Why Are Torrents So Slow

[Hog Head]

I have an alleged 3 MB service with TT&T and understand why I never see the advertised download speed.

What is puzzling however is why torrents are sooooooooo slow. Right now for example it is at a blistering 29.6kB download with very occasional bursts to the high double digits.

Are they limiting torrent speed, is something else going on and what can I do about it?

[beano2274]

What torrent downloader are you using (Utorrent, Bittorrent)?

Have you port forwarded?

What speed have you set for downloads?

What about opening extra ports (max half net open - 50)

Many things to consider.

I use TOT 2 MB and got speeds of 150kb/s earlier, also depends on the seeders.

[Supernova]

Torrent download speeds are dependent on several factors: number of seeds/peers, BT client settings etc. First, test your connection by downloading a well-seeded torrent. You should be able to achieve (close to) full speed within a minute or so...

Alternately, you could also test to see if your ISP is manipulating bittorrent traffic by running the Glasnost BitTorrent test.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Supernova

[sammycic]

If you are using TT&T wait till midnight tonight and should be able to download at max speed. If not it will be early monday morning before you get full speed.

maxnet definately throttle and being the weekend the internet shops are packed.

merry xmas.

[wimpy]

If you are using TT&T wait till midnight tonight and should be able to download at max speed. If not it will be early monday morning before you get full speed.

maxnet definately throttle and being the weekend the internet shops are packed.

merry xmas.

Maxnet Premier in not throttled.

[MikeWill]

Torrent download speeds are dependent on several factors: number of seeds/peers, BT client settings etc. First, test your connection by downloading a well-seeded torrent. You should be able to achieve (close to) full speed within a minute or so...

Alternately, you could also test to see if your ISP is manipulating bittorrent traffic by running the Glasnost BitTorrent test.

I'm on 2.5 MB TRUE. Tried Glasnost and got an error. I don't really understand its meaning...

An error occured while measuring your host (ppp-58-8-195-233.revip2.asianet.co.th - 58.8.195.233):

Our tool was unable to measure your link

An error report was automatically sent to us. If you have any additional information that might help us debugging this problem, please email us. Thank you.

For details on our research on broadband networks please refer to our network transparency project webpage

In case you have questions about this tool or our research, please contact us:

[Supernova]

I'm on 2.5 MB TRUE. Tried Glasnost and got an error. I don't really understand its meaning...

Btw, this is a java-based test and requires the Sun JRE plug-in.

Jasmine Internet 2MB.

No problems running the test on my end.

I wonder if other TRUE subscribers are having the same problem?

[MikeWill]

I tried the test again, this time passed through, but after the test finished and a very long waiting ... no results were givem.

The "Testing..." sign is still there.

[MikeWill]

Here are my results:

Is BitTorrent traffic on a well-known BitTorrent port (6883) throttled?

The BitTorrent upload (seeding) worked. Our tool was successful in uploading data using the BitTorrent protocol.

Your ISP possibly rate limits your BitTorrent uploads. In our tests a TCP uploads achieved at least 243 Kbps while a BitTorrent upload achieved at most 25 Kbps. You can find details here.

The BitTorrent download worked. Our tool was successful in downloading data using the BitTorrent protocol.

Your ISP possibly rate limits your BitTorrent downloads. In our tests a TCP download achieved at least 496 Kbps while a BitTorrent download achieved at most 28 Kbps. You can find details here.

Is BitTorrent traffic on a non-standard BitTorrent port (10011) throttled?

The BitTorrent upload (seeding) worked. Our tool was successful in uploading data using the BitTorrent protocol.

Your ISP possibly rate limits your BitTorrent uploads. In our tests a TCP uploads achieved at least 293 Kbps while a BitTorrent upload achieved maximal 16 Kbps. You can find details here.

The BitTorrent download worked. Our tool was successful in downloading data using the BitTorrent protocol.

Your ISP possibly rate limits your BitTorrent downloads. In our tests a TCP download achieved at least 366 Kbps while a BitTorrent download achieved at most 9 Kbps. You can find details here.

Is TCP traffic on a well-known BitTorrent port (6883) throttled?

There's no indication that your ISP rate limits all downloads at port 6883. In our test, a TCP download on a BitTorrent port achieved at least 669 Kbps while a TCP download on a non-BitTorrent port achieved at least 366 Kbps. You can find details here.

There's no indication that your ISP rate limits all uploads at port 6883. In our test, a TCP upload on a BitTorrent port achieved at least 314 Kbps while a TCP upload on a non-BitTorrent port achieved at least 293 Kbps. You can find details here.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Condo_bk

[seedy]

Thanks for that Supernova. I always wondered ... and did not know any way to test.

[mca]

On my TOT 4 meg up until a month ago I was getting 300 kB/s plus on well seeded downloads even during some peak times but since then I've never got over 200 kB/s irrespective of the number of seeds or time of day.

[wimpy]

On my TOT 4 meg up until a month ago I was getting 300 kB/s plus on well seeded downloads even during some peak times but since then I've never got over 200 kB/s irrespective of the number of seeds or time of day.

Did you run the above mentioned application to see if you are being throttled?

[Oberkommando]

You could also have malware or a virus that is interfering with your BitTorrent software, connection and your ability to connect to trackers.

I was suffering with speeds under 100KB/s until I reformatted my HDD and reinstalled Windows. Now my torrents are coming in steadily at between 150KB/s and 500KB/s.

I am on a 8Mb True line in BKK and I was worried they were throttling traffic too. I was assured it isn't the case by one of their engineers and it was confirmed when I reformatted.

[Steve2UK]

Using uTorrent on a 3Mb TOT connection, I used to see a plunge to zero of both download and upload speeds every hour or so.... and then slowly recovering after about 3-4 minutes - which I have interpreted as something happening at the TOT end. On a friend's recommendation, I tried "cfosSpeed". Not only have those plunges stopped, overall download speeds seem to have increased. Take a look:

http://www.cfos.de/speed/cfosspeed_e.htm

[mca]

On my TOT 4 meg up until a month ago I was getting 300 kB/s plus on well seeded downloads even during some peak times but since then I've never got over 200 kB/s irrespective of the number of seeds or time of day.

Did you run the above mentioned application to see if you are being throttled?

The test said "possibly"

[MikeWill]

Here are results (attached) of another test I've made after some shaping up of my PC. It said TRUE does not put limits on BitTorrent downloads.

And as beano2274 pointed out

What torrent downloader are you using (Utorrent, Bittorrent)?

Have you port forwarded?

I found a free port forwarding program called: Simple Port Forwarding. What do you think of it?

Edited December 31, 2009 by Condo_bk

[eltelboy]

I am also using TT&T's service with their new 1MB package. In the last few days/weeks I have also noticed a huge drop in speed for both upload and download when using Bittorrent client with no changes to any settings on my computer. I have been with the service for 3 months without hardly a problem but for sure something is going on now. It is definitely the connection speeds outside Thailand as we all know but what is the point in the world wide web if I can only connect to Thai sites at decent speeds. Also my upload speed literally goes to zero and then will burst back into life but still only manage about 15-20 kB/s (unless uploading to a Thai user). I have been told to upgrade to 3MB package but I don't see why I should just because the service has dropped in the last few weeks so I will have to make a decision soon as its driving me nuts.

[Lite Beer]

Here are results (attached) of another test I've made after some shaping up of my PC. It said TRUE does not put limits on BitTorrent downloads.

And as beano2274 pointed out

What torrent downloader are you using (Utorrent, Bittorrent)?

Have you port forwarded?

I found a free port forwarding program called: Simple Port Forwarding. What do you think of it?

A great little program. Even I can use it. Simple. This is what I have used in the past.

[sammycic]

I am also using TT&T's service with their new 1MB package. In the last few days/weeks I have also noticed a huge drop in speed for both upload and download when using Bittorrent client with no changes to any settings on my computer. I have been with the service for 3 months without hardly a problem but for sure something is going on now. It is definitely the connection speeds outside Thailand as we all know but what is the point in the world wide web if I can only connect to Thai sites at decent speeds. Also my upload speed literally goes to zero and then will burst back into life but still only manage about 15-20 kB/s (unless uploading to a Thai user). I have been told to upgrade to 3MB package but I don't see why I should just because the service has dropped in the last few weeks so I will have to make a decision soon as its driving me nuts.

I have just been upgraded to 4mbps TT&T for the same price as 3mbps and my speed has improved greatly. my torrents are flying using utorrent 2.0. very happy with maxnet after a week of so slow and now working so well.

[eMzyme]

There are loads of these slow torrent threads!

Best thing to do IMO is join a private site visit the forums and have a look at the how to guides on optimizing utorrent.

there are loads of things you can do with utorrent

for isp throttling try- protocol encryption-outgoing-enable-apply works for me(although im on true 4meg pack and according to true and glasnost they dont throttle torrents I download at 6meg)

you could also try the patch availabe for half open connections also you could try changing the number of connected peers and max global number of connections.

Also beaware if you change some of these settings it could disrupt your internet browsing and slow it down.

again the best thing to do is check out the how to guides on torrent sites forums.

I think I have some invites for iptorrents if anybody wants one.

[MikeWill]

eMzyme, I'd appreciate to get an invite. Please PM me.

Thank you.

[sammycic]

i could not agree more private trackers are the best way to go for what they cost you can download at max speed with 5 or 6 peers. At the moment i am getting throttled by maxnet but this morning i was downloading at max speed. i have encryption on but doesn't seem to stop the throttling. I am using utorrent 2.0 and all my utp connections are giving the speed. all my other connections are being snubbed.

lots of fun.

[shriah]

On True 8 Mbps plan I get around a average max speed of 700 kbps. Torrent is slow only when there are few seeders, mostly the case with old torrents and really new torrents.

Don't waste your energy in private trackers. Public trackers are more than adequate for most of the user case , if you need some rare files not available in public tracker then you can join a private tracker that specializes in your interest . Its just my 2 cent .

[eltelboy]

Well today all my speed is back to normal and I touched nothing. The easiest way out of these problems is for ISP providers to initially try and blame the end users computer which is usually not the cause. To start trying to optimise your computer or the torrent software for no good reason will only cause further problems. I agree that public torrent sites can be as good as private sites as long as you be careful of the fakes and of course your download speed will in most cases be slower. I think you have to try and be patient and keep complaining to the relevant ISP provider when you have speed issues and hope they will eventually take a look at the problem, for sure they have certainly fixed my problem today.

Edited January 5, 2010 by eltelboy