[willsken]

I am doing some downloading from a torrent and it's really really slow. This seems to be because of the firewall and not having a port open. Now, I have tried to open a port and I have turned the Windows firewall off but to no avail. Can any one give me some advice on what I need to do to open a port for Azureus to use? I've been playing for hours and I'm really fed up. :wah :wah :wah

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

It is possible (likely in fact) you have a firewall in your ADSL router as well as the one on your PC. You may need to open the port there as well.

I wouldn't recommend turning all your firewall protection off for any length of time, unless you have a peculiar fetish for nasty worms.

Just a guess, but deffo worth a look if you already know its a firewall port issue.

[willsken]

It is possible (likely in fact) you have a firewall in your ADSL router as well as the one on your PC. You may need to open the port there as well.

I wouldn't recommend turning all your firewall protection off for any length of time, unless you have a peculiar fetish for nasty worms.

Just a guess, but deffo worth a look if you already know its a firewall port issue.

Yes, I think you are right as my Norton and Windows firewalls are both now off :uhoh I think I must be being really thick as I am putting my IP adress into address bar and it's not finding it. WHY!! I need to go onto the Xtra site to change my settings and I can't. I think I'm out of my depth here and all I'm trying to do is download a few lousy programs that I probably won't even watch. Dog with a bone syndrome now though! :roll :roll

[martinp]

I am doing some downloading from a torrent and it's really really slow. This is possibly because your ISP is restricting your access speeds for this type of connection.

[Natasha]

Hi there, this is a long post as I tend to ramble - you've been warned!

Azureus/Vuze can be a pain it the bum to get working with routers (which I'm assuming you are using). The best thing to do is to go to your routers settings (as you've been trying). This is usually similar to your IP address - i.e. if your IP is 192.168.2.2 then it is possible that your router is 192.168.2.1.

One way to check this address is to look at your Internet Connection properties and look at the 'gateway' address. You can get to this through Start > Control Panel > Network Connections then double click on your connection and look at it's status/details. I think it should be shown in there.

If you do find this address then put it into your internet explorer and hopefully you should get to your routers setup. The next bit greatly varies depending on your router, but ideally you need to find a section about 'port forwarding' in it and put the details in there.

To help you a bit more there is a great page that lists lots of different routers and how to set them up at: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm

Simply find your router (or as close to as possible, as manufacturers are often lazy and re-use menus between models) and click it. Next you can either try to find the actual program if it is listed or simply follow their default guide to that router if it exists. You'll need to probably open the TCP and UDP ports suggested by Azureus.

Sorry I couldn't give exact help as I don't know much about your setup, but hopefully it will give you a place to start from.

The other reason you may be getting slow torrents though is that as Martinp said above, ISPs have started doing a trick called traffic shaping whereby they restrict certain internet connections (like torrents).

Good luck,

Alex

[martinp]

ISPs have started doing a trick called traffic shaping whereby they restrict certain internet connections (like torrents). The Internet infrastructure in NZ is somewhat behind places like Europe and the USA. Xtra, part of Telecom, who I use, have had traffic shaping in place for some time now. I extensively use NNTP for mp3 downloads, and the protocol was speed capped on the normal ports. Luckily the NNTP server I use had a range of ports and until a week or so ago, I could still connect at full speed using an alternative port. But not anymore, all the ports I can connect with are now speed capped. There is a way round traffic shaping on all protocols on all ports, but it costs money per month, and I feel this forum is probably not the place to discuss it. A PM will reveal what I have found.

[kanatakiwi]

this may be a dumb questions but how does Xtra have the right to limit to restrict access to certain site? or to cap access speeds? As I am paying what seems like a lot of money to get decent access speed, how can they then restrict it?
also my internet was Really really slow last night, and then lost connection for a while, I assumed it was because of the awful weather?

[barryp]

No consumer plan offered by Xtra/Telecom offers unrestricted access speeds, bandwidth unaffected by time-of-day, or guaranteed level of service for ANY type of traffic. Further, there's bound to be traffic shaping for bit torrent traffic, as such activity gobbles bandwidth that's shared amongst many users. (Pareto rule: torrent users are a relatively small proportion of users but consume the majority of the bandwidth available.)

You can get such a plan in larger cities, but it will cost you at least $300/month, and for genuinely fast speeds you'll pay far more. At work, we have unreliable but fat pipe globally, and the bill is approximately $40,000 per month.

I doubt that Xtra blocks access to particular sites, though I do not know. I'm guessing the slowdown during horrid weather is a simple capacity issue - more people stuck at home than usual, trying to access the Internet.

[StevieD]

Yeah and the SP's power going down may have been and issue LOL

[willsken]

Thanks for the replies. I'm off to try all the advice I've been given. I'll let you know later how I did:roll :)

[willsken]

Thanks for all the good advice, I'm all up and running now.

One thing out of curiosity, as I'll ring Xtra in the morning, I carried out a speed test on the 5th May and the result was 3963 kb/s download and 132 kb/s upload. Today I tested the speed and it was 668 kb/s download and 136 upload. What are the reasons that this could be so different? I'm on the unlimited plan.

[willsken]

I change my Xtra plan and my speed is back to where it use to be. :clap