About Uploads....

[Mr AnDy D]

Hi, my friend and I at school were having an arguement, he thought that if you share files with others that you will be able to download items at a faster speed. Is this true?

[Mosfos]

myth.

[Switeck]

Originally posted by Mr AnDy D@20 October 2003 - 21:06
Hi, my friend and I at school were having an arguement, he thought that if you share files with others that you will be able to download items at a faster speed. Is this true?

In theory, yes.
Each little bit you add to the network should in theory 'catch' someone who would otherwise be downloading from the same source as you. But with assymetric bandwidths, it just means more leeching.

In practice, basically no.
Uploading TOO fast will ALWAYS cripple download speeds.
So you are much better off uploading at only 50-80% of your connection&#39;s max upload speed. And NOT trying to upload to TOO many people at once, because nobody wants to see <0.1 KB/sec download speeds. ALSO, don&#39;t share too much or too popular files at once... it attracts too much attention, both from RIAA/MPAA/BSA and even other users. Having 100+ people all trying to download from you at once can slow things down.

HOWEVER, if you have the privacy patch disabled so others can SEE your shared files then someone might not cut you off for being a leech that might have otherwise -- so in that 1 case it would be faster.