.torrent......you're kidding right?

gunnythok

Anybody else find using torrent based p2p networks inefficient for large downloads?  I once spent two days downloading  the Dark and Light client because I couldn't take advantage of my superior connection because NPCube was too damn cheap to setup a download server.  Same goes for every company I've encountered that uses p2p for distribution.  Pathetic really.  I could DL that wonderful 2gb client in less than an hour on a halfass connection to a DL server, but a torrent based network?  Nada.  My average conneciton to DL servers that have a fair bit of bandwidth to work with usually runs about 300kbps.  On BitTorrent, I was dling at 0.2kbps most of the time.  I say shoot the cheap fools who can afford a dl server and refuse to use it.  Anyway, there's my rant for the day, I hope you liked it.

Umbrood

Ive used torrents since the format was launched, and I rarely have problems.

Couple of reasons and perhaps solutions to your problems.

1. Firewall: It is not always easy to get torrents to work, you often encounter NAT problems, this can be annoying to configure and depends much on your torrent as well as firewall client.

It do sound to me though that you are not even getting trough at all, to eliminate this as a possible problem shut down everything firewall related, if you use a broadband router set your computer in DMZ mode, if this solves the problem then there is configuration problems, post both firewall and torrent client and I shall try to help.

2. If it does not then the problem might be on the other side, it could either be a broken tracker, the link they provide migth point in the wrong direction, or, allthough unlikely it is still possible, there is no one sharing at the moment.

If it is point 2 the only thing you can really do is to look around for information, forums or whatever.

I do agree it is both lazy and cheap to use torrents as ONLY means of download, I rather use torrents but not everyone does, there should be alternate solutions.

It is however extremely cheap and indie publishers and ones with tigth wallets tends to use it for this reason alone.

Mylon

I've had some problems before with incredibly popular torrents (Such as S.W.I.N.E. and Planeshift) where there are upwards of 5,000 users or more participating at any given time.  In situations like this, I often never connect to anyone (despite there being a reported 10,000 users partiicpating).  I suspect it's a problem with the tracker being overloaded, but I could be wrong.

In any other situation, I never have a problem with torrents.  Linux?  Lightning fast download.

Shinya777

Used torrents constantly for the past couple of year or so, The problem is theres alot of people who are new to torrent and dont know how to configure there firewalls to let a certian port forwarded. As for speed usually at max especially for new games always plent of peers to leech from , Works great to me.

taus01

Worst thing ever invented. Totally screws up your internet connection. I can download with 600k/sec from Websites/FTP/Newsgroups and still play any online game without any lag or slowdowns (I am on a 6Mbit connection). Once i start Torrent the Connection goes to hell. Ping times multiply by 1.000.000 even at crappy download speeds.

Big waste of time.

::blank::

haha, the only time torrents suck is when you suck.. They are awesome for large downloads..they are IDEAL for large downloads.. My fastest download time is about 800kb

lyonman24

unless you are a complete computer geek which im not torrents suck BIG MAJOR A$$. my friend who is a computer major with minor in computer grphics says there good but he wont use torrents too risky bigger chance of getting bad stuff unless you only download from friends. but if you know them they can burn you a copy.

JelloB2000

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Originally posted by lyonman24
(...). my friend who is a computer major with minor in computer grphics says there good but he wont use torrents too risky bigger chance of getting bad stuff unless you only download from friends. but if you know them they can burn you a copy.

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Your friend needs to read more about torrent-protocol. (Good) Trackers weed out false/faulty files & the seeders wont continue to seed if its junk, even I know that despite not being a "computer major".

People do not realise that your upload determines how fast you download, also if there are more seeders than peers you get fast speeds. If you are on a dsl-connection you should limit to 80% of maximum upload to get best download speeds. Someone elses upload = your download

Yes being connected to alot of clients kills your connection because of the new xp SP2 patch, only 12 new connections per second are allowed (was implemented to slow down worms). Hence why Linux could be faster (gets more peers & seeds faster = faster download). There is a limit to how many you should be connected to, several torrent clients have a faq/guide to determine your optimal settings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent explains it further.

Yes BitTorrent-protocol takes some fiddling but its not too hard to understand.

Phoenixs

I have always used and liked torrents. A exellent way to download stuff. Just set up the ports in your firewall and voila blazing fast speeds 

Umbrood

Torrents are the fastest and cheapest way to distribute files, and one of the best, regardless if you are geek or not.

Setting the client and the computer up is a one time job, after wich it will work.

Problem with torrents that shoot down your ping in games or whatever is not because of download speed, but your upload speed, unless you tell it otherwise it will steal all of your upload and quickly make everything else extremely slow.

However most if not all clients have an option to set this to whatever you want, I use 1/3 of my upload speed for torrents.

Torrent clients shine in one certain aspect, they are set and forget, once you have started a download you will not have to monitor it, or take care that your computer krashes or whatnot, you can continue from any point.

Personally I think the torrent protocol is one of the major breaktroughs in file sharing, their only drawback is that very old stuff can be hard to get hold of, and even if you find it it migth take an awful amount of time to get, but then again, just let it run, even 5bps is better then 0..

And i will say this again, you do NOT need to be a geek to get it to work, you need a little bit of patiens and sligthly below average intelligence.

But, as I said, companies like blizzard using a torrent for patches is just damn greedy, torrents should for commercial products should be an option, not a requirment..

apocalance

MMO's (like WoW) that rely on torrents and 3rd party distributors really annoy me. Actually, if they didn't force their crippled downloader on me, I might not mind it so much. Their downloader sucks.

Vyava

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Originally posted by Umbrood

Torrents are the fastest and cheapest way to distribute files, and one of the best, regardless if you are geek or not.

Setting the client and the computer up is a one time job, after wich it will work.

Problem with torrents that shoot down your ping in games or whatever is not because of download speed, but your upload speed, unless you tell it otherwise it will steal all of your upload and quickly make everything else extremely slow.

However most if not all clients have an option to set this to whatever you want, I use 1/3 of my upload speed for torrents.

Torrent clients shine in one certain aspect, they are set and forget, once you have started a download you will not have to monitor it, or take care that your computer krashes or whatnot, you can continue from any point.

Personally I think the torrent protocol is one of the major breaktroughs in file sharing, their only drawback is that very old stuff can be hard to get hold of, and even if you find it it migth take an awful amount of time to get, but then again, just let it run, even 5bps is better then 0..

And i will say this again, you do NOT need to be a geek to get it to work, you need a little bit of patiens and sligthly below average intelligence.

But, as I said, companies like blizzard using a torrent for patches is just damn greedy, torrents should for commercial products should be an option, not a requirment..

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Cheap is the key here, not best at all. Torrent technology is nice and all but you dop have to be a geek to use it properly. Since a lot of the MMO companies are not listing checksum data and other important information for security purposes it is not that nice a platform for the common user.

You can get files plenty fast when setup well, but not always what you think you are getting. Also if a company is too cheap to buy some nice highspeed distribution servers (assuming they are a large company like Blizzard) then they better start paying for part of my internet coennction they are leaching off of me.

Munki

If you set it up properly, Bit torrent is the fastest way for me to get files.

lyonman24

sorry let me clairify i was talking to my friend about this today and the reason he wont use them is they slow his speed also one file he did get killed his comp with a virius of some kind sorry dont remember the name. so yes bad files can still get through its a fact of file sharing like that.

also im sorry if i rather click download and have it somewhat quicker than from a torrent. cause not everyone wants to sit and try and figureout what works best for your comp. i just dont have the time to do that.

Lasraik

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Originally posted by Umbrood

Torrents are the fastest and cheapest way to distribute files, and one of the best, regardless if you are geek or not.
Setting the client and the computer up is a one time job, after wich it will work.
Problem with torrents that shoot down your ping in games or whatever is not because of download speed, but your upload speed, unless you tell it otherwise it will steal all of your upload and quickly make everything else extremely slow.
However most if not all clients have an option to set this to whatever you want, I use 1/3 of my upload speed for torrents.
Torrent clients shine in one certain aspect, they are set and forget, once you have started a download you will not have to monitor it, or take care that your computer krashes or whatnot, you can continue from any point.
Personally I think the torrent protocol is one of the major breaktroughs in file sharing, their only drawback is that very old stuff can be hard to get hold of, and even if you find it it migth take an awful amount of time to get, but then again, just let it run, even 5bps is better then 0..
And i will say this again, you do NOT need to be a geek to get it to work, you need a little bit of patiens and sligthly below average intelligence.
But, as I said, companies like blizzard using a torrent for patches is just damn greedy, torrents should for commercial products should be an option, not a requirment..

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I agree, it's not rocket science.  And companies using torrents for products is greed.