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Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

bealecow
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Hello Plusnet
I use file sharing apps for a mix of work and pleasure (i work for a production company and am required to download extremely large raw footage files for editing) and occasionally will use them to catch up on few shows.
Basically I have been experiencing slow to non existing speeds and not hooking up to seeders. I have tried various torrents and various torrent software on multiple devices but still every torrent gives the same poor seed / download response.
I checked my download speeds and Im getting my quoted speeds and it has not effected any other internet based services (Netflix, general browsing, YouTube, Spotify) it just seems to be effecting torrents (P2P) I called Plusnet tech support and went through the regular router checks and nothing changed. Im using an Mac mini and uTorrent which uses UPnP and so does my Thompson router so no need for port forwarding. Everything is wired straight to the router the only devices that use wireless are phones and tablets I don't have automatic updates on so now apps or services have been updated.
If i restart my Mac mini my speeds and seeders increase dramatically but then drop back to nowt after about a minute. only for a minute and then nothing, nada not even a squeak. last week everything was fine but now it feels like I'm being throttled but if I understand throttling correctly it would effect all uses of the internet not just P2P. Im on an unlimited service so it shouldn't matter when I'm trying to download and at a complete loss with this problem and would greatly appreciate some help? Any ideas?
Thanks
*NOTE*
My Playstation has also just began to have problems signing into PSN it tells me that the Sony entertainment server Timed out but only when I have uTorrent running as soon as i quit it I can log into PSN again this only began happening last week
15 REPLIES 15
RPMozley
Pro
Posts: 1,339
Thanks: 83
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎04-11-2011

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

The UPnP on the Thompson router (TG582n is it?) is a bit flaky to be honest, in my experience with it. It's best to set up a manual portfowarding rule for uTorrent (make sure in it's settings it's not set to randomise the port). It should work ok after you've set that up.
That's RPM to you!!
gnicholson8
Grafter
Posts: 319
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Firstly, does the built in tests for Utorrent give you any readings and does the status symbol turn Green/Yellow or Red.
I've never trusted UPnP with anything and have always manually set the ports.
I reckon, especially the error with your PS3 is that Utorrent is trying to use one of the ports PSN which if I remember correctly are
TCP:
80
443
3478
3479
3480
5223
8080
UDP:
3478
3479
I would recommend manually setting the port and use a high number, for example I normally run from 40,000-60,000 range.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Looking at your account and usage, it seems that your saturating the upload. This is very likely to impact download speeds. Try setting an upload speed cap in your torrent software and you should see a good change.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
bealecow
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

I have already throttled my uploads to 4kb which is a bit overkill i know but i needed to see if it helped, which it has not
I think I have set up port forwarding i think it comes under 'Game & Application sharing' under the thompson router interface? sse attached image of said port forwarding? but again no change but could of done it wrong
I am very new to this and have very little knowledge of router configuration so I appreciate any help i can get
see attached images of my torrents status's, possible port forwarding? and the setting for uTorrent
thanks again
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Perhaps try limiting the total number of connections to e.g. 30 to avoid overwhelming the router with too many connections.
RPMozley
Pro
Posts: 1,339
Thanks: 83
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎04-11-2011

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

For the portforward rule you should only use the single port being used by uTorrent (in your case port 50000). After that's set you have to assign it to your computer, the link to set this is below in the screen shot of the rule.
Set the throttle to at least 15k, any less it may slow things down. 50% of your upload bandwidth is the best option for minimal impact on any other things running, including downloads.
That's RPM to you!!
bealecow
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Right so i followed all you instructions to the nail i think I have attached appropriate screenshots but still nothing everytime i make changes i reset the router and mac mini still nothing
- single port forwarded to 50000 and made sure it was assigned to my mac mini (now uTorrent now has a red light saying 'no incoming connections'?
- connections reduced to 30
- uploads reduced to 15kb
Im at a loss for what else to try
S.
RPMozley
Pro
Posts: 1,339
Thanks: 83
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎04-11-2011

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

No incoming connections doesn't always mean the port isn't open. Try testing the port is open with shields up.
Oh and outgoing encryption can be set to Enabled in uTorrent. This isn't probably the reason you're getting slow speeds but some seeds require it enabled at the least before they connect.
You should also reset the total connections back to 200 again, I don't think 30 will help at all in this case.
That's RPM to you!!
gnicholson8
Grafter
Posts: 319
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Have you set a static IP on your MAC and also made sure the ports are being forwarded to the correct device on the machine?
Also, only use a single port number, for example I use 47643 etc etc. something random.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Check the router's log, and your computer's system log, to see if either firewall has decided to classify the traffic as a DoS attack and block it.
bealecow
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

@ejs the first thing I did when i begun trying to fix things was turn off my firewall on my router so dont think that should be cause any trouble
@gnicholson8 I have tried to set up a static IP address before for another reason but it was above my knowledge of computing and gave up and also everthing has been working like a charm for the last couple of years but now suddenly nothing?
@RPMozley I have set my shields up on outgoing data and reset my connections limit back to 200
and i will now reset everything and see if there will be any changes
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
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Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

ditch utorrent and use transmission and port forward.
I have a mini too and that is the best combination, upnp is too poor to rely on.
Customer / Moderator
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gnicholson8
Grafter
Posts: 319
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-11-2013

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

Utorrent works fine.
But you've just identified your problem. Port forwarding is useless if you've not set up a static IP address on your computer as the Router/DHCP server will assign a random IP address to your computer everytime you turn it on.
As the portfoward goes to a specific IP address (ie)
TCP PORT 49768 is forwarded to IP 192.168.0.5
but your mac might be running on on 192.168.0.7 then it won't be forwarding the data to your mac. first rule of Port Forwarding, Static IP address.
What router do you have? and if you want I can help you set up a Static IP address
The main bits of info you need to set up a static IP on your PC is
IP Address - The IP Address you want to use
Subnet Mask - Find this by logging in to your router, ususally it is 255.255.255.0 but may cary
Router - The router/gateway address, ie 192.168.0.1 (the ip used to log into your router)
DNS - Your DNS address, found by logging into the router.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Terrible P2P speeds, not using any available seeds.

The 582n will do its "game and application sharing" to whatever IP address it has assigned the computer. I think other people (npr) have said it works better if the IP address has been assigned by DHCP by the router. Ticking the "always use the same IP address" box for the computer in the router GUI might help.