File-sharing in a library with Wifi

[zipzap]

Hi, I'm new here and not very technically savvy. I hope this is the right place for tech help questions.

I've used Utorrent in this library without problems in the past, but for the past week or so, my speeds have been no more than 50 kb (I used to get in the 100's). Also, the down arrows next to files that are downloading are red instead of blue (meaning they're inactive, I think). In fact, most of my Dls don't even start at all; I have only 1 working currently - with a RED arrow - at around 20 or 30 kb.

I don't know what caused it, but 1 thing that happened is that I accidentally deleted the program. I thought I was only deleting the desktop icon, but I forgot that it's a standalone program, rather than an installed one. So when I deleted the icon, I deleted the whole program and had to reinstall it.

I tried playing with the settings - such as allowing encryption or not, enabling UPnP port mapping or not, etc. - but it hasn't improved at all.

So my question is: is there any way to get it to work?

Please help.

Thanks.

[darknessgp]

It could be the torrents you are on. It could be the library blocking access to the specific trackers. And it could be the library cutting bandwidth all together. My local college had a thing built in where if the download lasted more than 2 minutes (i.e. everything but web pages and small files) then the bandwidth was cut down from the normal 5 MBps max to only 50 KBps.

You are better off leaving encryption on, as it helps if they do packet shaping.

[zipzap]

Could be certain ones, but more likely they're restricting ALL torrents, if at all.

The stuff I DL is mostly porn. I can try some non-porn stuff and see if it works normally.

I left encryption on.

Thanks.

[joyntkid]

haha, d/ling pr0n at the library.
always a good hobby. :-D

[Bucktoof]

In certain public wifi networks, especially schools and libraries or other government buildings, I never use torrents because it's not really worth it. You're usually limited and especially in places like schools where you have to log in, they can take your internet privileges away because of the bandwidth usage.

[necromantic]

Any advice on finding an open port on public wifi like at a college or a library?

[zipzap]

In certain public wifi networks, especially schools and libraries or other government buildings, I never use torrents because it's not really worth it. You're usually limited and especially in places like schools where you have to log in, they can take your internet privileges away because of the bandwidth usage.

No signing in required at my library. It's an open WIFI network. I've been DLing beautifully for the past several months.


haha, d/ling pr0n at the library.
always a good hobby. :-D

Well, the library has tons of books and journals on every topic in the world, except pron. So until they get up to speed with their pron resources, I'll just have to DL it. :D


Any advice on finding an open port on public wifi like at a college or a library?

I've tried a bunch of random ports on Utorrent, as well as the port I was using previously (I noted the #), but none seemed to make any difference.

Question: when I change the port in Utorrent (by clicking on "random port" under Preferences > Connection), should I close Utorrent down and then restart it to see if there's any improvement? Or is that unnecessary?

[Melvinmeow]

I would close and open it.

As far as the downloads be sure to check the Clients error column. Maybe its an error within the client itself. Ex: You moved the files. Or its not reporting correctly ect...

[zipzap]

I would close and open it.

As far as the downloads be sure to check the Clients error column. Maybe its an error within the client itself. Ex: You moved the files. Or its not reporting correctly ect...

Thanks. Still no luck switching port #'s, even with restarting Utorrent.

I can't find a Clients Error column anywhere. Where is it please?

Maybe another torrent program/client such as ABC would work? What do you think?

Also, I have no peers for any of my torrents (I did a forced DL of 25 of them).

And under seeds, it says: "0 of 0 connected (0 in swarm)".

And under trackers, it says either "offline (timed out)" or "HTTP error 403". I tried clicking on "update tracker", but it didn't help.

Please help.

1 more thing: I tried an audiobook torrent from the Pirate Bay today, and that's not DLing either.

[SHUVT]

It must have something to do with your UT settings. With 6.1 I have noticed that it may announce and refresh too many times on a tracker thus giving you the red arrows. It ussually corrects itself over time so it depends on how many torretns you are trying to DL and how your setting are set in UT. Let me see if I can find a pm with some setting I changed to and it allowed me to become connectable and gave me better speeds. I tried everything to include port forward and when i changed a few settings it works great

[zipzap]

It must have something to do with your UT settings. With 6.1 I have noticed that it may announce and refresh too many times on a tracker thus giving you the red arrows. It ussually corrects itself over time so it depends on how many torretns you are trying to DL and how your setting are set in UT. Let me see if I can find a pm with some setting I changed to and it allowed me to become connectable and gave me better speeds. I tried everything to include port forward and when i changed a few settings it works great

Thanks, but the setting yo PM'd me didn't help. I hope you got my PM reply.

Any other ideas?

Should I try another torrent client such as Azureus? If so, which of them use low system resources like Utorrent?

[eLucid]

I've been having the same problem recently at my uni. I have about 100 torrents seeding. They work fine for an hour or so, and then suddenly they all get a red arrow and say tracker offline (timed out). This happens with all trackers. It only started happening in the last few days, so it might have something to do with the new utorrent 1.6.1. I really haven't been able to find a solution for it yet.

[zipzap]

I've been having the same problem recently at my uni. I have about 100 torrents seeding. They work fine for an hour or so, and then suddenly they all get a red arrow and say tracker offline (timed out). This happens with all trackers. It only started happening in the last few days, so it might have something to do with the new utorrent 1.6.1. I really haven't been able to find a solution for it yet.

Interesting.

When did version 1.6.1 come out? I must have not noticed the automatic update.

And where can I get the previous version?

EDIT: I found version 1.6 here (http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=utorrent).

[eLucid]

I've been having the same problem recently at my uni. I have about 100 torrents seeding. They work fine for an hour or so, and then suddenly they all get a red arrow and say tracker offline (timed out). This happens with all trackers. It only started happening in the last few days, so it might have something to do with the new utorrent 1.6.1. I really haven't been able to find a solution for it yet.

Interesting.

When did version 1.6.1 come out? I must have not noticed the automatic update.

And where can I get the previous version?

EDIT: I found version 1.6 here (http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=utorrent).

I think I managed to fix it. The problem, I think, was that the large number of active torrents was announcing too frequently and overloading the tracker. It wasn't a problem with 1.6.1. Anyway, I cut it down to about 50 active torrents and it works perfectly now.