BitTorrent “Uses Very Little Bandwidth”?

Written by Ernesto on December 29, 2006 

I decided to take a look at the FAQ on BitTorrent.com, because it’s never too late to learn. And I must admit, I stumbled upon a very interesting piece of information.

BitTorrentOne of the common questions that people new to BitTorrent ask is, Can I stop the BitTorrent client from uploading? The answer is of course, No. BitTorrent’s motto is “Give and ye shall receive”, so you won’t be able to download anything if you don’t upload.

However, the folks at BitTorrent.com added a couple of lines that I had to read a couple of times before I could say that I didn’t understand a bit of it. Here’s what they say:

You can minimize the amount of bandwidth used for uploading in the program settings, but not stop it. If you are concerned about bandwidth usage, don’t be–BitTorrent uses very little bandwidth because of the “seeding” technology.

Very little bandwidth? Compared to what? In general BitTorrent uses twice as much bandwidth as a direct http or ftp downloads. Everybody is forced to share some bandwidth, that’s what makes it the most leecher resistant P2P protocol.

And what has seeding seeding technology got to do with saving bandwidth?

Anyway, I was totally confused. Even more so because BitTorrent.com indexes some high quality videos that take up 1GB for a 5 minute clip. Very little bandwidth you say?

Previously: 12,000 German Filesharers to be Sued in 2007

Next: TorrentPod Episode 19

6 Responses

1 Dec 29, 2006 at 13:24 by Nebojsa

U should ask them this by mail, i wonder what would they answer ??

2 Dec 29, 2006 at 16:11 by Ant Bryan

Confusing. They mean bandwidth for the publisher, that has to be paid for (ftp/http server), as opposed to bandwidth in general.

3 Dec 29, 2006 at 17:20 by Ernesto

[quote comment="33417"]Confusing. They mean bandwidth for the publisher, that has to be paid for (ftp/http server), as opposed to bandwidth in general.[/quote]
Yeah, you’re right.. that’s it.
But that’s not really clear when you look at the question.

4 Dec 29, 2006 at 19:04 by logictheo

Hmm, it seems they prefer practical advice as a priority instead of explaining with detail what they mean. Sending them an e-mail might help them refine their answer.

5 Jan 01, 2007 at 09:55 by Heliologue

…and it’ll solve every problem you have!

6 Jan 20, 2007 at 01:00 by Kibbles_'n_Bits

One of their lawyers or an economist must have helped them write those FAQ’s; so…

black is white and white is black.

Isn’t doublespeak wonderful?

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