# Sudden Slow (Upload?) Speeds



## futurejp (Jun 8, 2006)

Hey all. I am connected to the internet on a wired connection to a Linksys BEFW11S4 router, with a WebStar modem. About a week ago, my internet connection started to be really slow at times, but it took me a few days to actually figure out what it was.

I've found that when I try to download or upload with uTorrent (a torrent client), send a file to a buddy on AIM (instant messenger), upload a file to my googlepages account, or upload a file to www.yousendit.com, it goes verrry slowly. For example, trying to upload a ~5 meg file on yousendit takes about 5 minutes, and I just sent my friend a 6 meg file on AIM, and it took around 8 minutes.

Now, two things: One, my brother is connected wirelessly to the router I mentioned. A day or two he sent me a screenshot (which is around 3 megs), and it just took a couple seconds. And yesterday I sent him a file that was at least 3 or 4 megs, and it only took a matter of seconds. So I would guess the router is fine, since we connected quickly through it.

Second, it has seemed, at least with uTorrent and yousendit, that when I try to use them, the rest of my applications that use the internet get slow. With uTorrent open, the speeds aren't very fast, and my websites don't load quickly, and even checking away mesasges takes a few seconds each. When I close the connections in uTorrent, things speed up again. I think the same happens for yousendit.

I was already on the uTorrent forums (when I thought it was a problem _just_ with uTorrent), and they told me how to change my TCPIP settings, and I did...but I guess it didn't help.

Now, if I do a speed test, say at bandwidthplace.com, ...I just did one right now, it said 6.3 megabits per second (that's actually the fastest I've seen). Let me do a few more, right now:

6.3
7.1
6.4
6.2

It might be fast because the rest of my family is asleep and not using the internet...I don't know. But those are definitely fast speeds.

So I'm not a _total_ n00b, but I don't know too much about this area specifically. If you guys can give me some suggestions, if you have any idea, it would be hugely appreciated. And if I haven't told you enough information, or you need to know something else, I'd be more than happy to tell you. There's no way I can send my father MPEGs of a performance of mine with these speeds....so anything you can do to help would be awesome. Thanks a lot.


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## Jtoast (Oct 3, 2002)

Uploading is always slower than downloading. Most ISP's cap upload speed at 512k or less..usually 256. 

When you download a file, your computer sends as well as receives. BitTorrent clients such as Utorrent will max your upload speed if you let them. Once the upload speed is maxed, your download speeds on all machines on the network slow down because there is no upload bandwidth left.

To resolve it you have go into the settings of the torrent client and put a cap on the max bandwidth it can use to upload.


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## futurejp (Jun 8, 2006)

But what about when uTorrent isn't even open? My AIM transfers and yousendit transfers are still much slower than they ever used to be. This all happened one day a week or two ago. It's as if my _whole computer_ has upload speeds capped, or something.

Another thing - A couple days ago, I wanted to upload something to yousendit, but like I said, it was very slow. So I sent the file to my brother (which only took a couple seconds), and when he tried to upload it to yousendit, it was just as slow as it was for me. So I don't understand how it seems that we're all fine on our local network, but when we try to do some sort of transfer to/from outside, it's slow.

And I've _downloaded_ files at several hundred k/s, like a Winamp update yesterday, for example, and I can download from yousendit.com at 750k/s, but when I do those other things, it's slow, and really annoying, and never used to be.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Have you exceeded your ISP's limits for downloads or uploads? And if you have, what do they say their remedy will be?


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## Jtoast (Oct 3, 2002)

It sounds like your ISP lowered your upload cap. I would call them and ask what it is and see if it can be raised.


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## futurejp (Jun 8, 2006)

OK, thanks. If that is the reason, then that means nothing os broken/not working. I'll try to call them sometime. Thanks again.


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## taisch (Oct 13, 2006)

I have a feeling you may have the same problem i have. Are you sure that the modem you are using with your router is not really a modem/router? a good way to check is to see if your modem has a NAT setting on it or have a look around portforward.com.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

A megabyte a minute isn't all that bad for uploads from a typical broadband account. That's about 500kbit upload, the typical Comcast account has either 384 or 768 upload speeds.


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