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Increase Your P2P Download Speeds

Posted by admin June 20, 2008

This guide is meant to explain how to increase your speeds when using p2p applications and still be allowed to browse the the Internet, with just a small slowdown. First off, I’d like to recommend to everyone:

µTorrent for large new files - http://www.utorrent.com/
eMule for rare files - http://www.emule-project.net/
cabos for media files - http://cabos.sourceforge.jp/
They all use very little resources and are spyware/adware free.

µTorrent Quick Tips - Official FAQ

Speed Guide (basic)
This should popup when you first run µTorrent, otherwise head over to Options>Speed Guide (CTRL+G). Follow the instructions on the screen. You will want to test your upload speed on a few sites to make sure you input the speed you are getting and NOT the speed your ISP claims to be giving you. Make sure to do a few tests and take a rough average of them. Choose the closest option in the drop down menu (better to choose a lower speed than a higher one, but only one setting below). For more about the 80% rule see below for details. For step 2, choose your port. Make sure to test if it is port forwarded, see below if you have a router.

Manual Settings (advanced)
Options>Preferences

>Connection
Port used for incoming connections: xxxxx
You can use any port that isn’t in use already, 45682 is the one I use. If you have a router, make sure to have this port, port forwarded. See below for more details.

Randomize port each time µtorrent starts: UNCHECKED
I have a router and therefore I leave this unchecked. If you do not have a router or a firewall, and want extra “security”; check this option.

Enable UPnP port mapping (Windows XP or later only): UNCHECKED
I leave this unchecked because it shouldn’t slow down speeds, but for some reason it can cause problems sometimes. It is not needed if you port forward manually and I would actually recommend disabling it if you port forward manually.

Add µTorrent to Windows Firewall exceptions (Windows XP SP2 or later only): CHECKED
If you don’t have the firewall on, you can uncheck this option. Otherwise, check this option or add µTorrent to the exceptions list manually. See below for details.

Proxy Server: I don’t have a proxy set up, if you do make sure to set this part up correctly.

Global Maximum upload rate (kb/s): [0: unlimited]: Do not put this to 0. See below or the speed guide above for more details.

Alternate upload rate… & Global maximum download…: User Preference
Use the first option if you plan to seed a torrent. Capping download speeds for testing or to maximize browsing speeds is sometimes useful.

>BitTorrent
Global Maximum Number of Connections: 1000
This number should not be set too low or the number of connections made to your torrents will be limited. Setting it too high may cause too much bandwidth to be used and can cause overall slowdowns. Play around with this number and see how many connections are being used in Help>Show Statistics

Maximum Number of connected peers per torrent: 250
This number should be lower than the number above. If you see that the peers connected to a specific torrent are exactly this number, or very close, increase this number to improve speeds.

Number of upload slots & Use additional upload: User Preference
This depends on how much you want to upload to other users. Do not set too low or it may affect download speeds. I have it set to 4.

Enable DHT, Enable DHT for new torrents: CHECKED
This is recommended to be checked to improve speeds. More people will be available for sharing if this is checked. (private trackers don’t like this, turn DHT off for them)

Ask tracker for scraper information, Enable Peer Exchange: CHECKED
This is recommended to be checked to improve speeds.


Protocol Encryption: ENABLED
I would recommend everyone to enable this. This can help increase speeds with many ISPs. If you suspect your ISP is throttling ports (i.e. you are getting 0-10kb/s) set this to FORCED.

Allow incoming Legacy Connections: CHECKED

>Queuing
Maximum number of active & Maximum number of active: User Preference
I have mine set to 4 and 3.
*The rest in this section is user preference also.

>Advanced Options
Most of these can be left on default, except:

net.max_halfopen>50
DO NOT CHANGE THIS OPTION unless you have windows xp sp2 and you have patched tcpip.sys. I have mine patched to 50 and hence the above setting. See below for further details.

peer.lazy_bitfield>User Preference
If you are getting ridiculous speeds (1-5kb/s) your ISP may be to blame. Set this option to true if you believe this is the case.

eMule quick tips - Official FAQ
Options

>Connection
Note: There is a wizard at the bottom for this section.

Download Capacities and Limits: User Preference, you may want to cap your download speed if you are downloading something else and want it to get more bandwidth.
Upload Capacities and Limits: Enter your max upload speed and cap (limit) it to about 80%, see below for details.

Client Ports: Choose two ports, the default ones will do. Make sure to port forward them (see below for details) if you have a router, make sure one is TCP and one is UDP and test if they are open.

Max Sources/file: 1000
Connection limits: 5000
Play around with these two numbers, setting them to low will cause eMule to struggle and setting them too high will use up too much of your bandwidth and effectively kill your connection.

Reconnect on Loss, Autoconnect on startup: CHECKED (User Preference)
Network, Kad and eD2K: CHECKED
You’ll want to have more networks to connect to more peers. As well, eMule will track how much you share, so make sure to have a decent library of shared files.

Cabos Quick Tips
>Download
Save downloaded files in: User Preference (just make sure you can find the files after)
Maximum Downloads: User Preference

Downstream Bandwidth: 100%
Leave this on the default 100% unless you need to divide up your internet bandwidth across other programs.

>Sharing
Share partially downloaded files: CHECKED
Share completely downloaded files: CHECKED
Not sharing files can usually hurt your download speeds.

Maximum uploads: User Preference
Maximum uploads per person: User Preference
Do NOT set either of these options to 0. It will hurt your download speeds.

Upstream bandwidth limit (%) : 80 (see below for details)

>Network
Listen for incoming connections on port: User Preference
The default number is fine, just make sure to port forward if you have a router, see below for details.

Allow this computer to become an Ultrapeer: CHECKED
Allow freeloaders to connect to this computer: UNCHECKED

>Advanced
Only play around here if you are behind a proxy, otherwise leave everything unchecked.

Now to the good stuff. No matter what p2p application you use, here are some basic tips to increase transfer speeds:

Do you have a firewall?
If you do,
>Open up the options/preferences/settings for the firewall - Usually your firewall will have an icon to click in the taskbar (bottom right)
>Look for the key words “allow list” or “programs”
>Add the application you want to give access to the internet
>Make sure to save your settings when you’re done

Do you have a router?
(check out http://www.portforward.com - thanks to CrisCr0ss)

If you do,
Go to start>run>type cmd, press enter>type ipconfig, press enter
>Remember both your IP address and your Default Gateway
>Type in your default gateway into your default browser (Internet Explorer will work fine), a password prompt may come up; I don’t know your password
>Look for the keywords “applications” or “port forwarding” and fill out one line for each p2p client (2 sometimes are needed, see below)
>You need to use your IP address, the correct port range (usually just one port, so both min and max would be the same port) and set either TCP or UDP
>You can find and change the ports in the actual p2p client’s settings, just make sure they are the same in the router
>Most p2p apps need both TCP and UDP checked, if you aren’t sure; check your p2p clients’ FAQ
>Make sure to save your settings when you’re done!

In eMule you will get a “High ID” (server tab on the bottom right under my info) if your ports are properly forwarded and the firewall allows it through. Otherwise, you get a Low ID. In µTorrent, you will get a green icon in the bottom right of the program if everything is working fine (It may remain yellow if you do not have a torrent added or if the torrent is very unpopular). Red means you don’t have it port forwarded or added in your firewall.

Other p2p apps may not tell you if you did everything correctly but your speeds should improve if you did smile.gif
If you want to make sure you forwarded the ports correctly and the p2p program doesn’t offer a built-in function, certain applications will do this for you. Active ports and SIW can do this.

Cap your upload speed to 80%.
Most internet connections will limit your download speed if your upload speed is maxed out. To “fix” this, the general rule is to limit your upload speed to about 80%. Limiting it lower than 80% is a) unfair to everyone transferring the file b) ignorant as many clients will then automatically slow down your download speed.

First, you need to find out your upload speed from your internet provider. You can call them or visit their website.
A good idea is to find out your actual upload rate as different factors can affect what you are actually getting from your ISP (distance, sharing between computers etc.)
You can test your bandwidth speeds on sites like

  • http://www.speedtest.net/ (requires flash)
  • http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
  • http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ (requires flash)
  • Bandwidth Speed Test Google Search

Once you have the number it will probably be in kilobits. Most clients use speeds in kilobytes. 8 bits makes a byte. Therefore, take your number and divide it by 8. Now find 80% of the new number.
Here is how I calculate 80% of my upload bandwidth:
800kb / 8 = 100kB (b=bits, B=bytes)
100 x 0.8 = 80kB

Within my p2p client, I cap my upload speed to 70kB-80kB. Keep in mind, if you have many clients open, and every single one is allowed to use 80% then you can easily max out your upload speed and have problems with download speeds.
Do you have Windows XP SP2?


If you don’t, you should. Service Pack 2, however, limits the number of half-open connections (the tcpip.sys file). This does not affect browsing speeds but can have a pretty negative effect on all p2p clients. A good number to patch the maximum number of half-open connections allowed is 50. If you don’t see any change in speed, run the patch again and choose 10 (the default number). I would not recommend going over 50-100. This limitation was added for security reasons, so keep this in mind if you want to patch your tcp.sys file. You will receive an Event ID: 4226 warning in the Event Viewer because the patch is changing the tcpip.sys system file.
The following links are possible ways to patch this system file. I am not responsible for anything that may go wrong when patching the file.
lvllord’s patch
xp antispy (in the special menu)

Still can’t get great speeds? Post here or pm me to change some settings within the client. I welcome fellow Neowinians to add on to this thread and give other suggestions for increasing speeds. Do not simply come here to yell out that a certain p2p app is better or worse than the others. Rating this thread is appreciated and helps users check out the good guides. Finally, please respect Neowin’s rules and keep this thread free of piracy discussions.

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