Utorrent oddities; up/down/up/down...?!
Discussion
Hi all
Apologies for another torrent based thread, but I'm at my wits end now.
You all very kindly helped me here; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... but now I know what that problem was (speed limiting by the provider; 20kb/s up until about 9pm then it goes up, all good).
HOWEVER...I then had another problem. It just "appeared". I'm fairly sure I didn't update anything or change anything, but all of a sudden my download speeds were ~0.3kb/s. I just couldn't get it higher. I tried port forwarding, I tried using bittorrent rather than utorrent, all the same problem.
Then, my g/f's brother suggested it may be firewall related. Odd that it had never reared it's head before but I turned off the McAfee firewall (and left on the windows one) and hey presto, it worked!
For a little while (couple of hours) I was getting 150kb/s. Result
I exited utorrent, did some other things, loaded it up again and now the problem (still with mcafee firewall turned off) rears it's head. I turn on Utorrent, it goes right up to 150kb/s instantly (almost) and then slowly but surely goes down down down down to <1kb/s.
I can't work out what it is and it's driving me nuts?! I thought I had it sussed last night with the firewall thing but left it on overnight to return this morning to the 1kb/s download speed.
I've read the the FAQ's and things, re-done the portforwarding, turned off mcafee firewall, turned off windows firewall too but it had worked at one point with it on so it's not that, and utorrent is int he exceptions list.
Does anyone have any ideas what to try?!
Much appreciated oh friendly lovely people
Apologies for another torrent based thread, but I'm at my wits end now.
You all very kindly helped me here; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... but now I know what that problem was (speed limiting by the provider; 20kb/s up until about 9pm then it goes up, all good).
HOWEVER...I then had another problem. It just "appeared". I'm fairly sure I didn't update anything or change anything, but all of a sudden my download speeds were ~0.3kb/s. I just couldn't get it higher. I tried port forwarding, I tried using bittorrent rather than utorrent, all the same problem.
Then, my g/f's brother suggested it may be firewall related. Odd that it had never reared it's head before but I turned off the McAfee firewall (and left on the windows one) and hey presto, it worked!
For a little while (couple of hours) I was getting 150kb/s. Result
I exited utorrent, did some other things, loaded it up again and now the problem (still with mcafee firewall turned off) rears it's head. I turn on Utorrent, it goes right up to 150kb/s instantly (almost) and then slowly but surely goes down down down down to <1kb/s.
I can't work out what it is and it's driving me nuts?! I thought I had it sussed last night with the firewall thing but left it on overnight to return this morning to the 1kb/s download speed.
I've read the the FAQ's and things, re-done the portforwarding, turned off mcafee firewall, turned off windows firewall too but it had worked at one point with it on so it's not that, and utorrent is int he exceptions list.
Does anyone have any ideas what to try?!
Much appreciated oh friendly lovely people
tony what the problem is is because its on cable. because of how cable works when you hit the upload cap it will kill your download.
How we get around this is by caping it our self below your caped upload.
set you global maximum upload to around 11k and then slowly go higher with it until it starts affecting you download.
then you find where too set it.
How we get around this is by caping it our self below your caped upload.
set you global maximum upload to around 11k and then slowly go higher with it until it starts affecting you download.
then you find where too set it.
Edited by holborn on Wednesday 28th November 18:46
holborn said:
tony what the problem is is because its on cable. because of how cable works when you hit the upload cap it will kill your download.
How we get around this is by caping it our self below your caped upload.
set you global maximum upload to around 11k and then slowly go higher with it until it starts affecting you download.
then you find where too set it.
Wow great tip, just shot up from 4kb/s to 160kb/s How we get around this is by caping it our self below your caped upload.
set you global maximum upload to around 11k and then slowly go higher with it until it starts affecting you download.
then you find where too set it.
Edited by holborn on Wednesday 28th November 18:46
Also read on the web, swap the port to 55641 (for short term speed)
Edited by Shadytree on Wednesday 28th November 20:23
Have a guess at what point I changed it to 11
Thanks very much! HOPEFULLY, it will stay like that high and not go back again. I have had it look fixed and then just die next time I go back to it before though, so fingers crossed.
Do those graphs from throught he night (the post above this) look like the throttling that you mentioned?
Thanks all, this just might have been it...!!!
Noooooooooooo
It's done it again?!
This is the speed log of through the night. What's happening at the drop off point? I return this morning to, again, 0.3kb/s ?!
Am I reaching some sort of download limit or something?
Interestingly - I downloaded exactly 1gb. So perhaps there's a limit set by the provider?
It's done it again?!
This is the speed log of through the night. What's happening at the drop off point? I return this morning to, again, 0.3kb/s ?!
Am I reaching some sort of download limit or something?
Interestingly - I downloaded exactly 1gb. So perhaps there's a limit set by the provider?
Have you turned on encryption? If so, you might well be seeing the fact that the vast majority of peers can't talk to you and thus everyone running encryption goes at a slower speed.
Of course if you're not running it... you'll walk straight in to your ISP's packet filtering and thus a brick wall.
So... heh, try it without/with as applicable and see what happens.
Of course if you're not running it... you'll walk straight in to your ISP's packet filtering and thus a brick wall.
So... heh, try it without/with as applicable and see what happens.
Encryption is on 
But the fact that I was getting - at one point 235kb/s - with it on does that not mean that's not the issue?
Looking at the graph I poasted this morning, you can see the upload limit that I had set (the red line) and that it reached it a few times and then when the download dropped off so did the upload. Surely if my download limit had been reached it would still be uploading?
It seems like, strangely, it's just dropped the connection!? But, more oddly, I downloaded exactly 1gb.
I will just have to try it again tonight and see what happens
But the fact that I was getting - at one point 235kb/s - with it on does that not mean that's not the issue?
Looking at the graph I poasted this morning, you can see the upload limit that I had set (the red line) and that it reached it a few times and then when the download dropped off so did the upload. Surely if my download limit had been reached it would still be uploading?
It seems like, strangely, it's just dropped the connection!? But, more oddly, I downloaded exactly 1gb.
I will just have to try it again tonight and see what happens
are you on virgin media by anychance are you ?
If so they are doing this with both the uploads and downloads.
The UK's largest cable operator, Virgin Media (formerly ntl:telewest), has finally introduced its long threatened traffic management policy. The move won't come as any surprise to long time customers and has been on the cards for awhile:
To make sure our service is fair for everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm till midnight) for customers who are downloading an unusually large amount at these times.
Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, just 5% of customers were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.
And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 3GB, just during peak times.
Broadband Size: M
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: M package download at least 350MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 1Mb, with their upload speed set to 128Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
Broadband Size: L
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: L package download at least 750MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 2Mb, with their upload speed set to 192Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
Broadband Size: XL
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: XL package download at least 3GB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to 256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traf...
Naturally the policy will cause mixed reactions, though it very much depends on whether you're one of those likely to be impacted or not.
Virgin makes no bones about the fact that it can adjust how traffic shaping is applied in the future, should circumstances require.
If so there's only one way around there traffic shaping. but that only works if your useing a cloned modem.
If you are its a simple case of swap mac and blast away again.
If so they are doing this with both the uploads and downloads.
The UK's largest cable operator, Virgin Media (formerly ntl:telewest), has finally introduced its long threatened traffic management policy. The move won't come as any surprise to long time customers and has been on the cards for awhile:
To make sure our service is fair for everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm till midnight) for customers who are downloading an unusually large amount at these times.
Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, just 5% of customers were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.
And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 3GB, just during peak times.
Broadband Size: M
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: M package download at least 350MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 1Mb, with their upload speed set to 128Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
Broadband Size: L
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: L package download at least 750MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 2Mb, with their upload speed set to 192Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
Broadband Size: XL
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: XL package download at least 3GB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to 256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traf...
Naturally the policy will cause mixed reactions, though it very much depends on whether you're one of those likely to be impacted or not.
Virgin makes no bones about the fact that it can adjust how traffic shaping is applied in the future, should circumstances require.
If so there's only one way around there traffic shaping. but that only works if your useing a cloned modem.
If you are its a simple case of swap mac and blast away again.
Honestly, I don't know out provider; my dad's finding out for me today as his company supplies it.
Odd though that I downloaded EXACTLY 1gb before it halted, when up til then I had really good download speeds (thanks to your suggestion of the upload speed limit - as you can see by the red line on the most recent graph).
I'll run it again tonight and see how we get on. If it does it two nights in a row at the same time etc, that will explain it. 1gb a night is ok though, but just awnt to know why.
Thanks a lot for your help - much appreciated
Odd though that I downloaded EXACTLY 1gb before it halted, when up til then I had really good download speeds (thanks to your suggestion of the upload speed limit - as you can see by the red line on the most recent graph).
I'll run it again tonight and see how we get on. If it does it two nights in a row at the same time etc, that will explain it. 1gb a night is ok though, but just awnt to know why.
Thanks a lot for your help - much appreciated
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