Bad router help please

[wongnog]

Okay boys and girls, I know I have a cheap wireless router. The router and USB wireless adapter cost me $19.99 after rebates and while it has nice download speeds, uTorrent and other Bittorrent clients will break my wireless connection after a couple hours of use. My only solution is to power cycle the router. My download speed is 5.5 MB/s and upload is 777kb/s. According to the mini speed guide above I am currently using the following settings:

Global maximum upload rate: 78
Alternate upload rate: 93
Global maximum download rate: 633
Global maximum number of connections: 777
Maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 97
Number of upload slots per torrent: 19
net.max_halfopen: 389

With these settings I was getting some blazingly fast download speeds of 550KB/s where previously I was only getting around max 250KB/s. But as I expected, my wireless connection pooped after a couple hours of download.

I checked out the AzureusWiki link for Bad Routers and while my router isn't there (it's a Gigafast WF719-CAPR) I know that the problem is my router can't handle so many connections. I'm just not certain which setting to change first... Some suggestions say to keep global max at 60-100, others up to 200. But if I change that what about my net.max_halfopen and tcpip.sys patched settings? If I change one what about the others? I'm hoping someone might advise me as to how to systematically determine what settings work best for me without killing my wireless connection.

Thanks a bunch guys.

[Firon]

I would leave net.max_halfopen as default (8), patch tcpip.sys to 100, lower connections to 90 and try not to run more than one torrent.

[wongnog]

when you say lower connections to 90 do you mean globally or per torrent? What are your recommendations for both settings?

[Firon]

I'd say just put both as 90 and don't run more than one torrent to avoid your router dying.

[streetstopper]

it sometimes happens that wireless connections get down especially when communication reaches the upper limit of its capacity.

make sure you are using wep or wpa at least. there is a possibility that someone in the neighborhood might be using your internet connection such that they eat up your bandwidth...at the very least, if you use protected mode access, they would need to know the network keys.

[wongnog]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've turned on WPA2 encryption on my router, disabled DHT in uTorrent, turned on packed encryption (also allowed incoming legacy connections), and disabled UPnP. I have forwarded port 1720 in my router since I am using Rogers and this port has worked well for me in the past. I am using WinXP Pro with no software firewalls running (I've disabled the SP2 firewall and the hardware firewall on my nForce4 motherboard); the latest Kaspersky is my anti-virus program. I am getting decent speeds but am still having issues with my internet connection dying on me after several hours of running uTorrent that is only corrected by power cycling the router. Strangely enough uTorrent still reports "Network OK" but all torrents have a the upside down triangle icon with the red exclamation point. Here are my current settings:

Global maximum upload rate: 72

Alternate upload rate: 93

Global maximum download rate: 633

Global maximum number of connections: 60

Maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 40

Number of upload slots per torrent: 5

Maximum number of active torrents: 1

net.max_halfopen: 8 (TCPIP patched to 100)

I have had some success with Azureus 2.4.0.0 under similar settings but I'll have to do some more experimentation to confirm. Could someone perhaps recommend me some "worst case scenario" settings I could try and if all goes well I can slowly increase the # of connections afterwards? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wongnog]

Here is some more detailed information on my Gigafast WF719-CAPR router. I do have it flashed to the latest firmware v1.2.7. Perhaps someone who is technologically sound could provide some tips on router configuration for me?

https://bcwireless.net/moin.cgi/GigaFast_WF719-CAPR?highlight=%28gigafast%29

My USB wireless adapter is a Gigafast WF748-CUI with a Zydas 1211 chipset. Currently I'm trying differnt driver/wireless utility versions as this chipset is sold under many different brand names... Again if anyone has some suggestions for me please pass them along. Thanks!

[wongnog]

I have tried almost everything with this router but cannot get it to work with either uTorrent or Azureus. I have used even the most conservative settings, bringing the above settings down to:

Global maximum number of connections: 40

Maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 20

Number of upload slots per torrent: 5

Maximum number of active torrents: 1

net.max_halfopen: 2 (no TCPIP patch)

I have tried both disabling DHT and not... other changes have been mentioned in above posts. Can someone please provide me with some assistance? Thanks

[Firon]

Get a new router? It's not like new routers are expensive..

[1c3d0g]

USB adapters are incredibly problematic, as evident from the numerous posts here and elsewhere. On top of that, yours is for establishing a wireless connection, which further compounds your problem. Devices like that usually don't handle BitTorrent very well, unfortunately. :/

[wongnog]

Well it's just frustrating me because I bought these only last month and I had to cut off the UPC tags for the mail in rebate, so I now I can't even return them. Are there any suggested GOOD routers and wireless USB adaptors available?

[Firon]

Linksys WRT54GL (with a simple firmware replacement)