Speed up your torrents
Written by Ernesto on November 30, 2005Help! BitTorrent is slow… This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions I get about BitTorrent. Unfortunately there’s not some kind of magic trick that makes your torrents go through the roof. But you could take some simple steps to optimize your speeds.
1. Cap your upload (most important)
Limit your upload speed to approximately 80 percent of your maximum upload rate. You can check your upload speed over here (never trust your isp). Once you know your maximum upload speed, change the max upload (to 80%) speed in your torrent client’s preferences.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone should share as much as possible, but if your upload rate reached it’s max, your download rate suffers significantly.
2. Hack the max TCP connections
If you’re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This seriously hurts your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to a high amount of ip numbers. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it also cripples your torrent downloads.
A nice way to fix this is to download this patch, it allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more on this).
3. Check seeds and peers
A simple tip, but o so important. Always look for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more seeds (compared to peers) the better (in general). So 50 seeds and 50 peers is better than 500 seeds and 1000 peers. So, be selective.
4. Change the default port.
By default, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999. BitTorrent accounts for a lot of the total internet traffic (1/3), so isp’s like to limit the connection offered on the these ports. So, you should change these to another range. Good clients allow you to do this, just choose anything you like. If you’re behind a router, make sure you have the ports forwarded or UPnP enabled.
5. Disable Windows Firewall
It sucks. Windows Firewall hates P2P and often leads a life of it’s own. So disable it and get yourself a decent firewall, Kerio or Zone Alarm for example.
Last but not least… Buy a faster connection…
Read more on optimizing your BitTorrent Speed.
Here’s a list of 20 BitTorrent tips and tricks.
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You Guys Don’t Turn Off your Firewall on windows Xp!!!! You’ll thank me one day. But If you choose not to listen then the popo will be at your door. trust me!!!
Lo people,
I use bitlord 1.1
Right problem i have is i found some guides on how to increase download speed but you have to open ports by port forwarding an the guide i looked at was for a linksys router but i use a bt voyager 205 so i could not find how to do it. Could someone please give me some steps on how to. Also any other setting or stuff i may need to do to optimise downloads using bitlord. Perhaps good firewalls to use, security suites good an bad.
Cheers, please reply
Hey Ernesto: I am experiencing flucuating Byte rates within Azureus. I can not hold a steady rate, it constantly flucuates from ~120kB/s down to 0 kB/s. Typically, it will stay at 0 kB/s for 10-20 secs. then start to climb, hold for about 5 secs at 50 - 100 kB/s then gradually shoot back to 0, then repeat the cycle. Is this normal? If not, any suggestions? It is consistant with every download, regardless of seeds vs. leeches. I am using Azureus with a speakeasy.net tested Download speed of 8600 kbite = 1075 kByte/sec and an Upload speed of 529 kbite/sec = 66k Bytes/sec. I am on port 1720, and have followed all your recommended ratios. I have windows set to handle 100 connections. Thanks in advance and great work!
the max tcp patch duznt work on my comp!!!! an error box comes up and sez: “Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item” how can this be when i am the system admin??? also a McAfee dialog box comes up saying “McAfee ActiveShield has found a suspect file on your computer. McAfee strongly recommends that you scan your computer now” email me with suggestions at rollinondubzzz@hotmail.com … thanx in advance
qns: isit possible to open forward different ports for my utorrent client.. n if so would dat help to increase download speeds.. also.. are there any ‘best’ ports to forward..
thanks in advance ^^
__________________________________________________________________________________
still a noob at this -_-!
u r all idiots.
im 10 inches closer than u
TEST
All you need to know about setting up your router properly:
http://portforward.com/
now go do some research.
Dude, thx about the router thing been expirencing 100KB download speeds all this time but when i fowarded my port i got 200KB + thanks alot.
Uttorent is great.
1 reson why to download it, ( if u have bitcommet dont uninstall it keep it)
Uttorent is very light so when im handling big apllications mostly like VB6,frontpage or Adboe at the same time ( not very new pc) i need all the memory i can get. =]
Nice Guide. boosted my download speed by up to 100KBs
I am currently downloading some south park episodes and it seems i can only get a max of about 50Kb/s..
When i download music CD`s i can get a max of over 100Kb/s.
Reason: More people are downloading movies then moving them away from bitcomet so that they don`t lagg at all..
they won`t leave the files up so that they become a seed.
very annoying.
The seed/Peer ratio is pretty bad for some torrents.. no one can really help it though.. Unless everyone helps in their own ways. When your done downloading a torrent, Leave the file where it is and leave your computer on for as long as possible.. it helps other people download the same thing because you become a seed..
and also please raise the amount of Kb`s your allowing another person to upload per second.. people are being reallt scummy and lowering it to 1 kb/s.. making it near-impossible to download anything off them.
Sometimes this is a large problem.
If there are (for example) 5 seeds and 20 Peers.. you`ll have low kb/s
Its normal from what i`ve seen and i`ve been using BitComet for 1-2 days..
but downloading like crazy..
anyways
that can explain why some people have done “EVERYTHING POSSIBLE” and they still have low kb/s.
Not Enough Seeds.
hi thanks for the guide now i have installed the patch my internet has messed up it takes quite a long time to go to diffrent websites is der anyway of uninstalin da patch?
Hello everyone. I need A great deal of help with my torrent. The funny thing is when i download music its at normal speeds 50+KB which is fine. But when i download a Movie it stays at 10KB at most. Ive reconfigured everything, i’ve removed my router. Name it, Ive done it. PLESE HELP. My Email is Mark_man5@hotmail.com
How can i use the torrent client over the firewall? I want to use any torrent client at work in a broadband network protected with ISA firewall. I have no acces to firewall settings.
lol diz iz good informtion :)
i used the patch no problem and noticed a sharp increase in seed/peer ratio and speed as well also capping ur upload to 75-80% percent of ur client default helps
also i uses sygate for firewall and avast4 for antivirus so when im d/l torrents i set firewall to allow all because avast has an on access scanner with a net shield i know works so no worries about security
[quote comment="26467"]How can i use the torrent client over the firewall? I want to use any torrent client at work in a broadband network protected with ISA firewall. I have no acces to firewall settings.[/quote]
unfortunately there is nothing u can do unless u cn specify open ports thru the firewall..u can do this with an active port scanner and the network server ip then specify ports in ur torrent client if it allows it
[quote comment="28905"]i used the patch no problem and noticed a sharp increase in seed/peer ratio and speed as well also capping ur upload to 75-80% percent of ur client default helps
also i uses sygate for firewall and avast4 for antivirus so when im d/l torrents i set firewall to allow all because avast has an on access scanner with a net shield i know works so no worries about security[/quote]
Sygate was discontinued after symantec bought it, this means there has been no updates for sometime and will not be any in the future. Although this was a great firewall in it’s day it should no longer be used as it is unsafe.
i was working my ass off to try the port forwarding thingy. i followed the instructions in portforward.com.one of the steps requires me to have a static ip.the problem i tried and failed configuring a static ip.then i checked my subscription and found out that the package i subscribed doent include a static ip.is that the reason i can get a static ip manually?if not,what can i do?
it doesn’t work please someone help me, i will give away any music video that i have if someone help me
You state ‘Do not use UseNeXT’
But I have found it to be fantastic. They have almost everything you could want on there. ALL files are split rar with par2’s. My stable download speed is 300k on a 2.3mb connection syncd at 2.9mb.
I dont mind paying about £9 for 20gb downloads / month at that speed!! Nice!
Give the free one a try, MAX bandwidth 3Gb for free. Torrents are so low in comparison! Plus… It’s 100% Anon!
Matt
this was really helpfull.. it did speed up my download a bit, but more importantly it was stable no more sudden surges of 0kb/s.. hehe thanks!!
cheers!
where do u change the maximum number of connections in bittorrent, its not in the settings, can’t find it, and is Utorrent maybe faster than bittorrent?
Guys Plz Help me , i’ve got internet at my office (broadband 128 kb) but it’s connected to all computer at my office , if download using download manager it’s fast, but when im using bittorrent it’s very slow (1kb/s) T_T …. tell me how to config. my bittorrent to download faster …. plzzzzzzz
( NB: I’m at Indonesia )
THX’S
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