bittorrent slow

[Temlakos]

sean wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:11:45 -0700
> Tony Heaton <theaton at lanl.gov> wrote:
> 
> 
>>I have to agree with all these bittorrent complaints.  It took me 22
>>hours to get the FC5 i386 DVD from bittorrent.  It took me 35 minutes to
>>get the FC5 x86_64 DVD from a mirror.  32 minutes to get the FC5 ppc DVD
>>from a mirror.
> 
> 
> The biggest problem is usually that your upstream speed is limited which 
> will severely reduce your download speed (1).  One common cause is having 
> local firewall (iptables) rules active.  Another is having a router 
> (linksys etc.) which hasn't been configured to allow bittorrent 
> connections (2).
> 
> Once your environment is configured properly (which isn't always easy) 
> bittorrent download speeds are usually respectable.
> 
> Sean
> 
> 
> 1 bittorrent has fairness algorithms that cause your download speed to be
>   based on how fast you upload to others.
> 
> 2 http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm gives a pretty decent walk through
>   to help you configure your router properly
> 

I'm not sure that any of this is relevant.

I've been watching the Peer List off and on. Every now and again, some 
seed will join the torrent and offer uploads at speeds in excess of 150 
KB/s. When those seeds abruptly disconnect from the torrent, my d/l rate 
goes down to 20 KB/s.

And right now--this instant, 2:40 p.m. EST (that's 19:40 UTC)--someone 
has joined the torrent and is uploading to me at faster than 200 KB/s. 
And that's just /one/ seed. (Well, maybe it's because I published a new 
regulation to my Linksys Wireless Router WRT-54G, telling it to allow 
"bittorrent" access to ports 6881 through 6889 to a machine having a 
static IP address. True? Hard to say.)

Temlakos