Download speed reverts to maximum during "seeding only" schedule

[pjs-au]

My ISP enforces a division of monthly peak and off-peak download limits, but permit unlimited uploads. When the monthly download limit in either the peak or off-peak time range is exceeded, the connection speed is shaped down to dial-up speeds.

I've been using the scheduler in uTorrent to limit download speed. I had assumed that if I set a period to "seeding only" that uTorrent would halt downloads while continuing seeding. Instead I'm finding that the download speed reverts to the Global Download Rate, rather than stopping downloading.

As far as I can tell "seeding only" periods seem to behave exactly the same as those set to run at "full speed"; and this is true both in version 1.8 stable build 11813 and 1.8.1 beta build 11962. I can't tell if this is a bug or if I may have misunderstood "seeding only" in the scheduler.

Setting the download speed to zero doesn't mean halt downloads, of course, but rather is treated as setting the download speed to "unlimited". Is there any setting that will stop downloads while continuing uploads? The only way I can think to achieve something similar manually is to pause or stop all incomplete torrents.

What am I doing wrong?

[Switeck]

Are you using FORCED STARTED torrents which override Scheduler settings?

[pjs-au]

None of my active torrents have have had "forced start" applied to them selectively, and I can't see any setting where this might be set globally.

[Switeck]

Can you describe how your limits are set and what your ISP limits are?

...and also how many torrents you have running and if they are seeding or downloading?

I think there may be a very serious bug with seeding only torrents right now.

I've heard that Transmission BitTorrent clients may be ignoring uTorrent's seeding only status, but it may be a worse bug in uTorrent causing it.

[pjs-au]

OK!

Firstly - in case it is at all relevent - I'm in Australia.

I've just moved from an ADSL 1500/256 connection to an ADSL2+ connection with down/up link speeds of about 7000/800. My provider has various plans with download limits that are apportioned 1:2 as allowances for peak and off-peak times. For example 25GB of peak period downloads plus 50GB off-peak for a monthly allowance of 75GB total. The off-peak allowance applies all use in the 10 hour window of 2am to noon. After noon until 2am all downloads are applied against the peak quota. Uploads do not count towards the quotas.

Once you exceed the download quota in either the peak or off peak timeframes the connection speed is shaped to approximately 72kbps/72kpbs up/down, but only for the affected peak or off-peak timeframes. So if I exceed only my peak allowance then shaping only occurs between noon and 2am. This is better than many Australia ISP where shaping would apply until the end of the month once either quota is exceeded.

Of course none of the preceding should have any bearing on the way uTorrent works.

In my case I'm nearly at my monthly limit for the noon to 2am peak period so I'm trying stop downloading while continuing to seed; preferably uploading from incomplete downloads as well as completed (fully) seeding torrents.

I tried setting scheduler to "seeding only" (color coded pink in scheduler) for the midnight to 2am and the noon to midnight blocks. I found that downloading reverted to global maximum download limit rather than dropping to zero in those time slots. I'm so close to my peak download limit for the month that I suspect even a limited (lite green in schedular) download sped of 1kb/s would go push me over the peak quota within a day. I half suspect that even the handshaking associated with seeding may do so anyway.

To be more specific about the current state of my utorrent...

I currently have about 60 actively downloading torrents, about 65 that are completed and seeding, and nearly 1000 that are completed and stopped.

Since moving to ADSL2+ I have upped the upoad rate to 60kB/s (formerly 18kB/s on ADSL) and this applies 24 hours. Early in the month I set the global download rate to 0 (unlimited) but have currently throttled this to 12kB/s as I approach my quota limit.

Up until a few days ago I had scheduler set to download at 5kB/s in peak times with the 12kB/s limit applying in off peak times.

In bandwidth preferences global up/down limits are 60/12, with max connections at 300; peers per torrent 5; and upload slots per torrent 4. Use additional upload slots if speed is <90% is enabled.

The BitTorrent settings has Enable DHT network, Ask Tracker, Enable Peer Exchange, and Enable local Peer discovery turned on. IP/Hostname to report to tracker has not been entered; Outgoing Protocol Encryption is disabled, and Allow legacy connections is on.

In queueing I have set the maximum number of active torrents to 150, with a limit of 85 active downloads.

I know that some of these numbers will sound high for many casual users, but I've found uTorrent mostly really stable; and it still is. Azureus - my previous client of choice - would lockup with far fewer active torrents. The scheduler in Azureus was an external plug-in and I don't remember if it provided a seeding only option.

It had not occurred to me that a status of Seeding only was something that bitTorrent clients on peer computers could affect or ignore. All I know is that when I'm in a "limited" timeslot (in Scheduler) the download speed limit shown in the uTorrent status bar matches the speed I've specified as the Limited download rate. In "Full speed" time slots the status bar download limit matches the maximum download rate; and in "Seeding only" timeslots the limit likewise resets to the Bandwidth Maximum Download Rate.

In order to try to buy a bit of extra time before my peak hours connection speed is shaped I'm using Scheduler to limit my download speed to 1kB/s in peak hours and I have manually paused incomplete downloading Torrents.

[Switeck]

I'm sure this is a serious bug probably both in uTorrent and possibly in other BitTorrent clients that continue uploading to you. You're not the first to report it.

[thelittlefire]

Upload slots per torrent @ 4? 60 active torrents? ARE YOU NUTS? Think about it this way, the more peers/torrents you run, the more overhead you are generating with absolutely no return on it. Sure peer connections, DHT, and PEX are generally upload traffic, but DHT contributes ~ 1 GiB / mo. when on 24/7. In seed-only time blocks, as Switeck says uTorrent does not request any pieces, but it doesn't mean others won't SEND you data. A way to reduce this would be to reduce your Queueing numbers... perhaps maybe 3 or 5 TOTAL active torrents. Surely over the next month when your limit is reset you can gauge performance better with new settings but until then I'd say start by reducing those torrent numbers and you should get better performance.