Speeding Bittorrent up on a 56K Modem

**Sherman** · 10-24-2005, 01:40 AM

So I'm getting fed up with being connected to like, 5 seeds, and donloading a file that'll drop down to about 1 or 0 kb/s, with occassionally popping up to 4,5, or even 6 kb/s. Is there any way you guys know that I can increase my chances of a good dl speed? Or at least maintain that high level? I read something somewhere about 'opening up your ports'... but it seemed like I needed to be on broadband or something to get that. I just have an ordinary dial-up modem. Any clues?

EDIT: Actually, here's a bit more detail if it helps: I'm using BitComet, it's a 56.6.k modem... actually, I can't think of any more details. Help please?

**shautieh** · 10-24-2005, 08:29 AM

....... don't expect high speeds with a 56 k ....

**Gvaz** · 10-24-2005, 08:34 AM

yup
with that connection...thats about as good as it gets.
get DSL. it'll help sOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much in the long run.

**Volvogga** · 10-24-2005, 09:25 AM

Best I ever did on my beloved 56K external is 8Kbs. I was so excited! That is the best that can be done due to the analog to digital to analog conversion done by your phone line network of stations.

That is for downloading anyway. Also, the 56K part is bullshit as well (if you live in the US anyway, but I see you don't, so I can't be sure about your situation) as the FCC, and I here some other countries, limit the data transfer rate over the line medium. I think it is up to 53K or something.... not much, but its the principal of the thing, damnit! I paid for the 56K, I want the full damn speed! And what the hell is with these cheap serial ports with the crap UARTs. If I had one of those too, I'd have to rip....
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I think I went to far. I'm going to stop now.

**Cold-NiTe** · 10-24-2005, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Volvogga

Best I ever did on my beloved 56K external is 8Kbs. I was so excited! That is the best that can be done due to the analog to digital to analog conversion done by your phone line network of stations.

That is for downloading anyway. Also, the 56K part is bullshit as well (if you live in the US anyway, but I see you don't, so I can't be sure about your situation) as the FCC, and I here some other countries, limit the data transfer rate over the line medium. I think it is up to 53K or something.... not much, but its the principal of the thing, damnit! I paid for the 56K, I want the full damn speed! And what the hell is with these cheap serial ports with the crap UARTs. If I had one of those too, I'd have to rip....
....
.........
..................
I think I went to far. I'm going to stop now.

The reason they limit the transfer rate to 53Kbps is for the safety of the line itself. However there are ways to achieve better speeds with 56k's and I don't mean those shitty download accelerators either.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000041.htm

As you can see, there's several "standards" of 56k modems and it helps if you use the same kind as your ISP.

http://www.computerhope.com/modemsta.htm

**Volvogga** · 10-24-2005, 11:43 AM

Very true. My modem at home is a V.92, so I have to use the V.92 phone number for AOL (its the only one that works worth a damn in my area, get off me). Most modems that I have seen lately though (and I don't look very hard) can handle several of the standards. I think mine will do V.92, V.90, and Kflex. Also, if it external (a REAL modem, not some shitty WINmodem), you need to match the baud rates of the serial ports to the baud rate of the modem. Also make sure it is using hardware flow control (if the modem supports it). Another thing to set is the buffer of the UART (in serial port settings). There was something else that went with the buffer, but I can't remember (laptop has no serial port). Tweaking all these settings will get your speed up a little bit, and make the connection more reliable.

One of the most important things is the initialization string of the modem. If that is crap, then the modem will be slow and unreliable. Finding a good int string for a modem seems to be pretty hard these days though. Never did find a great one for mine. Its acceptible though (usually get about 48K-51K).

Those major tweaks to TCP/IP settings and the modem settings to boost the connection to true 56K are usually really involved, and time consuming. I never found them to be worth the time and effort.

**Cold-NiTe** · 10-24-2005, 12:22 PM

And remember kids, NEVER conflict with your ISP's standards, cause loading one webpage a day, just ain't fun.

**Sherman** · 10-24-2005, 04:59 PM

Hey, thanks everyone. Yeah I didn't expect much with my shitty 56k modem... but that's what came with my laptop (it's internal, by the way

) and being a poor student means I can't afford to change it. I'll try some of those things you suggested... but I'm kind of a retard when it comes to understanding that stuff so I'll get one of my more computer-literate friends to give me a hand.

The thing that was really bugging me tho, was that when I started using BitComet, the first file I downloaded (Monster ep 13) was coming through at 4-6 k pretty much the whole time, and with only 1 seed! I was stoked! But now, the next one I'm trying (Monster ep package 17-20) has a ton of seeds but is only coming through at that really slow rate. Seriously, mostly 0-1k. Ah well.