Torrent-Core review.

http://torrent-core.co.uk/tf.htm
1 out of 10 from me.
0 out of 10 from Ichigo81

One sentence summary: AVOID as this is a leechbox as torrents die immediately on completion, it is of NO USE IN SEEEDING TORRENTS.



I had hoped to do this review within 24 hours of when I ordered from them as this is their normal setup time but its been a week and I am still not up and running. This is not a good first impression but, as they claim to be moving providers and having problems, I will give them another week before getting a refund!



This is a TorrentFlux package. For those who dont know about TorrentFlux it is an easy to use and pre-setup torrent client. It takes about a minute to learn how to use it. Pay the money and you are normally up and running in well under a day. You should be able to get a few TB from these packages. edit: but not this one!


They offer five packages, all lasting for a month:

Regular: 5gb of disk space, 5 active torrents, costs £4.

Average: 10gb, 12 active, £8.

Ultimate: 30gb, 25 active, £13.

Reseller: 80gb, unlimited, £20.

SuperSeed: 120gb, 1 download and 12 uploads, £25.
The small print says 'This Plan Is Intended For Uploads Only': bit suspicious of this.

In the link I gave at the top of the post are five boxes that lead to the packages offered.

All packages claim to offer unlimited bandwidth but nothing is said about the speeds you can expect. The disk space offered on the ultimate package and up is higher than their competitors.


I cant comment on the speeds yet as I am still not up and running. If/when I get set up I will post some stats.

If anyone else has used them with their old provider, what speeds did you get?


At the moment I cannot recommend them.

small edit: read sgtmajor's comment in hatdeno's thread about payment methods and you can pay with paypal.

MAJOR Edit:

I have been setup and now I really must advise people to steer clear. This is not a seedbox but a leechbox! What is worse is that you would be better off using the free imageshack one.


http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/8540/68541036dq6.jpg

I started with the sites that would give a good indication of speed: S*T and SCC for download, cheggit and empornium for upload. Cheggit and empornium did not work at all. For S*T I picked the cameron diaz pack and it started well at 850kB moving to 1615kB, then it died at 2% complete. SCC did not work at all.

One other serious problem that is not immediately noticeable is the browse box (you can see it in the first picture). With this box you can get torrents off public trackers. This is a security risk that I dont like, but could be what this box is intended for: leech from public trackers and then ftp it home.

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/9341/60137736qa6.jpg

This second picture is of their default torrentflux start torrent page.

Some things jump out at you if you have used torrent flux before. Notice the default settings? Yes that's right the default upload speed is 10kB and the torrent stops seeding the moment it is finished.

These are serious flaws, and if you were using this box you would have to manually change them each time.

Aside from the inconvenience any time I changed the settings the torrent did not start even if it started on the default settings.

I am not 100% sure that the max uploads=max upload connections, but if it does then it is yet another bad setting for a seedbox.

edit: they also seem to have hardcoded the seed to 150%, so even if you change the option to seed to 5000% or infinite it is not doing it.


The final words I have to say on torrent-core is that I selected the ultimate package and was ultimately very dissapointed. Torrents not working at all, constant disconnections, poor speeds, badly setup for seeding all mean that this company gets 1/10 from me. Avoid.


12 hour review.
Box has been down for the last six hours. It came up a little while ago. Speeds and connectivity have improved. Cheggit and empornium now work. Even better speeds have become a little faster and more consistent: 4000kB download, about 200kB upload. Could my problems be the initial teething troubles of moving to new servers? The box has reset a few times which is annoying as you have to run through the data checking process which takes about half an hour. Still think its crap.

keep us posted man ... The Ultimate plan looks good ..

I have major edited the review now that I am setup. This is one to avoid.

This is horrible. Sadly I wasted my money here without checking here first, and have now requested a refund... which they haven't replied to my email yet. Pretty doubtful I'll get it >.>

The speeds are pathetic. As KennyX said downloads bursts very high at the start, but then dies to 5-10kb/s after a minute. The upload is no better, experiencing the same thing the download speed does... even when changing the default upload options (which doesn't seem to affect anything at all).

Accessing the TorrentFlux webpage is also bad. Sometimes (actually 90% of the time) you can't even get on it, as the page timeouts in Firefox. If you are lucky enough to get on it navigating the page (such as adding torrents, deleting, checking your files etc) takes ages to load, obviouosly because they are overselling their plans and bottlenecking the servers.

1/10 is too forgiving.... 0/10 is more about right.

You saved me $$$, i ordered but was able to cancel and get a refund before login details came. Thanks for warning

I will not post about this again unless it improves dramatically.

I am on the ultimate plan with 30gb HD space on a 500gb HD, so I assume there will eventually be sixteen of us fighting over the bandwidth!

I am sharing with one other person just now and it is bad, although after 48 hours I am getting speeds of about 3-400kB on average which is a big improvement for them but still very poor.

I have tried some torrents which usually go nova and have been on them in seconds: flotw (doctor who s1) from TheBox stands out as it has still not downloaded despite over 1300 new completions. I put it in the picture below. Notable also is a cam which has 200 completions, but I am not one of them.

http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/4/7/4/f_7m_5064563.jpg

Ichigo81, I have just started getting the TorrentFlux webpage problems as well, before this it was just a simple crash/reboot (not sure which) and all torrents reset. They rejected my refund request as 'I had logged in and used it', thinking of lodging a paypal dispute but just noticed that their account is unverified.


edit: A couple of days into this and I am starting to get consistent 1000kB upload speeds with long bursts to 2000kB and occasional bursts to over 4000kB. This is very good for a torrentflux box. Most of the problems seem to be sorted: only one crash/reset in the last day, all torrents 'turning green' so are connectable, but some of the torrents I expect to go very fast are not

I still want to hear what Ichigo81 (or anyone else who has an account there) has to say regarding this improvement. Are you getting it as well?

Hi can you keep us posted on this one as I was thinking about getting one from there. KennyX, has the increased speed continued?

Heh well I haven't even tried to login for the last couple days because I had pretty much given up on it. I requested a refund when I had last posted here and have not heard from them at all so I said screw it.

Decided to try to login now and try it out and am getting this screen now:

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/3931/76997mo7.th.jpg

Seems it's just 1 thing after another with these guys... it's never going to be stable. I'll try again later tho as 1000kb/s wouldn't be bad at all but I'm not holding my breath :D

Edit: Seems their main site http://torrent-core.co.uk/ is also experiencing this error. Maybe it's just me (prolly banned me) lol XD

Its been down for much of today. This box needs constant monitoring for it to be any use in seeding. I have had 14 small crashes where the torrents stop and need to be restarted, and two big crashes where the box stops for hours in the last two days. I think it is not just dying but actually dead this time.

The last time it crashed all the torrent metafiles were deleted but not the data and it was a right pain trying to get them all up and running again. I was getting 200kB up just before it crashed (or whatever). I am not risking any valuable accounts until it becomes a lot more stable.


ukgenius, speeds, they are seriously variable. You can be getting 1000kB for a few hours, then 200kB, then 20kB, then back to 200kB, then it freaks out and deletes most of the torrent metafiles (I think this is some sort of limiting device as it only kills the completed torrents) and your speeds go close to zero. You try to fix the torrents and you get another crash or two when you are restarting the torrents forcing you to do it all again. This box is not hassle free.


Ichigo81, I limited the torrents to slow download speeds to keep them seeding longer and try not to have too many downloading at the same time.

The error I am getting on their page is: The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading; probably the same thing. I asked for a refund as well so maybe we are both banned? Are you on the ultimate package as well? We might be the only two on the box, lol, if it is unstable as heck with just two users what will it be like if another half dozen sign up???

edit: six hours later and still no access to the box.

edit2: about 12 hours down now.

edit3: Its back up but has been converted to a full leechbox as torrents die immediately on completion.

Actually I'm on the Average plan. I just went on and there's only 1 torrent running that's not me:

1 torrent(s) running and 0 queued.
Total torrents server will run: 120
Total torrents a user may run: 12
* Torrents are limited when restrictions are met.

I think all plans are on the same server, he just has multiple TF GUI's installed. For instance the directory is prolly different, mine being www.*******.co.uk/ave/index.php while yours is, I'm guessing, /ult/index.php

Just received an automated (I think) email from them saying they canceled my account. Not sure if it's in reply to my email to them requesting a refund or because I've canceled my monthly subscription to them via paypal (don't forget to cancel this or they will keep charging you), but alas still no refund in my account.

You got it right with the ult part. There is a 500gb HD on the ultimate, with 25% used, you? What speeds are you getting now, and are the torrents stopping the instant they get to 100% complete?


First thing I did was cancel the paypal subscription. Got an email about it the next day from them saying they have cancelled the subscription!

They have changed the ultimate package down to 17 torrents, and made it so they finish instantly. Not happy with this, and not sure if it is enough to start a paypal dispute. We should both file a paypal dispute with similar reasons and see what happens.


Oh, and I think the whole lot is on one server including the main site as it all goes down and comes back at the same time.

HDD is currently at 26% (352.41 GB Free), we are definitely on the same server lol. They've completely changed to a leechbox, you can't even change the option to continue seeding after completion anymore.

My home connection is better than this nonsense... :/

If you have read to here you should know to avoid this as its a crap box. I will leave the thread open in case anyone wants to risk it :lol:


Ichigo81, lol, it is a full leechbox now and upload speeds are mega crippled now. I cant get past 50kB upload on a torrent, this might be the new limit. I have opened a paypal dispute mainly over unlimited bandwidth claim.

I only managed to use the service for about 2 days, on and off, the site went down several times. So I asked for a refund and was told it would be granted, but 3 days have passed and no refund. I'm so tired of their BS. Tomorrow I'm going to open a paypal dispute.
Torrent-core = leechbox.

KennyX please keep us up to date about your dispute.

Ok, I also just put in a paypal dispute but haven't escalated it yet. I'm really trying to give the this a chance to make up for his crappy service but I'm doubtful. I'll give him a week to reply to the dispute before getting paypal involved.

Just a few days ago, the default settings of the service were like this:

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/8...nshot02xa9.jpg

the response I got from the "customer service":

Quote:

---

this is NOT a seed box, it states downloads, if you wish to seed we have a plan especially for this. if you require to seed, we have other custom plans.

---

I had the torrent-flux regular plan.

paying for a leechbox, that's new.. :blink:

Did they give you any details about the seedbox custom plans? When I signed up there was nothing mentioned about seeding or seeding plans.

I will escalate my paypal dispute on Monday and will post again. I have added to dispute that active torrents has decreased from 25 to 17 on the ultimate package.

From their website:

Quote:

---

Service Changes Updated: 07-10-2008

We Would First Would Like To Thank You All For Your Custom

We At Torrent-Core Over The Last Few Weeks Have Been Making Many Different Changes To The TorrentFlux Systems We Use, You May Have Noticed The Seeding System Is Down On Some Accounts, This Is Because We Are Optimising The System To Reduce The Load That Each Python Process Uses, And Thus A Lighter Load On Your Plan And Faster Process's And Downloads

We Have Also Made A Tactical Decision To Stop Using VPS (Virtual Private Servers) For Each Plan And We Have Just Invested In More Servers, This Means You As A Customer Shall Have Only The Other People On The Plan, Which Means:-

TorrentFlux Regular Plan - Own Dedicated Server - 10 Users MAX (Gaurenteed 100/100 Pipeline)

TorrentFlux Average Plan - Own Dedicated Server - 8 Users MAX (Gaurenteed 100/100 Pipeline)

TorrentFlux Ultimate Plan - Own Dedicated Server - 3 Users MAX (Gaurenteed 100/100 Pipeline)

TorrentFlux Reseller Plan - Very Own Dedicated Server Only You And Your Clients On The Box (Gaurenteed 100/100 Pipeline)

TorrentFlux Super Seed - Very Own Dedicated Server Only You On The Box (Gaurenteed 100/100 Pipeline)

We Have Also Started Making Changes To The Reseller Plan These Include :-
Your Own Subdomain - reseller1.torrent-core.co.uk (Or Your Own Domain)
Cpanel Control Panel For You To Monitor Bandwidth And Client Usage
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Unlimited Bandwidth
Upgraded To 50 Customers
Unlimited Torrents

Our 27 Brand New Servers Shall Be Going Online Over The Course Of The Next Few Weeks And The Final Server To Go Online Will Be On The 28/07/2008

All Of Our Servers Are Powered By:-

AMD Athlon 64 X2 46000+ CPU's
2GB DDR 400 Ram
500GB SATA HDD (Depending On The Plan)

As We Roll Out Our New Servers We Shall Be Rewarding Our Loyal Customers With Any Thing From Discounts To Additional FREE diskspace

We Will Keep you Updated And Advise You Of The Dates Of When Each Plan Shall Be Transfered

Thank You

Torrent-Core

Seeding Feature Updated: 07-07-2008 http://torrent-core.co.uk/client/ski...lt%5B-1%5D.gif

Dear Customers,

For The Next Week Or So Torrent-Core Will Be Working On Effective Measures On The Seeding System,

Once Reviewed We Shall Updated All Of Our Customers

Thanks

Torrent-Core

---

Guaranteed 100/100... yet we are not allowed to seed. What's the point in spending soooo much money on "27" servers when we can't use them to their potential? I can't tell if this "service" they offer is real or the owner is just full of lies.

Oh, my client area says "pending cancellation". Just send me my money back already :frusty:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KennyX

Did they give you any details about the seedbox custom plans?

---

No, nothing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ichigo81

Guaranteed 100/100... yet we are not allowed to seed. What's the point in spending soooo much money on "27" servers when we can't use them to their potential? I can't tell if this "service" they offer is real or the owner is just full of lies.

Oh, my client area says "pending cancellation". Just send me my money back already :frusty:

---

27 servers, guaranteed 100/100.. yeah, right :dry:.. putting torrentflux with a upload speed of 10kB/s as default proves they don't give a sh$t about their clients.

I only received my refund yesterday, after opening the paypal dispute.

I've finally received my refund today. At first they wanted to prorate my refund because I would continue to login and use a torrent here and there to see if the server had gotten better but in fact got worse. I mentioned that I requested the refund 1 day after purchase (less than 24 hours also) so I was entitled to a full refund, which they gave today.

I truly do hope they can get their act together and provide a decent service to the community.

PS: Still looking for a cheap TF box. I'm leaning towards SeedLayer but it will prolly just bring more headaches as these other TF providers. If anyone knows a good (and stable!!) one post here please!

cana nybody give me a latest review on this topic as i am going to buy it because its cheap so can anbody tell me is its speed has improved

This is the latest (yesterday) news in the client area:


Dear All Torrent-core Customers,

We Are Delighted To Tell You That All Of Our Server Issues Have Been Resolved And 87% Of Accounts To Be Moved Have Been Moved And We Are Just Waiting For The Last Of The New Servers To Go Live

For Any Of Our Customers That Stay Loyal And Continue To Pay There Invoice This Month We Shall Be Adding :-

Extra Space
Extra Concurrent Torrents
And Loyalty Credits (In The Value Of Cupons)

If You Have Decided To Leave Or Made Any Mistkaes Please Contact Our Support Department And We Shall Fix This ASAP

Thanks

Torrent-Core

Loyalty credits :P Anyways give them a try if you want, apparently they have 27 servers...

thanks for the info

On mine I got this on the 15th:

Dear Customers,

The Server Change Over Is Now In Place And All Seeding Features Shall Be
Resumed Once We Have Moved This Plan

Thank You

Torrent-Core

Today it is still not fixed and is still a terrible service.

Speeds remain fast downloading and often hit 1mb (on one torrent); but very poor upload speed, I have not hit over 1.2mb (on one torrent or combined) and it is usually under 600kB.

Crashes, where you have to restart all the torrents, still happen at least twice a day. It is a bit suspicious that they always seem to happen when I am not logged in for more than an hour and I think this might be intentional by them.

Torrents still die when they complete and upload is set at 10kB (can be changed) so this is still a leechbox and of no use on any site with a ratio. You can change the upload speed to 9999kB but there seems to be a hard limit of 200kB per torrent for me, even so it is rare for any torrent to reach even this paltry 200kB.

If you only use public trackers or have some sort of ISP interference then this package might be useful to you, if you use any private torrent sites it is useless.

tutorsnest, spend your money elsewhere as this is cheap but very, very nasty.

i think torrent core is ran by 10 year olds or something

That is why their paypal is unverified :)

can someone update on this one.
anyone tried the reseller plan? As you get a dedicated server speed should be better...

Seeding should be better now:

" As of 26/07/2008 all seeding shall be reactivated on all accounts as the server change-over is now complete

We would like to thank you for your patience in this time

Thanks

Torrent-Core "

well, i only have to say good things about this service, 1º they enabled my account a few hours later after i pay, the download speed, i get a real 7.8mb and 4.6mb uploaded, its very good for 5€, and i have torrents seeding for several days without stoping

thats good to hear bugatti....i just purchased 1 :p

for $7.50 i cant complain at all actually

ive been steady uploading well over 2.5mb

i also have an account at torrent-core and for the price you cant complain. I frequently get 8-9MB/s down and 4-5MB/s up.I can run the torrents for days without any issues. I had some problems when I first got the package and it is near impossible to get a hold of customer support. It usually takes me around 3 days but has taken up to a week to get a response. I have had no problems downloading from SCC. I have, however, had problems when it comes to uploading. Every time I try to make a torrent file through TF and upload the torrent to a tracker it can never fine the right directory or downloaded files after I get the torrent from the tracker. There has also been some problems with uptime as the server I am on was down for several days along with their main website so I could not contact support.

Overall, I say that you get what you pay for. This is an OK service to people who cannot afford better seedboxes or are new to torrents but I would recommend going somewhere else if possible.

ratings
uptime: 3/5
speed : 3.5/5
support: 0/5

i would actually give them a 8/10 due to price and speeds....i mean theres really no reason not to have 1....7.50usd is great...5gb hdd space...that could be better but all in all the service is great...i contacted support and them pmed me back within 15 mins....im definitely buying again next month...probably 1 with a lil bigger hdd space....but from what ive read on where and what ive actually been witnessing they have stepped their game up......so if youre thinkin of gettin 1....do it....seriously :D

i have just bought account 2 days ago and still says pending , starting to think these guys are abit slow ,

ive just had my torrent-core account activated and it says permisson denied when i try to upload my torrent to ftp server