P2P (Bittorrent etc) configuration & use discussion...ongoing (Only place to post!)

Log-on

now my speeds wont work so i was checking around, if i do a port test with multiple checkers with my firewall off, modem firewall off even with port forwarding on, it still says the port is closed, but for some reason the UDP version of the port will open but just tcp wont, it must be to do with ntl if there's no firewall

vibe666

bazh23 wrote: »

UPC are a joke with the way they are limiting torrent traffic.
They don't realise just how many of their customers use torrents.
A pity they can't be more open and honest about this traffic-shaping practice of theirs. I've spoken to several technical support people in UPC over the last couple of months and many of them don't even know its going on... and if they do just end up quoting their "Fair Usage Policy".

i'm a VERY heavy torrent user on the UPC 20mbps and rarely have any issues at all, despite using up the majority of the 250gb FUP every month.

maybe it's because I don't have the cisco modem (i signed up almost a year ago before they bought that yoke out), i have the old scientific atlanta modem with my own wireless router with a 3rd party firmware that is designed to handle higher loads than standard firmware can comfortably manage without falling over.

check out my posts on page 53 of this thread if you want to test properly and ensure it's not an issue with your torrent client or your torrents or tracker before you blame UPC for slow speeds. it can be very easy to blame UPC for speed issues, but a large portion of the posts in this entire thread are down to configuration issues, not the ISP.

here's a screen grab from the webUI of my torrent client a few weeks ago when downloading from a private tracker with only a few seeds.

bazh23

vibe666 wrote: »

i'm a VERY heavy torrent user on the UPC 20mbps and rarely have any issues at all, despite using up the majority of the 250gb FUP every month.

maybe it's because I don't have the cisco modem (i signed up almost a year ago before they bought that yoke out), i have the old scientific atlanta modem with my own wireless router with a 3rd party firmware that is designed to handle higher loads than standard firmware can comfortably manage without falling over.

check out my posts on page 53 of this thread if you want to test properly and ensure it's not an issue with your torrent client or your torrents or tracker before you blame UPC for slow speeds. it can be very easy to blame UPC for speed issues, but a large portion of the posts in this entire thread are down to configuration issues, not the ISP.

Appreciate the tips. But the main issue i'm having is not with download speed. I've no complaints on that side. Only with Upload Speed. Your screen grab doesn't show u/l. Do you achieve the full bandwidth on upload with your client? I'm 100% sure of the settings, as I was getting a constant 120Kb/s with Smart Broadband for over a year up to the day I switched over to UPC. The minute I was on UPC the speed stuck at a maximum of 30kb/s.

At the moment my U/L speed is 16kb/s despite having over 800 torrents forced seeding - with at least 150 of them having more than 1 peer. The Seed/Peer ratio I have at present means I should be getting considerably more than 16kb/s.

Because UPC are limiting the upload bandwidth (actually verified this to be the case), my ratio on a couple of private trackers has dropped below 1.0 for the first time in ages and I risk being banned.

Your right about configuration of the client being an important factor. However, I have tried every conceivable combination of settings and nothing has made any difference. Therefore this eliminates the client as a factor. But the evidence I have of traffic-shaping by UPC comes directly from the horses mouth - they actually confirmed that traffic shaping is part of their FUP. They do this by limiting traffic on a range of common ports.

This is 2009 and the policy of UPC is in the dark ages IMO. They are the only ISP in ireland limiting bandwidth in this way. :mad:

vibe666

bazh23 wrote: »

Appreciate the tips. But the main issue i'm having is not with download speed. I've no complaints on that side. Only with Upload Speed. Your screen grab doesn't show u/l. Do you achieve the full bandwidth on upload with your client? I'm 100% sure of the settings, as I was getting a constant 120Kb/s with Smart Broadband for over a year up to the day I switched over to UPC. The minute I was on UPC the speed stuck at a maximum of 30kb/s.

i have my upload capped at 100kB/s in the torrent client to keep web browsing etc. nippy and drop it to 60kB/s (note the big B denoting Bytes, not 'little b' bits ) when i'm working from home on Wednesdays as I connect to my work PC via VPN and if i'm downloading stuff (which I normally am) with the torrent client uploading at 100kB/s my RDP session can get a little choppy.

most of the time when it's in use it's uploading at a solid 100kB/s.

i'm starting to think it really could be related to the cisco modem/router combo, i'm actually dreading having to get rid of the scientific atlanta modem, but i don't think it'll be up to the job next year when UPC roll out the 120mbps upgrades.

bazh23

vibe666 wrote: »

i'm starting to think it really could be related to the cisco modem/router combo, i'm actually dreading having to get rid of the scientific atlanta modem, but i don't think it'll be up to the job next year when UPC roll out the 120mbps upgrades.

I'm convinced now its the Cisco router.
I rang UPC today and managed to convince them to send out a technician... i'm hoping he has a different model in his van!!!

jor el

This is a P2P discussion thread. Posts about file download sites or copyright concerns will be removed.

Tea_Bag

phoned them before asking for the SA modem, and they're refusing to ship it out. got a friend who's gonna have his MAC from the cisco cloned to the SA, and see if that works.

_Whimsical_

Lately I've found my utorrent speed spiking up to around 600kbps for the first 5 mins or so and then dropping off to around 80kbps and staying at around that rate for the rest of the download.
I'm using the Eircom 7mb package and have my ports forwarded correctly etc. Is anyone else finding the same problem?

Does the fact that it spikes like that and then falls off reflect poor client settings or a poor connection?

Log-on

I've a question.

I get speeds off nearly 2mbps at certain times off the day then the rest off the time it seems to be limited to 200 or 300kbps at max,
Assuming my config it set up right which to be honest it is the problem must be ntl traffic shaping or contention right? if it was contention would i still get high results on my speed tests but terrible speeds downloading?

MikeyNT

Hi Folks,

I've got an Eircom 3Mb link with the standard Netopia 2247 Wireless router.

My problem - uTorrent even at the recommended settings totally chokes internet browsing making it unusable while torrents are switched on and I get nowhere near the download speeds I should be getting but I can live with that for now. It's the internet browsing speed is my main issue.

My question - is there a way to create a tunnel of sorts on the router to guarantee that web browsing (port 80) gets it's own dedicated chunk of bandwidth at all times so it will always perform ok while torrents are on?

Thanks.

L31mr0d

You have 3 options:

1. Cap your upload speed
2. Disable seeding altogether
3. Stop being a filthy pirate... aarrrrgh!!!

jor el

With utorrent off, is your upload speed good or bad? Maxing (or close to) the upload will choke the download. Sounds like you either have it set too high, or your upload is poorer that you'd expect for that package.

3Mbps eircom has 384kbps upload.

vibe666

chilly wrote: »

Lately I've found my utorrent speed spiking up to around 600kbps for the first 5 mins or so and then dropping off to around 80kbps and staying at around that rate for the rest of the download.

Does the fact that it spikes like that and then falls off reflect poor client settings or a poor connection?

it's not uncommon for that to happen with public trackers that would usually have more leechers than seeders.

if you think about it, when you start downloading a torrent, EVERYONE (seeders and leechers) has more of that torrent downloaded than you do, so you can pretty much download from everyone, but the more of the file you get, the less people have more than you that you can download from so the slower it can download.

it's supposed to actively manage that by sharing the least available parts of a torrent more to even everything out, but it doesn't always work, particularly when a large number of leechers hit and run.

Log-on wrote: »

I've a question.

I get speeds off nearly 2mbps at certain times off the day then the rest off the time it seems to be limited to 200 or 300kbps at max,
Assuming my config it set up right which to be honest it is the problem must be ntl traffic shaping or contention right? if it was contention would i still get high results on my speed tests but terrible speeds downloading?

i was talking to someone about this today and he is convinced that UPC ARE traffic shaping, but that they have the tools to do it selectively either per user or on a block of users on a congested part of the network.

he's a CCNA so i trust him to know how to configure everything his end so at this stage i'm inclined to believe him, particularly as there are a lot of people quoting a very definite figure of 300kbps download speed on torrents.

can someone who thinks they are being throttled please do me (and everyone I guess:)) a favour and hop back to my post on page 53 of this thread and run a speedtest at www.speedtest.net and then try and download that opensolaris ISO and let us know the results?

MikeyNT

jor el wrote: »

With utorrent off, is your upload speed good or bad? Maxing (or close to) the upload will choke the download. Sounds like you either have it set too high, or your upload is poorer that you'd expect for that package.

3Mbps eircom has 384kbps upload.

Yup 3Mbs/384Kbs, I followed all instructions and set the upload cap to 80% of max which I think is 38k/sec....are you saying by reducing this upload cap, I could improve my download performance and more importantly my internet browsing?

BTW, with torrents off, internet performance is just fine all round.

bazh23

vibe666 wrote: »

i was talking to someone about this today and he is convinced that UPC ARE traffic shaping, but that they have the tools to do it selectively either per user or on a block of users on a congested part of the network.

there are a lot of people quoting a very definite figure of 300kbps download speed on torrents.

can someone who thinks they are being throttled please do me (and everyone I guess:)) a favour and hop back to my post on page 53 of this thread and run a speedtest at www.speedtest.net and then try and download that opensolaris ISO and let us know the results?

I did that test and downloaded that file.
I'm with UPC 10mb/1mb package and using Utorrent.
The speeds I got from downloading that file varied hugely. It peaked at approx. 850kB/s and dropped to around 550kB/s for most of the time... falling to 400kB/s for some of it. It connected to 82 seeds and had no other torrents running and no other apps interfering.

Ran several tests on Speedtest.net and again results varied hugely. For download speed, got a max of 900kB/s on one test, but mostly between 500-600kB/s on the other tests.

Is there any chance someone in UPC can switch off the traffic shaping on my line? I don't abuse the service or download any illegal files. Why should I be penalized for using a perfectly legitimate software to download/share perfectly legal copywrite-free files?

DECEiFER

MikeyNT wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I've got an Eircom 3Mb link with the standard Netopia 2247 Wireless router.

My problem - uTorrent even at the recommended settings totally chokes internet browsing making it unusable while torrents are switched on and I get nowhere near the download speeds I should be getting but I can live with that for now. It's the internet browsing speed is my main issue.

My question - is there a way to create a tunnel of sorts on the router to guarantee that web browsing (port 80) gets it's own dedicated chunk of bandwidth at all times so it will always perform ok while torrents are on?

Thanks.

If capping your torrent upload speed doesn't work (you can cap as low as 6KB/s without being penalized on the download speed by uTorrent), then consider these...

In the Peers tab, right-click on any IP, and uncheck "Resolve IPs". That'll save a bit of bandwidth. However, I doubt it'll fix the problem completely. Read on...

Go into Options>Preferences>Advanced. Scroll down until you see net.max_halfopen. The default is 8 TCP/IP connections, and the max Windows deals with is 10 (from XP SP2 and all SP's and Windows versions since). You can get a patched tcpip.sys for your Windows version (Google it), or you can lower the value from the default 8 to say, 5. See if that improves your situation. Lowering this helped me before, as I wasn't willing to patch a system file. But, loads of people have patched it all around the world, so it should be OK. It's up to you!

_Whimsical_

It may be old news here but I recently came across a tool for testing if your ISP is shaping your download or upload torrent traffic. It's here : http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest.php

It may be worth a try for anyone who thinks their traffic is being throttled.

It runs a test on a port commonly used for torrent traffic. If you want to change the port it tests then the instructions are below . I didn't understand them but someone here might!

While running this test you can, next to your ip in the url address bar, change the ports to others during a short interrupt and re-run the test on ports of your choice (others than the standard BitTorrent ports).

MikeyNT

DECEiFER wrote: »

If capping your torrent upload speed doesn't work (you can cap as low as 6KB/s without being penalized on the download speed by uTorrent), then consider these...

In the Peers tab, right-click on any IP, and uncheck "Resolve IPs". That'll save a bit of bandwidth. However, I doubt it'll fix the problem completely. Read on...

Go into Options>Preferences>Advanced. Scroll down until you see net.max_halfopen. The default is 8 TCP/IP connections, and the max Windows deals with is 10 (from XP SP2 and all SP's and Windows versions since). You can get a patched tcpip.sys for your Windows version (Google it), or you can lower the value from the default 8 to say, 5. See if that improves your situation. Lowering this helped me before, as I wasn't willing to patch a system file. But, loads of people have patched it all around the world, so it should be OK. It's up to you!

Thanks Decifer and to others for the advice. It looks like the big culprit was indeed the upload limit I had. I almost halved it to 20k/s and there was a notable improvement in web performance and oddly enough the downloads seem to improve also.

I tried the other tweaks also and it's all good stuff!

Happy again! Thanks

subfreq

I have been able to get hold of a Linksys Router and wondered if anyone knows of a guide for flashing it from a Mac?

I have checked and it is compatible with other firmwares.

Lots of guides for doing this on a PC but can't find a comprehensive one for the mac.

I hope this post is considered on topic as I am sure there are others reading this thread who will also want to mod a Linksys router as part of bypassing the Cisco brick.

DECEiFER

subfreq wrote: »

I have been able to get hold of a Linksys Router and wondered if anyone knows of a guide for flashing it from a Mac?

I have checked and it is compatible with other firmwares.

Lots of guides for doing this on a PC but can't find a comprehensive one for the mac.

I hope this post is considered on topic as I am sure there are others reading this thread who will also want to mod a Linksys router as part of bypassing the Cisco brick.

Wouldn't you just do it from the Web UI like on a PC by going to the router's IP address and looking for the Upgrade Firmware option? You download the firmware from the Linksys site as normal, and upload it from your local disk to the router as you always would.

bazh23

subfreq wrote: »

I have been able to get hold of a Linksys Router and wondered if anyone knows of a guide for flashing it from a Mac?

I have checked and it is compatible with other firmwares.

Lots of guides for doing this on a PC but can't find a comprehensive one for the mac.

I hope this post is considered on topic as I am sure there are others reading this thread who will also want to mod a Linksys router as part of bypassing the Cisco brick.

Have you figured out how to bypass the Cisco "brick" ??
If so, i'd love to know.... as i'm sure lots of others would too... I have been through the Web UI settings page and can't see how you can bypass the router....

mehmeh12

Hi

I dont mean to be smart or anything but can someone tell me what precautions i have to take when i use bittorrent-by this i mean what i should do to not get caught filesharing etc

subfreq

Sorry to clarify.

I am going to leave my Cisco Brick connected as a modem and plan to route the traffic through the Linksys one with a modified firmware.

The mod is not an update from the Linksys website but a process of pushing 3rd party open source firmware(in this case dd-wrt) onto the hardware.

All works and OK to do but there is a level of complexity to it on PC. I am sure you can do it on mac I just wondered if anyone here had or knew of a guide.

bazh23

subfreq wrote: »

Sorry to clarify.

I am going to leave my Cisco Brick connected as a modem and plan to route the traffic through the Linksys one with a modified firmware.

The mod is not an update from the Linksys website but a process of pushing 3rd party open source firmware(in this case dd-wrt) onto the hardware.

All works and OK to do but there is a level of complexity to it on PC. I am sure you can do it on mac I just wondered if anyone here had or knew of a guide.

Right, understood. But how do you actually bypass the Cisco? In other words, how do you switch off the "router" and just use it as a modem? can you please explain, because i've been through the settings pages of the Cisco router and cannot figure out which setting to change in order to just use it as a modem....

Tea_Bag

bazh23 wrote: »

Right, understood. But how do you actually bypass the Cisco? In other words, how do you switch off the "router" and just use it as a modem? can you please explain, because i've been through the settings pages of the Cisco router and cannot figure out which setting to change in order to just use it as a modem....

go to

Setup

Wireless - Basic

Access Point


Disable

Log-on

doesn't that just turn off wireless? or even set it up for wireless bridging? and not via Ethernet?

Tea_Bag

Log-on wrote: »

doesn't that just turn off wireless? or even set it up for wireless bridging? and not via Ethernet?

yes, but isnt that what you want? ethernet still needs to work in order to be used as a modem, even if its only to the router.

im typing as we speak connected to a Netgear router, hooked up to the Cisco crap, and my Internet speed has increased dramatically, expecially with torrents and youtube buffering. no more drops in connection either.

what you want is to replace the cisco brick? UPC says it cant be done, so im guessing MAC address block.

Log-on

really?? well i'm open to being wrong i just thought that wifi bridging was totally separate etc.

sorry excuse the 'dumbness' but how do i connect my router then to the modem in bridged mode??

Log-on

Tea_Bag wrote: »

yes, but isnt that what you want? ethernet still needs to work in order to be used as a modem, even if its only to the router.

im typing as we speak connected to a Netgear router, hooked up to the Cisco crap, and my Internet speed has increased dramatically, expecially with torrents and youtube buffering. no more drops in connection either.

what you want is to replace the cisco brick? UPC says it cant be done, so im guessing MAC address block.

Can you tell us the settings for it?

spektr

Tea_Bag wrote: »

yes, but isnt that what you want? ethernet still needs to work in order to be used as a modem, even if its only to the router.

im typing as we speak connected to a Netgear router, hooked up to the Cisco crap, and my Internet speed has increased dramatically, expecially with torrents and youtube buffering. no more drops in connection either.

what you want is to replace the cisco brick? UPC says it cant be done, so im guessing MAC address block.

yes, few details would be nice!
so you turned off wireless option in Cisco and connected Netgear to it via ethernet, right?
what is the model of Netgear you are using?