torrent download is slow

[b11_]

The internet connection is fiber optics so normal downloads are fast but when
I tryed a torrent download, the download was much slower. Are torrent
downloads usually so slow?

 

[Tom Willett]

Download speeds depend on the server and the server connection from where
they are coming.

: The internet connection is fiber optics so normal downloads are fast but
when
: I tryed a torrent download, the download was much slower. Are torrent
: downloads usually so slow?

 

[Paul]

The internet connection is fiber optics so normal downloads are fast but when
I tryed a torrent download, the download was much slower. Are torrent
downloads usually so slow?

Torrents can be throttled by the ISP. Using the "deep packet inspection"
equipment, they can tell what transactions are torrents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_packet_inspection

If you want faster performance, then you'll have to research what approach
your ISP is using, whether there are any encrypting clients that work
better, whether your ISP uses pattern matching, and so on. I would expect
it is a dynamic situation (a form of "Internet war"), where the ISP has
most of the tools, and the internet community provides the innovation.
For example, a proxy service or an encrypting VPN, might seem to be an
alternative way of connecting, but the ISP has all the time in the world
to study what you're doing, and program the DPI machine in response.

Using pattern matching techniques, means they don't have to crack the
encryption on a connection. The pattern matching might not be very
accurate, so sometimes the wrong transaction might end up throttled.
My ISP has had a couple long periods of time, were there were
an excessive number of man-in-the-middle RST attacks they were
using. It affected my normal internet service, and I don't even
use Torrents! But talking to their tech support people, is a waste
of time ("have you tried rebooting your router ?" "did you
reinstall Windows yet ?"). The tech support denies everything,
no matter what your question might be. If it was raining outside,
the tech support would say "Oh, it is sunny here. Been sunny all week.
Have you reinstalled Windows yet? "

Paul

 

[N. Miller]

The internet connection is fiber optics so normal downloads are fast but when
I tryed a torrent download, the download was much slower. Are torrent
downloads usually so slow?

Torrents are dependent upon the quality of the tracker. A BitTorrent client
can choke a leecher for any number of reasons (such as, you aren't uploading
very much). The number of peers in a tracker can also have an impact. Peers
can throttle their uploads (my client throttles my upload to ~75% of my
total upload BW). Somebody with only 128 kb/s upload might throttle down to
avoid the issue of saturating upload BW (slow surfing is a big problem if a
BT client saturates the upload BW). So the tracker may have only a handful
of peers, each only uploading at a fraction of their upload BW; and the
aggregate upload from those peers may be insufficient to fill your download
pipe.

 

[RalphA]

The internet connection is fiber optics so normal downloads are fast but when
Since torrents run in the background and shouldn't effect your system, who cares? Some are wicked
fast (800k and higher) and some are ponderously slow. Look at the Seed/Leech ratio. But in
reality, just try to ignore them. They'll get there when they get there. If you are turning your
computer on and off throughout the day they are going to take quite a bit longer. But if none are
coming down fast, something is wrong. I have the best result (using a cable modem) setting the
upload rate (Utorrent) to about 15k. Watch your total download speed (cumulative speed of all your
torrents) and change your upload speed. It should change your download speed within a few seconds.
This way you can dial it in for your setup. This can make a huge difference. Setting to Auto is
just not a solution, same with unlimited. You have to limit upload speeds to attain fast speeds -
at least I do with my cable modem.