WOW ---- I can't believe I got a green light.

[adrian60]

First let me say I am rather new to computers. I have 13 months experience!!!! Do I think bittorrent is WAY ABOVE my experience level ---- PROBABLY. But this is how we learn, isn't it.

I have utorrent 1.8.1

I should also apologize for being too detailed in my description, but I think somewhere in the gut busting details lies the answer.

I am on Windows Vista SP1 connected by a wired Ethernet connection. My ISP is Windstream, the modem is a Speedstream 4200, router firmware part # 044-D241-A83 (from their website) I think I was supposed to look for "Ware version" on the label of the router. I guess that's part #060R-D246-A12. It was all it said on the back.

Sorry I can't remember what site, but I found a site that tests to see if Windstream chokes bitorrent ---- and NO. I am confident I have successfully set up a static isp AND am forwarding my port. It wouldn't (utorrent) give me a green light otherwise, would it?

I tried the "office bitorrent test" and it took 6 mins to download 80mbs. This is about normal for my connection. I have a years experience of downloading from Rapidshare, for example. It takes 6 to 8 minutes to download 100mbs at 300 kilobits a sec. Also I don't think I have been TOO ambitious in setting utorrent. I set it for 194, I think it was, whichever yields an upload speed of 22 kilobits in utorrent. I should mention that I tested my download speed at the speed test sites and it is usually (I have done it before) 2400 kilobits.

My FIRST ACTUAL bittorrent download was Monday at 1:00 pm. I got the green light and it STAYED GREEN. The "office test", it was green for about a minute, then the triangle turned and STAYED yellow. It was an 800 mb file and took over 2 hours to download. 80% of the way through the download I jotted down ---- seeds 33 (149), peers 22 (158), uploaded 97.6 mb, ratio 0.143, avail 35.999 and DHT: 290 nodes.

During this first download I watched the UPLOAD speed stay a fairly steady 18 to 22 kbs. BUT ...... the DOWNLOAD speed was fluctuating WILDLY. It pretty much hovered at 100 kbs but would drop 40 kbs or so in 10 or 15 seconds!!!!! The maximum download speed it would fluctuate to was 150 kbs.

My second bitorrent download went even better!!! 1.37 g, started at about 8 pm, with NOT QUITE as many peers and seeds. It finished even quicker than the first one ---- about 2 hours!!!! The download speed STILL fluctuated, but it stayed at about 200 mbs reaching a top of 250 mbs.

The following day TERRIBLE!!!!! Could not get above 60 kbs. It seemed that the download speed was FLUCTUATING even worse.

QUESTIONS

Again, sorry to rant on. It should be noted that the icon at the bottom of utorrent STAYED GREEN for ALL downloads. If the port was NOT being forwarded correctly, for example, would I STILL get a green light? ALSO THE UPLOAD SPEED IS VERY STEADY by comparison to the download speed.

I feel I am very close to being able to do this. A week ago I couldn't even get a GREEN LIGHT.

Thanking you in advance for your assistance, Adrian.

[Switeck]

"It takes 6 to 8 minutes to download 100mbs at 300 kilobits a sec. Also I don't think I have been TOO ambitious in setting utorrent. I set it for 194, I think it was, whichever yields an upload speed of 22 kilobits in utorrent. I should mention that I tested my download speed at the speed test sites and it is usually (I have done it before) 2400 kilobits."

You seem to be confusing kilobits/second for KiloBYTES/second.

So that would be 6-8 minutes at 300 KiloBYTES/second to download 100 MegaBYTES.

xx/256k (1 setting above xx/192k) yields an upload speed in uTorrent of 22 KiloBYTES/second. This is probably appropriate for your connection, as most ISPs give very little upload speed compared to download speed.

For slightly better settings, you could use my recommended settings from 2nd link in my signature.

Your download bandwidth probably is 2400 kilobits/second, but download and upload speeds are typically measured in KiloBYTES/second.

Download speed on torrents is entirely dependent on other people's BitTorrent client settings. If they've got their global upload speed set to only 1 KiloBYTE/second...they probably won't give you anything. And there is a shocking number of people who do that. It not only makes it hard for others to download the torrent, it even reduces their own download speed.

uTorrent supports UPnP (Universal Plug aNd Play) in Windows, which can auto port forward compatible modems and bypass compatible software firewalls. UPnP (and its similar Mac-equivalent, NAT-PMP) can be enabled/disabled in uTorrent under preferences, connection.