Utorrent slow download

[huwrlewis]

I recently switched my internet to Virgin Media 5-10mbps, this was a massive increase from my old 0.5mbps. After spending a week sorting out problems with my internet connection on my main machine, the online speed check said my speed was at around 4000kbps which should give me a utorrent speed of around 300KB/s. However my utorrent speed has in fact mostly decreased,from around 60KB/s to 10-50KBs usually although i occasionally have spikes of around 120KB. These downloads all have lots of seeders. The internet and streaming is working at the new speed but utorrent is working slower and less reliably.

I have tried port forwarding and other solutions from utorrent but nothing is giving me a reliable speed over 50KB/s and some torrent will barely work at all.

As i mentioned above the problem i had with surfing the web was to do with the signal strength on my main computer, which i increased from aroung 40% to 55% which increased the speed massively (may also have been to do with reinstalling the driver).

Please help im completely out of ideas.

[Aaron_Walkhouse]

Your problem is Virgin Media. Do some research on available internet providers
available in your area and pick one which doesn't block or "shape" your traffic or put
caps on the amount of bandwidth you may use.

[huwrlewis]

the thing is that if im downloading other software directly of the internet, eg now im downloading from bbc iplayer and its downloading at 230KB/s it is only utorrent that is running slow

[kippies]

Virgin have unlimited caps on their decent speed packages, but they do traffic shape. I have experienced it and work round by downloading during the night and seeding all day- its peak usage they mess with mostly

[huwrlewis]

Perhaps that is the case but I think that even during the night it is still only getting a 100 or so, rather than the 300 i expected. And it still doesnt explain why the download speed is only low on utorrent.

[huwrlewis]

Online speed result =
Last Result:
Download Speed: 4989 kbps (623.6 KB/sec ) Upload Speed: 381 kbps (47.6 KB/sec )

I not getting anywhere near that on utorrent

[drtoker]

Online speed result =
Last Result:
Download Speed: 4989 kbps (623.6 KB/sec ) Upload Speed: 381 kbps (47.6 KB/sec )

I not getting anywhere near that on utorrent

As stated, your ISP messes with torrent traffic, and only torrent traffic, during peak hours (daytime). You will never get anywhere close to a direct download speed.

For night time, they may just be allowing some more bandwidth for torrents, but not all like a normal direct http download.

The only ways to get around it are:
Use another ISP (or buy/rent a seedbox)

Dont use torrents, use direct downloads or a different protocol

Hide the traffic type - usually this is not an option, but I've heard of services that hide the traffic type. I can only assume this will ultimatly affect your speed negatively, so its pointless in your case probably.

[rainbowdemon]

I spent two years on a 26k dial up. I would have given my left nut for the speeds you're describing.


So quit crying!!

[thepuzzler]

Im on Virgin Media and can max out my connection with a single torrent day or night.

They dont single out and traffic-shape torrent traffic, but will throttle your *entire* connection for 4 hours if you exceed 4 gigs during peak hours.

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

Your problem is finding a decent source for torrents. (Hint private trackers)

Try this Slackware Torrent:

http://www.slackware.com/getslack/torrents.php

It should max out your connection after 10 minutes or so.

Also read here:

http://utorrent.com/documentation/connection-setup

[Mels_Smileys45]

For speeds of 300k public trackers will do just fine. I often get those speeds or faster on public trackers. I only pull 1.8M on private porn trackers though. Its fun to see a download go that fast but 300k is plenty fast enough for anyone. I find the outrageous speeds offered today only good for people who are stupid, like me I guess. Soon as I am able to get a new hard drive and refill it with all the HDef content again I am going with a simple package. People bitching because it takes a day to download a movie make me sick. This is NOt aimed at the poster of this thread. Just the people that scream "SEED" all the time when their download is only going 150kbs. How stupid! I have to wonder why these people are sitting at their PC screaming at the download window. Go outside the house or go read the news. Just do something else and plan your downloads ahead of time. As long as you are able to get free content its all good. People are so SPOILED! Sorry for the rant but I am sick and tired of the download babies out there in BT land.

[1cooldude]

Im on Virgin Media and can max out my connection with a single torrent day or night.

They dont single out and traffic-shape torrent traffic, but will throttle your *entire* connection for 4 hours if you exceed 4 gigs during peak hours.

Sounds like another crappy provider.Maybe it's time to continue looking for something better.

[thepuzzler]

well yes and no. 2.2MB/s is pretty sexy, I usually set my Downloads off at night when the cap isnt there. Its not ideal. But they are the fastest provider in my area.

[1cooldude]

Peak hours I assume are from 8Am to 5 or 6 PM.

[kippies]

Its overall bandwidth use trips the traffic shaping

Set up U torrent propery- make sure you have the max TCP patch applied if you have XP, set Utorrents total bandwidth limiter to 200 and step it up till you see what trips it in your case

Its fairly easy to tell as your modem will drop sync and utorrent will low to a crawl

If your constantly seeing low speeds its a poor set up problem not Virgin capping you

Im paying £24 a month for unlimited download at around 300K 24/7 + phone line which makes Virgin an okay provider in my book, especially when you read the competitions small print

[drtoker]

I've never seen slow speeds resulting from not setting up bandwidth caps in uTorrent except when the upload is being maxed out causing slow down speeds, which isn't the case here. Everyone I know including myself do not use any sort of caps within utorrent. When the download maxes out my modem, it stays that way, it doesn't slow down... If it did, either the computer or the modem are faulty and can't handle the traffic presented. With all the information passing through your hardware for torrents VS http downloads, maybe it is your hardware...