Gaming How come my torrent speeds have these swings?

[JJBro1]

One minute I'll download something at say 60 kbs for like 10 min and then all of a sudden I'm downloading at 21 or even 17. When I turn it off and redownload the same thing happens. Why does this happen?

 

[da_head]

could be router/modem or firewall issues. have u properly portforwarded the necessary ports?

 

[fateastray]

Or the connection to your peers and seeds

 

[JJBro1]

could be router/modem or firewall issues. have u properly portforwarded the necessary ports?

yes i have portforwarded and i made sure that windows firewall accepts utorrent.

 

[kobykaan]

It could and most probably IS your ISP packet/bandwith shaping to allow traffic flow for ALL users in your area or connected to the same MODEM/connection at their end!

A lot of ISP's are doing this lately its supposed to give everyone FAIR USE of their internet ... it will be filtered/shaped at certain times of the day (this information will be in your ISP details /Terms of Service) T.O.S.

At these points in the day torrents and P2P will start off FAST full speed and then gradually reduce at a more stable lower rate and then later on in the evening or overnight will return to MAX/FULL speed

Its becoming common practice with most ISP's now to shape/filter heavy users!


suggest CALL YOUR ISP and ask AM I BEING PACKET SHAPED my internet use is ERRATIC

or read your T.O.S.

 

[rscarrab]

@kobykaan

Ye, im pretty sure you hit the nail on the head there.

I'm with "IBB" who i believe traffic shape. I asked them if they 'throttle' the connection and i was told "no". Unless 'throttle' refer's to a more aggressive form of traffic shaping (though i believe i used it in the right context) than i see no need to re-question the sneaky bastards. I didn't believe him though as i had spent about a year on & off wondering wtf is going on with my BTT speeds.

@JJBro1

I use encryption for my torrents (Have you tried using that? Any effects?) though i'm pretty sure the ISP's can figure out what your doing without just looking at your packet headers. The sheer amount of network strain coming from my account for instance, has --i'd say-- been the culprit, as i try to hit a ratio of 2-3 on normal torrents and much higher ratio's for less seeded ones.

I believe in giving back but unfortunately the ISP's are really putting the pressure on which will promote leeching. Which is the complete opposite to the main principle idea behind bittorrent.

If ISP's were to adopt a more advanced approach -- possibly as their grasp of bittorrent throttling becomes better refined-- than you could see bittorrent (the protocol itself) come under attack. A slow, drawn out attack that happens over a long period of time. That's complete speculation though.

Im not OTT when it comes to downloading content anyway but if i keep it to a minimum i never have any problems. Im very selective and don't "over-download", i do this to keep the spotlight off me since i've had the suspicion my ISP has been shaping for a while now.

Im glad you brought this up! This is a hot topic for me since i have a 4mb connection and it's a real kick in the crotch.

EDIT:

Encrypting traffic and using & forwading port 80 works for me, 70-80 % of the time. Though i can tell my traffic is being shaped at times i personally believe it all depends on how much you download... After a few days of downloads leave bittorrent alone for a day or two and you might get those high speeds again.

 

[jaxxster]

Where you downloading from? Public or private?

 

[kobykaan]

doubt encryption would work they just go on how much load flow of data your putting on your line/connection they just traffic shape/throttle/slow whatever you wanna call it

I know they DON'T SHAPE most HTTP downloads or usage ... I did look into a browser based torrent client but didn't really come up with much at the time I just live with my packet shaping ... I just schedule the most usage to be done in their what they call OFF PEAK periods usually over night when most users are sleeping

Where you downloading from? Public or private?

makes no difference public or private if the ISP is throttling/shaping the bandwidth used ... they don't look at what your doing as such rather the data throughput and slow it or 'shape' it as they call it the minute you hammer your connection too much!

 

[Pyrofyr]

You could always just get USENET for most of the bigger stuff, thus avoiding as many problems?

I have Bellsouth/AT&T (Known for throttling >: [) and no longer have the problems after swapping my modem.

 

[enarky]

For traffic shaping ISPs the new uTorrent has a new circumvention method: UTP. It's uTorrents own implementation of the TCP protocol in UDP that can't be filtered the same way as TCP. It's already in uTorrent 1.8.2 but switched off as standard and it's fully active in the 1.9 betas.

Preferences > Advanced, set bt.transp_disposition to:

uTorrent 1.9
255 - both TCP and uTP (default)
10 - uTP only
5 - TCP only

uTorrent 1.8.2
0: attempt only TCP (defaullt)
1: attempt both TCP and uTP, drop TCP if uTP is successful
2: attempt uTP if supported, TCP otherwise
3: attempt only uTP

I doubt that's the OPs problem, though. Sounds to me like he's either throttling his uploads to the wrong speed or he's not throttling at all. Or he's downloading stuff that's just not very well seeded.

 

[triassic911]

You could always just get USENET for most of the bigger stuff, thus avoiding as many problems?

I have Bellsouth/AT&T (Known for throttling >: [) and no longer have the problems after swapping my modem.

This. Seeing as you download pirated stuff anyway, at least pay the $10-$20 for the service.

 

[enarky]

[...] Seeing as you download pirated stuff anyway, at least pay the $10-$20 for the service.

Uh, no? If you're not smart enough to get the stuff you pirate for free, you shouldn't be bothering with piracy in the first place. Paying for copied stuff is just low and thinking of that as necessary is stupid.

 

[triassic911]

You aren't paying directly for pirated stuff. You pay for a service that maxes out your bandwidth with high speed downloads. No need to rely on direct peers for your downloads.

Enlighten yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroups

 

[sweenish]

newsgroups are worth the money if you're serious about pirating things.

unless you're already in the uber-hard to get into private trackers.

and as it was stated, newsgroups are FAST. you'd have to be renting a seedbox to match those those speeds, and seedboxes are way more expensive.

 

[SirSweeps]

Sounds more like you have your global connections or your peer per torrent ratios too high (surprised no one here has mentioned it) ... all of which put a tremendous strain on your bandwidth if set to high and would explain why it bottle necks over time ... just remember that its not all about your upload and download speed, but more about how many connections in total. As far as isp throttling I can tell you that Time Warner and AT&T at peak hours, throttles down about 10% at max (I don't agree that they have the right to throttle my connection but all in all its not that bad) ...

 

[sweenish]

enarky did touch on that

utorrent is great, with its speed guide.