Upload slow until download finishes

[cesium]

My upload speed is decently fast, but it speeds up significantly once the download completes. Is there any way to keep it constantly high? I've tried limiting the DL speed but it never makes a difference.

I'm using the recommended settings, but I've tried a bunch of configs and nothing seemed to help.

I'm on XP SP3

The light is green, and port forwards ok (its not the default port either)

My ISP does not throttle bittorrent (i checked with the glasnost thing)

I have NOD32 installed (IMON is disabled), no firewall, Peerguardian is on

net.max_halfopen is set to 50 (used the lvllord patch and set it to 50)

I have encryption set to forced, and am allowing incoming legacy connections

here are my speed guide settings:

[Ultima]

You're using truly atrocious settings. Stick to the Speed Guide's recommendations for your connection's upload speed in kbit/s, and don't set net.max_halfopen so arbitrarily high. Leave it at default.

[cesium]

my upload speed maxes at about 400kB/s, as my connection is 8/3 or so.

there is only 2mbit on the guide, and nothing in between that and the next step, so i just chose a middle ground :/

i reset the settings to 2mbit and upped the speed, and i just changed the net.max_halfopen so hopefully that will make a difference

[Ultima]

Hah, admittedly, that was a mistake on my part to assume the worst about your settings without asking for your connection's actual speed -- my apologies for jumping to (incorrect) conclusions. In the case of your connections, those numbers aren't too horrible. Lowering net.max_halfopen is still a good idea though (as you have already done).

Can you try just setting encryption to enabled (not forced)? Assuming your ISP really isn't throttling (looks to me like you're behind a university connection -- not too sure what to make of that), then setting it to forced simply lowers the pool of possible peers you're connected to.

How many seeds/peers are in the swarm anyway for the torrents you're connectd to? Are you limiting your download rate?

[cesium]

Ha no problem. Yeah, I am using my uni connection in the dorms. They do not throttle bittorrent and have expressed that in their policies. They will however disconnect you temporarily if they receive a cease n detist letter and whatnot. I only use private trackers (and peerguardian as another safeguard) so I don't think there will be an issue.

I didn't know that setting encryption to forced did what you stated, so I've set that to enabled. I'm not even sure if encryption is required, I just assumed that turning it on will make the whole experience more 'secure.'

The swarm numbers obviously range a lot depending on the torrent; the current torrent I'm having some issues on has 1 seeder and 100 leechers. It's actually uploading at a solid 300k right now, so hopefully some of the changes I've made are having an effect.

I have limited my download rate to 800kB/s, and I've tried cutting in half for a few hours but it never really led to an increase in upload speed.

EDIT: upload just dropped to 5k, but i'm pretty certain thats just due to the low number of leechers who haven't snatched up the current max (like 15% complete or so).

i have had other torrents in teh past where the swarm was more like 50/100 when i was downloading, and the upload went to about 100k while downloading, and as soon as i finished, it jumped up to 300k. there arent any torrents im interested in with those dynamics right now, but maybe they'll work out okay now.

[Ultima]

Try not limiting the download rate. The download rate limiter is known to cause unexpected upload rate issues sometimes due to the way in which it needs to behave to force a lowered download rate.

[cesium]

Interesting. I've changed it to unlimitd now, will see what happens over the next few days. Thanks a lot for your help!