bittorrent speed way too low, what possible causes?

[David Timms]

stan wrote:
> On Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:50:10 +1000
> David Timms <dtimms at iinet.net.au> wrote:
> 
>> stan wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I used torrent to get the F7 live CD and DVD images.  And then let
>>> it run overnight to seed.  I've tested my system with the online
>>> speed sites and my upload is ~540 KB/sec.  My service from Cox says
>>> 512 - 2MB/sec.
>>>
>>> Yet bittorrent-curses maxed out at around 70 KB/sec.  I used the
>>> max_upload_rate = 0 to let it go at the maximum rate.  
>> Hi, I'm in Australia, and have found the same thing while downloading 
>> the fedora 7 dvd iso.
>>
>>  From past experience, you do need to be careful that:
>> 1. you limit upload rate to about 65-75% of your upload capability.
>> This ensures that network packet congestion doesn't cause problems
>> with peer requests coming into your machine.
>> outbound bandwidth: 512 Kbit/sec
>> usable after adsl overhead: 400 Kbit/sec
>> usable after adsl overhead:  50 KByte/sec
>> set outbound torrent to say: 40 KByte/sec
> 
> I was seeding at this point, no inbound.  I tried various rates, no
> difference.
>> 2. Do you use a domestic NAT router ? If it wasn't designed with 
>> peer2peer in mind, in may have a limited session table of 100
>> sessions, or problems under high port forwarding condtions. In this
>> case you could try a router that is known to be better in the
>> peer2peer world.
> 
> No router, cable modem into hub to ethernet card.
>> 3. I would imagine that dvd releases to the internet can lead to 
>> internet bandwidth problems for the ISP. If you are downloading, 
>> definitely use your own ISPs mirror if they have it, or in country 
>> mirrors. Also it might be possible to limit your peer locations to 
>> within your country ? {I don't know how}
>>
> Yeah, I think that is why they might be filtering.  And it isn't really
> a big deal for me.  This is the first time I've really tried sustained
> large uploads.  I assumed it would be what I paid for and they promised.
> And I'm curious why it isn't.

What speed test site did you use to get the upload figure and is the 
figure repeatable at the moment ?

Do you have an local mates who is also on cox cable ? Ask if they would 
like to be a peer for some tests. On one machine share the iso {maybe 
rescue} with limewire, and connect / download by IP from the other. What 
speed can that reach ?

Do you have web space with your provider ? fire up gftp and upload a 
100MB file, timing it {from memory gftp shows it in the bottom pane}.

I could also time a download from au.melbourne just for comparison, let 
me know {eg over ftp or limewire}.

DaveT.