Torrent Downloads Capped At 100Kb?

[Kimagure]

I don't understand this, so I wondered if someone can help me out.

I recently got the 6Mb wi-fi package from TOT. It works well enough, but of course it won't do 6Mb. It won't even do more than 1Mb, no matter what time of day.

I get speed tests of 600Kb in BKK, 750Kb in Singapore, and my world record: 1.01 Mb in KL. I think, Ok, mai pen rai, I'm lucky to get 10% of the advertised speed. I guess I can live with that if I must..

But when I try to download torrent files, my utorrent cannot go above 100Kb. It seems unrelated to the number of seeds or seed/peer ration, availability, time of day, etc.

I can download multiple torrents with only a few seeds, or a single torrent with several thousand seeds and a great ratio, and the dl speed is always at or around 99Kb. Looking at the speed graph in my utorrent program, I just see a straight line at 99Kb, going on for hours uninterrupted. My overall connection speed and speed test results can be really high or really low, but the torrent dl speed never changes.

Is this throttling by TOT?

My utorrent is configured properly (based on my own experience, various speed guides, the information on this forum, etc), and I've manually forwarded the port I use and set an exeption for the firewall. But the speed is the same as it was before I configured and optimized things. Always stuck just under 100Kb.

When I tried the same torrent on a friend's computer, the speed was 250Kb on a crappy under-1Mb busy network connection, no port forwarding, no configuring.

Any idea what's going on here? I can live with the low speed I guess, but it bothers me that the dl speed peaks and remains at exactly 99Kb all the time no matter what changes.

Thanks for any insights!

[somchaismith]

I was under the impression that uTorrent measured in bytes rather than bits? If this is the case, times the bytes by 8, to come up with a comparison to what ToT is giving you in bits.

[lomatopo]

Can you just verify what type of service you have from TOT? You say 6 Mega-Bits per second WiFi. Can you provide any link to a description of this service? Is it pre-paid or post-paid? What is your current IP address, first two numbers only?

If it is truly WiFi then you are on a private network and thus not able to forward the port.

Have you contacted TOT? What does your contract say quality of service and bittorrent?

100 Kilo-Bytes per second indicated on uTorrent equals 800 Kilo-bits per second, essentially wire speed on a 1.0 Mbps (Mega-bits per second) DSL line (when one factors in overheads). I'd consider that pretty good on a public WiFi connection?

Also, check to make sure you haven't capped upload or download speeds in your BT client.

Edited November 7, 2010 by lomatopo

[Kimagure]

I was under the impression that uTorrent measured in bytes rather than bits? If this is the case, times the bytes by 8, to come up with a comparison to what ToT is giving you in bits.

Thanks, Somchaismith, you're right! I could have sworn that graph was in Kb before.. I should have checked the fine print! :jap:

Ok, the speeds aren't as bad as I thought. At least they are consistent. It just bothers me that they can't get to or past that 100KB barrier. What is it, like the TOT version of the speed of light?

[Kimagure]

Can you just verify what type of service you have from TOT? You say 6 Mega-Bits per second WiFi. Can you provide any link to a description of this service? Is it pre-paid or post-paid? What is your current IP address, first two numbers only?

If it is truly WiFi then you are on a private network and thus not able to forward the port.

Have you contacted TOT? What does your contract say quality of service and bittorrent?

100 Kilo-Bytes per second indicated on uTorrent equals 800 Kilo-bits per second, essentially wire speed on a 1.0 Mbps (Mega-bits per second) DSL line (when one factors in overheads). I'd consider that pretty good on a public WiFi connection?

Also, check to make sure you haven't capped upload or download speeds in your BT client.

The package I got is "TOT Hi-Speed Internet “Jet Pack” Up to 6Mb only THB 590 a month ", as they say under the promotions on their homepage. They gave me a wireless router, and came and installed an ADSL cable to my room for it, and I'm using it with only one computer right now.

I didn't cap the dl speed, it's at 'unlimited'.

[lomatopo]

The package I got is "TOT Hi-Speed Internet “Jet Pack” Up to 6Mb only THB 590 a month ", as they say under the promotions on their homepage. They gave me a wireless router, and came and installed an ADSL cable to my room for it, and I'm using it with only one computer right now.

I didn't cap the dl speed, it's at 'unlimited'.

OK, you have DSL service. Your original post was a bit confusing as you referred to 6 Mb WiFi service.

Can you query your modem/router and provide the DSL line statistics?

Can you re-check some speedtest sites and post the exact details being careful to discern between bits per second and Bytes per second.

Maybe click on the green check-mark in uTorrent, run the tests and then post the results.

Maybe contact TOT to have them test the line.

Are your torrents sufficiently seeded?

[PoorSucker]

Have you opened the port in the router?

http://portforward.com/

[Pib]

For your "in-Thailand/in-Bangkok" speed tests use the TOT Ookla speed test program at http://speedtest1.totbb.net/index.aspx as it will give you the best true indication of your speed to TOT servers. I also use the 3BB Ookla speed test at http://speedtest.3bb.co.th/ which usually give me very similar results as the TOT Ookla speed test.

Since DSL uses up about 15% of your maximum data throughput, the highest data speed (i.e., speed test result) you will probably be able to get on the TOT 6Mb package is around 5.25Mb (as in megabits). I get around 1 to 2Mb to international sites using speedtest.net. Now your modem "sync" speed must be approx 6.144Mb (i.e., 6Mb) if you have a good physical DSL line/good connection to the DSLAM. You check the "sync" speed by going into your modem setup and looking around the menus to where it gives you speed/attenuation/SNR stats on your line.

I have the TOT 6Mb package here in western Bangkok, the modem (Billion) sync speed is always 6.144Mb and I just ran a speed test at above link and got a 5.22Mb download speed. I usually get in the 4.8 to 5.25Mb range, except during ome peak times (late afternoon/early night for me on some days) when it ranges in the 3-4.5Mb range. But the great majority of the time I get a little moe than 5Mb. Please note that during peak times, which can vary from area to area due to local circuits and overall system bandwidth, you will get less but you should always get around 3Mb--or at least I have.

[beano2274]

have you opened up other ports

utorrent - preferences - advanced - net. max_halfopen - change the figure to 50 then click set

see if you get any changes in speeds.

How about "protocol encryption" what is that set to (preferences - Bit torrent - box half way down the screen)

[Supernova]

utorrent - preferences - advanced - net. max_halfopen - change the figure to 50 then click set

Requires patching tcpip.sys for it to work... But don't waste your time, changing this value doesn't do anything to improve speed. Leave it at the default setting (8).

[Pib]

Just FYI. Here's my TOT 6Mb Jetpack speed results from the TOT Ookla speedtest program at 12:20pm/Monday. For my area of western Bangkok I get my best in-country and international speeds in the morning and mid day; come the afternoon and early night the speed drops off by about 25% for many international sites and the in-country speed to many sites slows down approx 25%. When running the TOT Ookla speedtest program in the early night I usually get around 3 to 4.5Mb with an occasional 5Mb plus.

I expect the speed other TOT 6Mb folks will get depends on DSL line quality, "local" area bandwidth/circuits and other factors, as all TOT 6Mb connections are not created equal.

http://speedtest1.totbb.net/index.aspx

[lomatopo]

Oops, thought Pib's post was from the OP.

Edited November 8, 2010 by lomatopo

[Kimagure]

For your "in-Thailand/in-Bangkok" speed tests use the TOT Ookla speed test program at http://speedtest1.totbb.net/index.aspx as it will give you the best true indication of your speed to TOT servers. I also use the 3BB Ookla speed test at http://speedtest.3bb.co.th/ which usually give me very similar results as the TOT Ookla speed test.

Since DSL uses up about 15% of your maximum data throughput, the highest data speed (i.e., speed test result) you will probably be able to get on the TOT 6Mb package is around 5.25Mb (as in megabits). I get around 1 to 2Mb to international sites using speedtest.net. Now your modem "sync" speed must be approx 6.144Mb (i.e., 6Mb) if you have a good physical DSL line/good connection to the DSLAM. You check the "sync" speed by going into your modem setup and looking around the menus to where it gives you speed/attenuation/SNR stats on your line.

I have the TOT 6Mb package here in western Bangkok, the modem (Billion) sync speed is always 6.144Mb and I just ran a speed test at above link and got a 5.22Mb download speed. I usually get in the 4.8 to 5.25Mb range, except during ome peak times (late afternoon/early night for me on some days) when it ranges in the 3-4.5Mb range. But the great majority of the time I get a little moe than 5Mb. Please note that during peak times, which can vary from area to area due to local circuits and overall system bandwidth, you will get less but you should always get around 3Mb--or at least I have.

Thank you, Pib. I checked the router setup and found these stats. I assume this include the "sync speed" that you mentioned? Isn't the "rate" shown here low for a 6Mb connection?

Statistics -- xDSL

Mode: ADSL_2plus

Type: Interleave

Line Coding: Trellis On

Status: Up

Link Power State: L0

Downstream Upstream

SNR Margin (0.1 dB): 358 270

Attenuation (0.1 dB): 160 61

Output Power (0.1 dBm): 0 80

Attainable Rate (Kbps): 18604 588

Rate (Kbps): 1023 509

MSGc (# of bytes in overhead channel message): 53 81

B (# of bytes in Mux Data Frame): 35 13

M (# of Mux Data Frames in FEC Data Frame): 1 16

T (Mux Data Frames over sync bytes): 1 1

R (# of check bytes in FEC Data Frame): 16 16

S (ratio of FEC over PMD Data Frame length): 1.947 13.612

L (# of bits in PMD Data Frame): 380 147

D (interleaver depth): 64 4

Delay (msec): 17.51 13.6

INP (DMT symbol): 1.74 10.77

Super Frames 4885435 661751

Super Frame Errors: 0 0

RS Words: 288240724 2655571

RS Correctable Errors:: 0 0

RS Uncorrectable Errors: 0 0

HEC Errors: 0 0

OCD Errors: 0 0

LCD Errors: 0 0

Total Cells: 190348656 94813686

Data Cells: 105647001 43656904

Bit Errors: 0 0

Total ES: 0 0

Total SES: 0 0

Total UAS: 23 23

Sorry, just found this simplified info:

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 509

Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 1023

Edited November 9, 2010 by Kimagure

[lomatopo]

Sorry, just found this simplified info:

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 509

Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 1023

Seems obvious, your line is sound but is only provisioned for 1 Mega-bits per second. Call TOT.

Not sure what's up with your torrents; there are so many variables re: BT 'speed' that is challenging to trouble-shoot. On a 1 Mega-bits per second line, 100 Kilo-Bytes per second is about about the maximum you can expect.

Edited November 9, 2010 by lomatopo

[Kimagure]

Sorry, just found this simplified info:

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 509

Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 1023

Seems obvious, your line is sound but is only provisioned for 1 Mega-bits per second. Call TOT.

Not sure what's up with your torrents; there are so many variables re: BT 'speed' that is challenging to trouble-shoot. On a 1 Mega-bits per second line, 100 Kilo-Bytes per second is about about the maximum you can expect.

Do you mean it's related to the actual physical line/cable that they used? They used an already existing line to my room that True had installed for a 1Mb package a couple years ago. The line had been severed at my end, so they used that line and spliced it to a new splitter. I don't know what else they did outside my room during installation, but I'm connected at my end to that old True line.

[lomatopo]

Do you mean it's related to the actual physical line/cable that they used?

No. What I mean is that TOT have set up your port in their equipment to support 1 Mbps (instead of 6 Mbps), a simple data entry error. Just call them and tell them. They should be able to fix this in a few minutes, or worst case, several days.

Edited November 9, 2010 by lomatopo

[Pib]

Yeap, sure looks like TOT still has you setup for a 1Mb down/512Kb up package based on what the modem sync speeds report.

You have very good SNR and attenuation values so your line should be able to handle 6Mb easily. Now when they switch you to a higher speed package you'll probably see your SNR go down and your atttenuation go up, but that is normal. When they upgraded me from my 4Mb to 6Mb pakage, my SNR when down about 5 db and my attenuation went up about 5 db....all normal in the way SNR/attenuation works at higher DSL speeds.

It's my understanding that usually an ISP has to make two changes to change your speed: (1) they have to update your profile in their system/server (e.g., set you up for a 6Mb package) and (2) possibly reconfigure your line to hook into a 6Mb DSLAM port which is usally done at the local switching station/DSLAM bank....it depends on the type of equipment used in the switching station as to whether they need to physically do some port switching. So, basically the service center and possibly a local technician need to take action...but the service center is the one you need to call to make all this happen/get this corrected.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Pib

[Kimagure]

Solved!

Following Pib's and Lomatopo's advice (thanks guys!), I called TOT yesterday afternoon and told them about the 1Mb rate on my router. It helped that I could mention this, because the last time I called I could only say I was getting slow speeds, and they said they would check it, but nothing happened. Having this specific info helped to tell them what the problem was.

The lady at the 1100 line was helpful and friendly, with good English. She said they would correct it and call me back. They didn't call yesterday, and the sync rate and speed tests didn't change, but I started getting REALLY fast connections, and for the first time I could watch Youtube videos without them pausing all the time. It seemed like something had changed at some level. I recall another post where the OP mentioned this happening to him too.

This morning, I got a call at 8:30 from TOT, and they asked me to check it. Now I get this:

SNR Margin (0.1 dB): 296 215

Attenuation (0.1 dB): 140 59

Output Power (0.1 dBm): 215 82

Attainable Rate (Kbps): 23440 736

Rate (Kbps): 7168 637

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 637

Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 7168

Speed Test results from TOT give me 5.42Mb DL and 0.42 Mb DL, as they should be. Torrents are at 400KB DL, but I think this speed is mainly related to the torrent I'm DLing.

Ahh, it's nice to sometimes get what you pay for in Thailand!

Thanks to Pib and Lomatopo for helping me get this solved!

Edited November 10, 2010 by Kimagure

[lomatopo]

Solved!

Following Pib's and Lomatopo's advice (thanks guys!), I called TOT yesterday afternoon and told them about the 1Mb rate on my router. It helped that I could mention this, because the last time I called I could only say I was getting slow speeds, and they said they would check it, but nothing happened. Having this specific info helped to tell them what the problem was.

The lady at the 1100 line was helpful and friendly, with good English. She said they would correct it and call me back. They didn't call yesterday, and the sync rate and speed tests didn't change, but I started getting REALLY fast connections, and for the first time I could watch Youtube videos without them pausing all the time. It seemed like something had changed at some level. I recall another post where the OP mentioned this happening to him too.

This morning, I got a call at 8:30 from TOT, and they asked me to check it. Now I get this:

SNR Margin (0.1 dB): 296 215

Attenuation (0.1 dB): 140 59

Output Power (0.1 dBm): 215 82

Attainable Rate (Kbps): 23440 736

Rate (Kbps): 7168 637

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 637

Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 7168

Speed Test results from TOT give me 5.42Mb DL and 0.42 Mb DL, as they should be. Torrents are at 400KB DL, but I think this speed is mainly related to the torrent I'm DLing.

Ahh, it's nice to sometimes get what you pay for in Thailand!

Thanks to Pib and Lomatopo for helping me get this solved!

No problem, once you posted the line stats it was an easy solution. Every port on your serving DSLAM supports all ADSL2+ data rates so there was no need to swap your line in the POP, just one entry in the provisioning software. Changes like this are usually done with the customer on the line but some ISPs have to generate a work order which then flows through their system and can take a few days.

Note that you must nearly be sitting on top of TOT's POP. You line can support 23 Mega-bits per second!!! ( Attainable Rate (Kbps): 23440 )

Edited November 10, 2010 by lomatopo

[Pib]

Glad it worked out. Most people don't check the modem sync speed to see what raw speed they are actually getting from their residence to the telecom central station/DSLAM, but it's a critical check to do to ensure you are getting what you pay for. Actually, the sync speeds being reported for you now are like a 7Mb down/625Kb up versus the 6Mb down/512Kb, although your speed test results seem to support an excellent 6Mb / 512Kb connection. So, it looks like you may be getting more than what you pay for based on your sync speed---don't worry, I won't tell.

You speed test download speed is really, really good...the most I repeatedly can get on my 6Mb JetPack is 5.25Mb down....and I almost always get the 0.43Mb up like you are getting. And since DSL has approx a 13 to15% overhead which subtracts from your max data throughput, the 5.42Mb you are getting is definitely a line syncing at top efficiency.

See http://pflog.net/dsl_overhead/ for more info on DSL overhead.

Also, was your speed test results based on speedtest.net results or from the TOT Ookla speed test link at http://speedtest1.totbb.net/index.aspx or even the 3BB Ookla speed test site at http://speedtest.3bb.co.th/ . I would trust the TOT or 3BB sites more than I would the speedtest.net site for your "in-Thailand" speed test since the speedtest.net gets used by so many people all over the world...its servers many times gets overloaded/turn slow and can give slow results. Although if you did use speedtest.net it appears you used it when it was not overloaded based on the good speeds you reported.

Originally most ISPs provided package speeds primarily based on "even" numbers, like 2Mb, 4Mb, 6Mb, 8Mb, 10Mb, etc., although there were some odd number packages like 1, 3, and 5Mb; but I'm beginning to see more and more odd numbered speed packages return like 5Mb, 9Mb, 15Mb, etc. I know TOT sells a 9Mb Jetpack package....guess they also have a 7Mb package based on your sync speed although they don't appear to advertise it for sale, or at least I haven't seen a TOT 7Mb Jetpack package for sale...I've only seen 6, 9, 12, and 15Mb like in their current Jetpack promotion at http://www.tot.co.th/index.php?option=com_linkcontent&Itemid=88&categoryid=42&task=detail&detail_id=1068〈=th.

Once again, glad things worked out as without decent internet things sure can get frustrating for many people (and I'm one of those many people).

[Supernova]

Most people don't check the modem sync speed to see what raw speed they are actually getting from their residence to the telecom central station/DSLAM, but it's a critical check to do to ensure you are getting what you pay for.

I usually keep a close eye on mine due to poor line conditions. So yeah, it's a good idea to check your modem stats once in a while.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Supernova

[monspencer]

The OP asked this question:

Is this throttling by TOT?

So far as I am concerned, the answer is a whopping yes!!!

About a month ago I upgraded with TOT from 2Mb to 6Mb, for just an additional 100B per month.

Worth the risk, I thought.. 

To start with my torrent dl speeds increased to over 200kB/s ( I was never able to get over the 200 mark before), with speeds occasionally getting up to 400kB/s.

For the past 48 hours, my speeds have plummeted down to well under 100kB/s (at the time of writing it is around 50kB/s), and this is with sites that I know and use regularly.

If only I could switch to another provider, but where I live I am stuck with TOT 

[nikster]

You should know that torrent speed depends on many different factors, the most important of which is seed/leech ratio. Sometimes torrents will be slow when there are too many leechers vs seeders. Torrents are tit-for-tat in that the more you upload, the more you download. The problem is that your upload speed is limited.

So to recap here's factors affecting torrent speed:

- Leechers. Torrents are going to be fast only if there are many more seeders than leechers. The tracker might tell you the ratio, use that info. Many torrents have huge numbers of seeders, so you'll never run into this, but others don't.

- The more you upload, the more you download. That means set your upload speed limit high - it also means that in less than perfect conditions your download speed is limited by your upload speed - 512Kbit, or 1MB depending on your connection. If there are many more seeders than leechers, you'll never see this - but the tit-for-tat nature of the bit torrent protocol comes into play if the ratio is 50/50 or less.

- Too much upload can "starve" your download speed - so make sure to cap the upload speed to be at most 40KB/s if line can do 512Kbit, and 80KB/s if your line is 1Mbit. Otherwise the torrent upload will saturate your outgoing internet connections, and browsing will become very slow, as well as torrent downloads. That's because in order to download torrents, or open a web page, you do need to send out requests, and if the outgoing pipe is busy serving torrent data those requests will get delayed.

- Too many connections - older routers can't handle more than a few hundred connections. My Zyxel would simply crash after a while, but not before slowing down tremendously. Haven't seen the issue on newer routers but if it occurs, limit the number of connections in your torrent client.

- Slow line - sometimes your line will be slow. Check your speedtest to BKK.

Edited November 13, 2010 by nikster

[Valentine]

You cannot trust some of the speed tests. A group in Phuket verified this by checking the ping to San Fransisco & found it was travelling faster than the speed of light! So some ISPs are hijacking the test & routing it to Bangkok in order to show, wrongly, that you are getting a high download speed.

[toadflax]

For nearly a week, I've had problems with torrent download speed. I've tried everything I can think off, any suggestions would be great:

1. podcasts and software updates come down at the 2.5MB speed that the router shows:

SNR Margin 31/22 dB

Line Attenuation 1/0 dB

Data Rate 2557/637 kbps

2. I tried another router just to see but no difference. Restored the router to factory settings and re-setup. Again, no change so I think I have eliminated the TOT line as a source of the problem.

3. Restored the OS (Win XP Prof XP3) to a point at the start of the month when I was getting good torrent speeds - no improvement.

4. Uninstalled, cleaned (using Eusing Free Registry Cleaner) and reinstalled uTorrent 1.8.2 (not the latest but the one that was working fine last week and the one recommended by the torrent web site 'source'). Once more, no improvement.

5. Software downloads (eg via File Hippo), podcasts from iTunes and live streaming audio (BBC iPlayer) all work well, it's just the torrents that are slooow.

6. I tried Glastnost which reports no ISP limiting.

7. Turning off Windows firewall also makes no difference (as one would expect).

I've been using the same sources for 2 years and never had this persistent problem. I know all about seeders and can't work out what's wrong.

At the moment of writing this my download is 13kB and upload is 30kB. The torrent I am getting shows 19(2806) seeds , 33(8783) peers and a total download speed of 4kB/s (availability of 25.997). I've a green tick in Network status.

The only thing I can think of is to install my backup drive and reinstall XP and (only) uTorrent.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be gratefully received as messing around reinstalling XP and all the drivers is not an attractive prospect for Loy Krathong

[lomatopo]

You're probably fiddling around with too many things; I do the same.

Based on your statement, I've been using the same sources for 2 years and never had this persistent problem. I know all about seeders and can't work out what's wrong., it sounds like at some point in the past you experienced acceptable torrent performance but that changed, recently?

I'm assuming you have correctly forward the appropriate port? Does uTorrent display the green check mark? If so click on it and run the tests.

Can you select a torrent, preferably a popular one with 100's or 1,000's of seeders, and then look at the "Tracker" tab and summarize the Status column. I suspect, but these problems are challenging to trouble-shoot remotely, that you are having problems communicating with trackers. You might see Status messages like:, "No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it", or Connection timed out, or Failure: Requested download is not authorized for use

with this tracker.

ISP's can/do interfere with tracker communications, blocking, spoofing etc. in an attempt to limit BT usage. Personally I wish they would just institute "fair use" rules and cap bandwidth. Comcast (U.S. ISP) caps monthly bandwidth at 250 GB.

[danc]

Toadflax

Are you on TOT?

To let you know that you are not alone, my sense is there is something afoot. I went abroad just as the great torrent crisis of 2010 started in August, so missed all the fun and games, but on return all was back to normal and I experienced the speeds I expect both upload and download for 8Mb/1Mb line - I use utorrent 1.8.3 and cap uploads at 92kb and donwloads at 700kb - a good immediate source from a private tracker (thebox, kg) and I can reach those figures towards the end of a download and if seeding a free leech or a featured torrent; I also upload into private trackers

Since last Thursday, I believe, all speeds have dropped considerably and do seem to struggle to maintain a speed once they get going, things seem to be going OK and then reduce to near to nothing - this is certainly the case with the public trackers and I hand pick the trackers on these to make sure that all are working - not offline or timed out etc. You find that many older public torrents have redundant, out of date trackers on them. It seems that the previous problem in August was that one's torrents were continually red, private or public. This is not the same problem.

I have run glastnost and that indicates for me problems with ports 6881, 45272, 48367 - ports associated with bittorrent protocol.

Speed tests, both TOT's own and speedtest.net indicate no problems on the line.

So are we being shaped? it would be interesting to hear other users views...

Edited November 17, 2010 by danc

[JusMe]

Toadflax

Are you on TOT?

To let you know that you are not alone, my sense is there is something afoot. I went abroad just as the great torrent crisis of 2010 started in August, so missed all the fun and games, but on return all was back to normal and I experienced the speeds I expect both upload and download for 8Mb/1Mb line - I use utorrent 1.8.3 and cap uploads at 92kb and donwloads at 700kb - a good immediate source from a private tracker (thebox, kg) and I can reach those figures towards the end of a download and if seeding a free leech or a featured torrent; I also upload into private trackers

Since last Thursday, I believe, all speeds have dropped considerably and do seem to struggle to maintain a speed once they get going, things seem to be going OK and then reduce to near to nothing - this is certainly the case with the public trackers and I hand pick the trackers on these to make sure that all are working - not offline or timed out etc. You find that many older public torrents have redundant, out of date trackers on them. It seems that the previous problem in August was that one's torrents were continually red, private or public. This is not the same problem.

I have run glastnost and that indicates for me problems with ports 6881, 45272, 48367 - ports associated with bittorrent protocol.

Speed tests, both TOT's own and speedtest.net indicate no problems on the line.

So are we being shaped? it would be interesting to hear other users views...

Spot on, danc. Exactly what's been happening for me. I thought it began maybe late Friday, but could be mistaken.

Kept phoning, and had someone admit they were choking torrent files for some work on the system, but it should be fixed "soon."

Still not fixed, but not sure what to complain about. Soars into 200s or 300s, then dips for a long time into single digits, and I'm lucky to average 40 kbps on torrents, but speedtests indicate download possibilities of near on 5MB. Did a system software update over the weekend, and that downloaded more than 600MB in less than 20 minutes.

And I've had the techies check everything at this end, so the problem is clearly TOT.

[danc]

Toadflax

Are you on TOT?

To let you know that you are not alone, my sense is there is something afoot. I went abroad just as the great torrent crisis of 2010 started in August, so missed all the fun and games, but on return all was back to normal and I experienced the speeds I expect both upload and download for 8Mb/1Mb line - I use utorrent 1.8.3 and cap uploads at 92kb and donwloads at 700kb - a good immediate source from a private tracker (thebox, kg) and I can reach those figures towards the end of a download and if seeding a free leech or a featured torrent; I also upload into private trackers

Since last Thursday, I believe, all speeds have dropped considerably and do seem to struggle to maintain a speed once they get going, things seem to be going OK and then reduce to near to nothing - this is certainly the case with the public trackers and I hand pick the trackers on these to make sure that all are working - not offline or timed out etc. You find that many older public torrents have redundant, out of date trackers on them. It seems that the previous problem in August was that one's torrents were continually red, private or public. This is not the same problem.

I have run glastnost and that indicates for me problems with ports 6881, 45272, 48367 - ports associated with bittorrent protocol.

Speed tests, both TOT's own and speedtest.net indicate no problems on the line.

So are we being shaped? it would be interesting to hear other users views...

Spot on, danc. Exactly what's been happening for me. I thought it began maybe late Friday, but could be mistaken.

Kept phoning, and had someone admit they were choking torrent files for some work on the system, but it should be fixed "soon."

Still not fixed, but not sure what to complain about. Soars into 200s or 300s, then dips for a long time into single digits, and I'm lucky to average 40 kbps on torrents, but speedtests indicate download possibilities of near on 5MB. Did a system software update over the weekend, and that downloaded more than 600MB in less than 20 minutes.

And I've had the techies check everything at this end, so the problem is clearly TOT.

I would take the day from you rather than from me! The techies have been out to see me and they of course can find no problem as there probably isn't one locally. I have a good relationship with them, so we can chat through things though I tend not to say that they are throttling as I really believe those on the ground do not know one way or the other.

I am grateful as we all are in these cases to know that it is not just me - it is for example particularly bad right now,as I experiment with public torrents and a featured torrent - we go up but then come crashing right down. I did think there was a cap at the 100 mark, but then I download something like a MOTD and crash right through that figure. The speed tends to go up and then back down, however.

I am in the east - is this countrywide?

Edited November 17, 2010 by danc

[lomatopo]

I just got on a TOT line here in Bangkok, started a torrent and am getting full wire speed.

I normally use a local seed box (6 Mega-bits per second), then FTP files, so rarely use BT on local PCs, but no problems with this single sample.