How many torrents do you run at one time?

[jedifunk]

Topic says it all.  I usually get DL speeds anywhere from 25 - 125 KB/sec for a DL.  And usually only have 1 going but sometimes 2.  This morning before I went to work I started DLing 3 shows, all of which I was in the first 5-10 leachers.  At work I checked the BT page and saw that all 3 shows had at least 7 people who had completed and were seeding, so I assumed I was one of those for each show.  

Well, I just got home and have completion % of 52, 27, & 21.  WTF!@!!!!!!

So my question is....is DLing 3 shows at once too many?  The only other thing I can think of is that I had each one capping its Upload @ 10KB/sec.  As a total, I was DLing at 17KB/sec.

I'm still trying to get my head around how BT works, so I'm kinda confused and a bit upset.

FWIW I'm not behind a firewall, and all three shows are Upping at over 200KB/sec from those who are at 100% and seeding.  And all have 20+ other leachers.

So any help or suggestions?  Thanks in advance.

[guyforget]

The internet works on a sort of give and take.  You have to send data to receive data.  If your upload bandwidth is all going to struggling torrents your other outgoing requests get lagged as well, which then effects your download ability.  Basically, you need to know your average max upload rate, and set your torrents to run at that.  Total.  Dont set each one at your max, set each one at whatever fraction of your max you want to dedicate to that session.  

I pay for a nice cable line to my house, and average about 70KB/s up.  I run 2 torrents tops.  Usually one, and maybe an ftp session uploading with half of my bandwidth.  Generally I dont see the point in being the first person on 3 torrents, because you can finish one up and get 1:1 and still have plenty of seeds (more than the single seed at th e beginning of the session) so that you can complete faster.  The only time I start a second torrent is if it only has a few seeds and will probably die soon.  I miss alot of stuff on first post, and then catch alot of reseeds that are struggling.  I spent 6 days on a session last week waiting for someone to pick me up.  I emailed the bt-discuss list @ etree and had a seed in minutes.    

[jedifunk]

ok, see that was my next question.  on average how long do you think a show stays up with people seeding it.  I'm always afraid that if I don't jump on right away, that I'll miss it or get stuck at 25%.

so i've killed (for the moment) 2 of the 3 shows i was dling, and now the one remaining show is poping off at 25KB/sec which isnt amazing but is steady enough.  i just seem to remember having 2 shows going at once and getting dl speeds of 125KB/sec (total between the 2).  

i just wish i understood how this worked a little better.

also i have a good cable connection here in the city, and like i said i CAN get 125KB/sec down but it seems to average more around 25-30KB/sec, but i do have it get to 50-60KB/sec more often than 125.

i guess i just too impatient.  anyways, thanks.

[guyforget]

Turn everything off and go to

http://dslreports.com/stests

And run their speed tests. Dont do it while you run any torrents or anything else that uses your connection.  Dont check your email or look at other websites.  Itll give you an idea of what you can send & receive.  

I also think that there are some tracker mechanisms that try to keep your download rate at close to even to your upload rate.  The trackers and clients are built to keep you sharing, since thats the backbone to bit torrent.  Thats just theory, really...

Im on the 8/3/97 torrent and pulling ~130KB/s and uploading ~45KB/s which is what I have my max set to.

[jedifunk]

ok, here's what i got.

from speakeasy: 282/342 kbps
from megapath: 347/344 kbps (43.4 KB/sec)
from linkline: 432/279 kbps (54KB/sec)

so whats that mean...i have a shitty cable connection?  what do you get when you run these tests?

[guyforget]

Sounds like your connection is really lagged.  Maybe there are some things running in the background that you dont know about?  You run a MAC, though right?  So I dunno.  

My results from those speed tests are

2709 / 535 kb/s which is roughly 338.6 KB/sec downloading and 66.8KB/s uploading.  Typical cable results would be more in the range of 2500 / 250.  Your 43KB/s uploading is good for home cable, but your download is pretty farkin slow.

(Divide your kbps results by 8 to get KB/s)