Avoiding slow downs when downloading(namely for other users on the network)

[Inate8]

Hey guys, I'm ripping my hair out lately trying to figure out WHY my shoddy network slows down the instant any of us start downloading a decent sized file.

We can stream fine(all users are wired) TF2 and Wow run fine while people are watching 1080/720 content off of the server, but as soon as someone turns on utorrent(even when it is only limited to 25kbps upload, and 100kpbs down on all machines) OR when they say download a file 300 megs plus... you know big enough to take time to notice it.

Whenever one of those things happen, lag hits the games hard, or internet browsing becomes 56k speeds again, ridiculously slow and laggy.

I'm on shaw extreme internet, so the speed isn't a slouch when it wants to be, and I'm guessing it is probably my shoddy router(wrt54 linksys, i'll double check the model when i get home)

Anyone have any ideas on this, I'd love to allow my room-mates to download stuff casually when people are awake/home, without fear of people bitching about the speeds.

The wireless capability of the router is shut off as well, so it's not others leeching from us.

Thanks in advance!

[Perineum]

There are a limited amount of ports those routers can handle in stock trim. What's happening is that your torrent client is opening hundreds or thousands of those ports and you are running out of ports you can open.... even though you technically have a lot of bandwidth your router isn't able to get at any of it because all available ports are in use.

The router is fine, you just need to adjust some settings.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by Perineum

There are a limited amount of ports those routers can handle in stock trim. What's happening is that your torrent client is opening hundreds or thousands of those ports and you are running out of ports you can open.... even though you technically have a lot of bandwidth your router isn't able to get at any of it because all available ports are in use.

The router is fine, you just need to adjust some settings.

Or get a better router!

Perineum is correct(though, his terminology is wrong), your router is getting bogged down with many connections at once, and it can't handle the load. Theres a couple ways you can manage it, the cheapest(free) is to limit the number of half open and full open connections your torrent client and Internet browsers can create/use. Now the settings are located in different areas depending on which application your using, but in utorrent its in "Preferences" under "Bandwidth" as "Max Global Connections", the default being 600 I believe.



The other method is get a better router or, as I have done, build your own(I run a pfsense router/firewall).

[Perineum]

I have a Linksys WRT54GL and I have 4096 connections available. A lot of routers default to 255 which was fixed in later revisions of firmware.

I would update firmware first, and then if that still doesn't work, install DD-WRT firmware.

The hardware itself is capable of doing it.

[Inate8]

Eww... I have a WRT54GS Rev.7...
Eww
Well time to buy a newer router, preferably one with DD-WRT compatibility
or build my own heheh thanks guys

[Perineum]

Why? Is it Intel chip?

Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS/GX - DD-WRT Wiki

[JD]

A side-note, a router with a decent QoS engine would probably handle things better too. It should prioritize normal web traffic over P2P, thus making browsing seem fine.

And as Chilly said, limit the connections in uTorrent, and only have 1 PC using uTorrent at a time. Multiple PCs on the same network is just a bad idea IMO.

[Perineum]

I have up to 3 machines torrenting at the same time, never any issues here.... and I have way too many machines in the house.

[Inate8]

Originally Posted by Perineum

I have up to 3 machines torrenting at the same time, never any issues here.... and I have way too many machines in the house.

This is great, but how does it help my question?
What hardware are you using? What settings have you changed... if any, in your torrent program... what internet are you on... etc...
I appreciate you bumping the thread, but if you are "fine" i'd like to know why and what you are doing different than I.

[Phobia]

Originally Posted by jdrom17

Multiple PCs on the same network is just a bad idea IMO.

I might be interpreting this the wrong way, but isn't that what a network is?