Bandwidth disparity and maintaining ratios.

[s0nuvab|tch]

Couple questions...

1. Is it common for there to be a huge disparity between the upload/download bandwidth allowed by ISPs?

I've been testing my speeds (DSLreports) and they are typically 3000-5000 Kb/sec down and ONLY ~240Kb/sec up.
This is a cable connection and is the 'Premium' package. It's the best available in my area.


2. Is there some way around the upload throttling besides buying an expensive (read that as=unaffordable) commercial business account?

How do all these MFers posting these crazy Mbit upload/download speeds get that kind of bandwidth?
Does Europe/Asia? have equal up/down speeds available? Is this all country dependent or generally the same globally?


3. How the f*ck are members wanting to join a private tracker supposed to maintain some of the high ratios I've seen posted/talked about?

I mean if a movie is typically 4+ Gigs, it could take me a week? or month?!!? to upload it back AND what if there weren't many peers/downloaders wanting to get the movie from me?


I don't want a dozen invites/memberships just one or two? GOOD ones that I can keep permanently. I wouldn't call myself a 'downloading whore', maybe just an occasional 'junkie' that needs a fix a couple times a month. Does any of this make any difference?

[AugustoP]

Some people (who said Sweden?) access Internet through Ethernet MAN and can have up to 100 Mbit symmetrical bandwidth.

If you're not ready to seed 24/7 you should consider renting the cheapest VDS box or going with Usenet. If you gonna stick with torrents use TorrentLeech, it's very easy to seedback there.

[znik]

1) ADSL stands for "Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line", so yes it is not just common but expected to have a much worse upload speed than your download speed.
Some countries, like in Scandinavia have already moved from aDSL to FTTH connections (Fiber To The Home), where speeds like 100/100 or 100/10Mbit are common.

2) Some people rent seedboxes that are dedicated servers with great upload speeds in order to seed on their behalf and buffer their accounts with upload speeds they could never dream using their home connection.

3) It's not impossible to maintain a good ratio even if you don't have a fast home connection.
Many trackers have freebie torrents, where only the upload counts
Many trackers have seeding bonuses (you can exchange your seeding time to upload credit),
Many trackers have frequent freeleech periods, where only upload counts.

As a result you can easily maintain a nice ratio, even if you don't have an ultra fast connection and you cannot seed back everything up to 1:1.

[s0nuvab|tch]

Thanks Augusto for the advice. I'm such a n00b.
Been working on tweaking my TCP/IP stack and making some headway... woohoo hitting 5000+/415 Kb/sec now

STILL trying to figure out who/what/where/why? with ALL these bloody private trackers.
It's insane that there's so damn many!

I've ran into Torrent Leech being mentioned favorably and it seems a very good starting point. I think TL will be what I go for first.

I'm looking to avoid any additional bills and monthly expenditures so bittorrent looks like the horse I'll be riding for now.


...curious, do all you guys leave your rigs running 24/7?
It seems to make sense to build a dedicated file server for bittorrenting.
How'bout some advice on that?

[blackbird]

3) It's not impossible to maintain a good ratio even if you don't have a fast home connection.
Many trackers have freebie torrents, where only the upload counts
Many trackers have seeding bonuses (you can exchange your seeding time to upload credit),
Many trackers have frequent freeleech periods, where only upload counts.

As a result you can easily maintain a nice ratio, even if you don't have an ultra fast connection and you cannot seed back everything up to 1:1.

some trackers doesnt have any of those.. one example is oink .. but you can upload there to maintain a ratio ..

[s0nuvab|tch]

Thanks a bunch znik!
You snuck in there while I was typing.

That's some great news to hear. I've been worried about this for some time now. My biggest problem is trying to get up to speed on all this stuff! I'm really not any kind of techie, but I like to learn...and computers are a never ending process of learning!!

[znik]

blackbird oink had also a freeleech period during the previous Christmas. SO, they may not have frequent freeleech periods but they also have and a lot of people are waiting for these periods to download the stuff they always wanted.

@s0nuvab|tch
TL is easy to seed since there are a lot of members and thus a lot of leechers.
However there are no freebies there, so you either have to seed everything up to 1:1 or become a donor and leech whatever you like not caring about your ratio at all. (which is against the spirit of bittorent sharing of course)
There are other trackers like Acidlounge or DigitalHives that have the same content like TL but also a lot of freebies and frequent freeleech periods without having to pay for donations.

As far as the 24/7 seeding concerned, you also have to take into consideration the electricity bills you will have to pay.
If you keep your PC running 24hours a day and you have a power hungry PC, then you will probably see a noticable difference in your electricity bills...

A lot of people use dedicated PCs with low power consumption as torrent machines 24hours a day, to keep their bills as low as possible.
Personally, I usually shut down my PC during the night.

[AugustoP]

A lot of people use dedicated PCs with low power consumption as torrent machines 24hours a day, to keep their bills as low as possible.
Personally, I usually shut down my PC during the night.

PC in leeching mode draws as much electricity as light bulb.

[Hanz™]

First of all, some sites are almost impossible to survive on unless you've bought a fast seedbox eg. 10/100mbit. Sites such as BitmeTV/FTN/SCT etc...
Most other sites you can survive with a much lower upload speed. You shall be a lot better off than I used to be.
I used to only have a 30Kb/s upload. That's much lower than yours, and I still was able to maintain a ratio of over 1 at all times while on OiNK. The secret is to keep as many torrents open at all times (I had 200+) and I also had my computer on 24/7. This ensured that I always had something uploading - even if I was only uploading at 30Kb/s (at most!).
You won't have to try as hard as me since you have a higher speed connection - and therefore people are more likely to connect to you (as bittorrent favours high speed uploaders).

I'd get TL. It seems pretty easy. If you find it hard just stop downloading and keep uploading!

edit: When you join a website try and download their freebies. Some sites let you pay for upload as well (although that is shittty).

[s0nuvab|tch]

I like the idea of building a dedicated box for filesharing.

My rig has a power hungry p4@ 3.8Ghz and is loaded for bear.
Plus, I don't want to tie it up by running bittorrents 24/7.

The only problem is my internet connection, but the way it sounds, maintaining a good ratio should NOT be a problem if I have a dedicated server running 24/7.

...now I need some help on building a new box.

A lot of people use dedicated PCs with low power consumption as torrent machines 24hours a day, to keep their bills as low as possible.
Personally, I usually shut down my PC during the night.

PC in leeching mode draws as much electricity as light bulb.

forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is "leeching mode" ?
... and how do I implement it?

<smartass>
Light bulbs come in many varying wattages, ranging from a 1-2 watts all the way up to 1000+watts. It seems a rather vague reference. </smartass>