port for µTorrent really only needs to be done once anyhow.