[Archived] Torrent Troubles

[Ricky]

Hoping someone might be able to help as I'm pulling my hair out.

I've downloaded utorrent but i'm having a mare with ports.

utoorent is stating the port isn't open. I've followed the instructions to set up a static IP, I've followed the step bt step instructions to tweak my Huwai router to open the port but it's still not happening. I just don't know what to do next.

I'm not a techie and this is my first attempt at torrents.

[brian_gallagher85]

I've never been able to get utorrent to work for me. I use bitcomet and download via minnova and thepiratebay.

[Ricky]

Think i've definitely got a problem with the port though Brian. Ran PFportchecker and its saying the port is closed.

I'm well confused lol.

[brian_gallagher85]

Try bitcomet just to be sure. When I'm using it, it blocks my internet browser.

You tried reseting the modem?

[Hughesy]

Ricky I think there are sites that tell you exactly how to port forward? Check them out 1st.

If it doesnt work, get rid of utorrent fully and then re-download it. It has happened for me before and this fixed it.

[American Rover12]

I have some demonoid invites for anyone who's good at keeping their ratio up and interested. PM me if you are.

[Rover Down Under]

Ricky,

- Have you made sure that Windows firewall is allowing the app? Go to Options > Preferences > Connection, check "Add µTorrent to Windows Firewall."

- If you are running Norton or any other kind of anti-virus/spyware/Internet Security etc. program make sure it is allowing uTorrent access to the port

- It is also quite common for port forwarding checking sites to incorrectly report open/closed ports because they are checking the transparent proxy many ISP's force you to use - in laymans terms they are looking for open ports on the wrong computer, your ports may be open but it is not checking those specific ports. Thus, uTorrent will still work with ports reportedly closed, just try downloading something and you'll see it still works.

Try the above and if it's still not working let me know. Stick with uTorrent, it is very reliable - once it's working!

[Ricky]

Hi RDU

Well I've had a bit more of a play with it, I now have the port being shown as open when I check on both utorrents checker and the one from another site. The only problem seems to be that I'm getting very slow download speeds. I've done a speed check and my connection is registering at around 4-5 mbs but I'm getting downloads of around 22-45 on utorrent.

I'll have a look at the firewall settings when I get home and see if I've got that sorted.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Have you let utorrent run for a while? Sometimes torrent programs start off slow especially download speed and suddenly pick up.

Also the demand for what you are downloading can determine how fast the speeds are available, if there isn't many seeds or other users downloading then the speeds will be slow.

[Ricky]

I'm very new to utorrent but it does still seem to be very very slow. Under the seeds header it has a number followed by another in brackets. For instance on the one I'm downloading now it says 17(1319). Now I'm guessing that means I'm not getting the download from many places which might not be helping the speed. The speed does seem to be kreeping up around the 40-60 kbs now, still not very quick when I've got a 4mbs line.

I've checked that the firewall is allowing it and everything seems fine.

I'm hearing lots about Demonoid so i'd be interested if someone wants to send me an invite, rclarke1978@googlemail.com

[Hughesy]

Whats demonoid??

[Rover Down Under]

I'm very new to utorrent but it does still seem to be very very slow. Under the seeds header it has a number followed by another in brackets. For instance on the one I'm downloading now it says 17(1319). Now I'm guessing that means I'm not getting the download from many places which might not be helping the speed. The speed does seem to be kreeping up around the 40-60 kbs now, still not very quick when I've got a 4mbs line.

I've checked that the firewall is allowing it and everything seems fine.

I'm hearing lots about Demonoid so i'd be interested if someone wants to send me an invite, rclarke1978@googlemail.com

17(1319) means that there are 17 "people" currently online and availiable for downloading the file(s) and that there are 1319 who actually have the file(s) you are downloading, but they are not online. The 4Mbs line you have is not at all indicative of the kind of speeds you can expect when downloading torrents, or anything else for that matter. Those tests are based on the assumption you are the only person downloading and whoever or whatever you are downloading from is the only server/person dedicated to serving you. The only time you will ever come close to these speeds is when you are downloading stuff from Microsoft or a major corporation which has plenty of servers and bandwith.

Many torrent users limit their upload speeds to 5-20kbps, then add latency, bandwith usage etc. and even with 20+ seeders you will only get speeds of 50-100kps. I have a 24mbs ADSL2+ line and your stats are fairly normal for your connection. Even with my connection I have NEVER exceded 1mbps - thats 1/24th of my apparent connection, even with 100's of seeders (particularly after the release of a new movie). So don't worry, everything is working fine, and if you find yourself guilt tripping about "stealing" copyrighted material just remind yourself how you used to pay 15 pounds for an album or VHS in the early nineties so some American ###### could buy another private plane to take them to their plastic surgeon in LA - what goes around comes around!

[Dan Furness]

17(1319) means that there are 17 "people" currently online and availiable for downloading the file(s) and that there are 1319 who actually have the file(s) you are downloading, but they are not online. The 4Mbs line you have is not at all indicative of the kind of speeds you can expect when downloading torrents, or anything else for that matter. Those tests are based on the assumption you are the only person downloading and whoever or whatever you are downloading from is the only server/person dedicated to serving you. The only time you will ever come close to these speeds is when you are downloading stuff from Microsoft or a major corporation which has plenty of servers and bandwith.

Many torrent users limit their upload speeds to 5-20kbps, then add latency, bandwith usage etc. and even with 20+ seeders you will only get speeds of 50-100kps. I have a 24mbs ADSL2+ line and your stats are fairly normal for your connection. Even with my connection I have NEVER exceded 1mbps - thats 1/24th of my apparent connection, even with 100's of seeders (particularly after the release of a new movie). So don't worry, everything is working fine, and if you find yourself guilt tripping about "stealing" copyrighted material just remind yourself how you used to pay 15 pounds for an album or VHS in the early nineties so some American ###### could buy another private plane to take them to their plastic surgeon in LA - what goes around comes around!

Its not necessarily how many people are online at all, its how many you are connected to in relation to how many have the full file. Having low connections is sometimes a lot faster than having a lot of connections - it all depends how popular the file is and how many are in the 'swarm'

Mainstream torrent sites host files that other torrent sites are hosting, if your lucky to get invited to a private group with private trackers you will achieve very good speeds.