Slow Download Speed, Can't Figure Out Port Forwarding Settings. Suggestions On How To Improve The Manual -

[minerran]

Hello,

 

I am new to using BitTorrent and am not finding basic information in the online manual that is required to setup the application.    Here are some suggestions:

 

1. When user manuals are written (typically by software engineers who know the application intimately), the authors seem to not know the basic writing concept of "knowing your reader" and "targeting the intended audience".   Writing a general description of port forwarding is fine, but the user then needs to know what to do specifically.   Thus, the setup guide should include:

 

1. Which version(s) of bitTorrent is the manual applicable to?  I am using BitTorrent 7.9.1 and I saw some help on port forwarding that the setup guide menu took me to (at http://portforward.com/), where the menus and selections at http://portforward.com/ are for an older version of BitTorrent and don't even come close to matching.

 

2. Its clear that to setup port forwarding, we need to know the following:

    a. Are we using TCP or UDP?   Which protocol does BitTorrent 7.9.1 use?

 

3. What are the port ranges to be used in setting up the forwarding?  I have read that BitTorrent uses port numbers in the 6000 range (don't recall where I saw this) but by default, BitTorrent 7.9.1 setup guide windows pops up with 26153 specified as the "current port".  Also there is a checkbox that says "Automatic port mapping (recommended)".   I check this but it does not seem to do anything.  Is port "forwarding" the same as "mapping"?  I would have assumed its the same (be consistent on terminology).

 

4. Where are the settings for port "ranges" referred to at portforward.com ?   I went to the BitTorrent 7.9.1 application, clicked OPTIONS, then PREFERENCES then selected the CONNECTION menu.

I see "Listening Port"   Port used for incoming connections with the default of 26153?   I thought this had to be a range?

 

My root problem here is that when I first installed BitTorrent, it worked great and I downloaded about 20Gb of stuff with a download speed that was close to the max of my internet connection WITHOUT ME CHANGING ANY SETTINGS on the router or without running the BitTorrent setup guide .   The next day I found that my download speed had dropped to under ONE kb/sec... yes, VERY SLOW.   I ran an online app to see if my ISP (ATT Uverse) was restricting my connection.   Application indicated it was not restricted.  I am not running anything else using internet bandwidth and I have tried disabling Norton Internet Security.   I also tried changing the router settings to allow unrestricted port accesses in the range of from 26000 to 27000 to include the default of 26153 that BitTorrent 7.9.1 came up with.

 

I am not sure how to troubleshoot this slow download issue because as I've stated above, its unclear what the BitTorrent settings 1-4 above, need to be.

 

FOOTNOTE:  I just tried selecting UDP and my speed has jumped up to 180kB/s, still well below the maximum of 1.3Mb/sec that my ISP should be providing but much better that when I wrote this earlier today.  Certainly UDP should be faster than TCP but not by a factor of 100!   Something else is going on here.

[Harold Feit]

2> both.

3> Single port provided to you from the preferences, don't use any of the more traditional ports.

[minerran]

Hi Harold,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Not sure what you mean by "both".   Are you saying that BitTorrent opens a TCP connection simultaneously with using UDP?  If so, how can it be possible to use the same port for BOTH, simultaneously.

 

"Single port provided to you from the preferences, don't use any of the more traditional ports."

Port number 26153 comes up as a default.   Is that what I should use?  Not sure what you mean by "traditional ports".

Please keep in mind that I have not used this before so I am not aware of what ports were used in the past.

 

One other thing I find confusing.  First, I read on  http://portforward.com/ that one should NOT use random port selection.   If doing this is bad, why is there a checkbox in Bittorrent allowing one to do it?

 

I think this goes back to my original comment in #1 where I assert that the documentation is really writting as waht I would refer to as "reference" documentation for people who already know the application inside and out.  It would be great to have some "noobie" docs for someone who has never used this before.

 

 

thanks,

 

Randall M.

[Harold Feit]

A lot of the portforward.com guides for BitTorrent are now classified as archaic.

uTorrent's setting guide is actually better for you from that because of the similarities.

[minerran]

thanks Harold,  I searched for and found the uTorrent guide.  They still don't talk about port number.

 

If I may ask you a question, in your own BitTorrent setup, what port number did you enter under

 

Options->Connections  Port used for incoming connections:   ?????

 

It is a single box with a button

 

thanks

[Harold Feit]

I just used the random port it generated in the setup.

[minerran]

understood, thanks