networking - How does torrenting affect the browsing speed?

07
2014-07
  • Graviton

    I am unclear how does the torrent download affects the speed test. I am on a 5 Mbps line, When I download my torrent file at the speed of 300KB/s ( big B), then the speed test speed (www.speedtest.net)drops to 2.5Mbps ( small b). Two questions arise:

    1. It seems that the torrent speed is not optimized because It should download at 600KB/s ( consumes around 600K*8=4.8Mbps), and leave speed test speed to be minimum. Am I right?
    2. Separate question: is the relationship between torrent speed and the browsing speed expressed in the below equation correct?

    total speed given by ISP=speed used by torrent+browsing speed+network overhead?

    Note: The torrent file I download has more than 2000 peers, so lacking of peer is not the problem.

    • Answers
  • degenerate

    Your torrent client should have an option for maximum connections per torrent. Make sure this is not too high or too low (keep between 10-20 for 5Mbps line).

    As Darius points out, the peers you are connecting to might not be uploading fast enough to max out your connection, and/or they are connected to other people and won't connect to you.

    To maximize your download speed, ensure that your ports are properly forwarded -- google your router model number and port forwarding tutorial to find help online in setting this up so more peers can connect to you.


    • Related Question

    file sharing - Increasing download speed for torrents?
  • pramodc84

    Can you please list out any torrent client configuration to get max out of available net speed?


    • Related Answers
  • nik

    Vuze

    BitComet

    More tips from torrentfreak

  • pelms

    Try these tips from TorrentFreak.

    The factor that made the most difference for me was to limit the upload speed.
    For instance, for my 2Mb/s connection I limited the upload speed to about 1/15 of the maximum download rate, i.e. an upload rate of 136kb/s (17kB/s) - TorrentFreak recommends setting the upload speed to about 80% of the measured maximum upload rate. If the upload is set too high it will slow down the downloads since they need to use some upload capacity for requests.

    P.S. Of course I also set the torrent client to switch to unlimited upload speeds once downloads are complete so I can seed the torrents more quickly.

  • Omar Abid

    There are three main things that may help.

    1. If you are connecting from behind a router make sure the port you are connecting for the torrents has been forwarded (check here for guides: PortForward.com)

    2. While looking for downloads try to not get something redicualisly large.
      Ie. if i want to get a movie for my iPhone i wouldn't get the 8Gig copy over the 1Gig copy.

    3. Look for the amount of seeders to leechers. Seeders are people who have already downloaded the file and are sharing it for others to download. Leechers are the people who are downloading the file as well.
      So i wouldn't even bother getting a file that has 1 seeder and 20 leechers.

  • Moshe

    Keep in mind that some ISPs are putting a cap on the maximum speed you can get via torrent clients. These ISPs are detecting the protocol torrent clients are using, and slow it down on purpose.

    You should consider using a client using the newer uTP protocol (such as uTorrent's beta) for best performance.

    You can read more about it here.

  • salmonmoose

    For underground content (the stuff you shouldn't be downloading) try to find a private tracker, they'll give amazing speeds as everyone there is desperate to upload.

    For legitimate traffic - you shouldn't have a problem, unless someone creates a new torrent for an existing file.

    Don't hammer your outbound bandwidth - set it at 50-75% of your capacity, a clogged out-bound channel will nerf your inbound traffic. Also, don't run too many torrents at once.