Filesharing woes

Pepe LeFrits

Yo,

Was on IrishBroadband for 8 months there. Bittorrent, DC++ etc worked fine, if a bit erratic due to the connection. Switched to Eircom DSL the other day, http based downloads are fantastic (55kb/s solid) but all the filesharing apps are screwed.

In DC++ i can almost never connect to any other users to even get a file list, and in BT i continually upload at 10kb/s but usually only get 2kb/s down. Tried a few different clients and no joy. Burst shows that i usually only connect to about 2 or other 3 users (while uploading to a load of users if i dont limit it) which might explain why its so slow. I can't figure out why i can't connect to other users though. Any ideas?

I'm using the Netopia Cayman modem btw.

Kevok

Not sure about the BT stuff. Always worked fine for me. (IBB)

DC++ however i think is a NAT issue. You will need to forward a specific port on the html config page that comes with your modem. (usually accessed by going to 192.168.1.1 on your browser).

Just forward something like port 20896 to your pc IP then put that into your DC++ config. Along with the external IP that your ISP is giving you. Failing that use passive mode in DC++.

Ste-

For BT

Try lowering your upload that might increase your download.

Mutant_Fruit

i am suffering the same problems, recently its been really slow. Most annoying. I am averaging as low as 8kbps down at times :-(

The pings are also sky high, so no online gaming for me. I might drop them an e-mail soon if it doesnt pick up, i already waited nearly a month.

Ping statistics for 82.195.131.128:
Packets: Sent = 38, Received = 35, Lost = 3 (7% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 937ms, Average = 348ms

EDIT: I'm with IBB

EDIT2: I meant 8kb's a second

OfflerCrocGod

Most of these problems would be solved by doing exactly what Kevin said in the first reply. You must forward all the ports that P2P application X uses to whichever computer you would prefer to be your downloads computer. It's a very simple operation, someone asked this same question like three days ago. The Eircon Modem Netopia(??) has a built in router so ye your problem is more then likely a NAT problem. Just forward all ports for all filesharing apps to the IP of your preffered machine.

Mutant_Fruit

ok, i have NEVER heard of nat/firewalls slowing down speeds.

All that would happen is that they would either A) Stop the program from working completely online or Allow it to work online. THeres no option C) where it would let it run slowly,

NAT isn;t causing it.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
NAT isn;t causing it.

You're right, NAT isn't causing it.

P2P networks only work if people share files. That means accepting inbound connections. A firewall won't allow arbitrary inbound connections, so anyone running a P2P app behind a NAT device will only be able to share files with other machines that ii has "reached out" to - the connection has to be initiated by the machine behind the NAT device. That means that 2 machines both behind NAT devices can only share files by going through a 3rd party server, rather than sharing directly between each other.

That will obviously slow things down, as that server will only be able to support a limited number of connections. I don't know whether some P2P apps are being deliberately designed to penalise people behind NAT devices, by pushing them further down the "queue", as some posters have described, or whether it's purely a function of the sheer number of residential firewalls in use, but by forwarding a specific port to your machine, your can now act as a server in the P2P relationship, and facilitate faster connections for people downloading stuff off you. From reports here. this seems to get you pushed further up the queue, and you can get access to faster downloads.

So it looks like a deliberate design "feature" of the apps, to encourage people to allow anyone in the world to connect to them, rather than having everyone connect to a few central servers.

I was wondering why eircom were supplying hardware that would allow you to share your broadband connection between 2 PCs at once. Obviously it helps protect the eircom network from Blaster type worms, but I hadn't realized that it also discourages P2P networks. Those guys may be smarter than I gave the credit for!