I see some of you guys here are really informative and knowledgeable. I would like to request some advices and clarification from anyone, regarding my situation.
My info:
I am from Singapore with ADSL (512Kbps dl / 256Kbps ul). Using Siemen 4100 Ethernet Modem and BitComet v0.60
Up to now, I hv been reading up a lot of guides, including two ultimates from here at afterdawn.
My questions are:
1. I read the guide on creating a Static IP Address and configure Port Forwarding at default gateway page for DSL users; even found a detailed guide on my Siemen 4100 =)
My problem is that my gateway page hv the Login logo at the left but doesnt redirect me to ask for my Username and Password page as exampled like the site above. Clicking Login brings me to the following page.
Is this my ISP preventing us from configuring? Without being able to login, I had no idea how to do all the setups for port forwarding (and other configuration that use this?) and also the rest of the speed enhancement techniques. I m interested in knwing abt how to maximise my dl/ul speed even if its juz 512kbps/256kbps.
If I cannot setup Port Forwarding, all the improve speed guides I read will still apply?? such as "uncheck Enable UPnP Port Mapping in BitComet", disabling Firewall
2. I read abt so many BitTorrent Clients. The more outstanding ones are BitLord, Azureus, BitComet and maybe BitTornado (or so I think?). Which is really the best? Is it depend on each user's Dsl/Cable line, ISP, OS/Firewall/Router settings? Therefore thr is no such thing as the best Client for everyone? (since new versions change things). If that's so, the only thing I can do is try out All the BitTorrent Clients to find the one to give me the highest speed?
3. So far, I hv not read abt whether I am on a Router/Firewall/NAT or not? Actually I do not really knw the meaning of those terms. How can I knw if I am on a Router? Does Firewall means XP's Firewall (i off) and my Trend Micro Pc Cillin Firewall (i on but exclude BitComet), or my ISP got their own firewall or what? Very confuse here. I did try enabling Pc Cillin's Firewall and still able to Share files on BitComet. how come? Do I need to restart BitComet for the firewall effect to take place? Does Firewall TOTALLY prevent dl or limit the speeds? Am I on a router? is my port closed? I pass all the tests on https://www.grc.com/ - the Shields Up Test. I am suppose to Fail my created port but since i cant create any, does this matter that I am STEALTH all the way?
4. I read if my peer's Initiation are all Locals and maybe one or some NAT, it means thr is something wrong with my settings? I shd see Remote or others, than just mostly Local?
5. I was getting 5KB - 15KB for my first torrent found at www.isohunt.com with less than 10 seeders. I experiment by downloading more torrents to see if I can get my max speed of 521/8 = 64KB/s and upload of 256/8 = 32KB/s.
I read that ul and dl speed are combined in usage? So the max spd combined for ul n dl I can achive shd be 64KB/s?
I add a few more torrents and all of them are pitiful 1 digit KB/s. But I got the number to go up to 55 - 60KB/s dl while limiting to 3KB/s ul and 32KB/s dl with 27 - 34KB/s ul. WoW!! I figure it must be that my Torrents is not good enuf. The health was at max 1100%. The rest are 400/600/800%. Lots of leechers, few seeders. But after a while one of my torrents went up downloading 30KB/s while the rest 1 digit. This is how I got my 55 - 60KB/s with 3KB/s ul.
After a while, all the torrents went down to 1 digit again. Getting 1 digit KB/s for both ul and dl. My global max dl to No Limit, ul is set to 25KB/s which is abt 80%. Very rarely throughout the day, it will get to 20ul and 20dl then drop back to 1 digit. I tried adding another fresh torrent with 40 seeders, 50 leechers. That torrent give abt 10+KB/s dl spd increasing overall to 30KB/s again with 25KB/s ul spd.
So therefore, If i was able to achive high numbers, even achieve my max dl n ul, though for a short while, does this mean my original BitComet/Modem settings are ok? I am using Listen Port: 12242 (saw somewhr that, that figure is good?) and most of the time 65000 (saw somewhr listen port shd be higher than 30k less than 65k+?) Tweaking this does change the speeds (when it gets 2 digits) but i dunno what is the optimal number. N at low dl spd, no difference can be seen. Currently, dl n ul spd tend to be 3 - 10KB/s and ul is always random from 1 - 21KB/s. hmm dl may be slow, but ul varies too?