Downloading dot torrent files extremely slow on Big Time

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siyuan

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#53240 9-Dec-2009 19:31

Downloading any .torrent file for me is extremely slow on Big Time during peak hours. A 27KB (at ~1KB/s) Ubuntu iso torrent file, for example, can take around half a minute to download. I can understand p2p traffic being shaped during peak hours, but I cannot understand why downloading .torrent files have to be shaped either. These files are so small that they shouldn't take much bandwidth at all. All I want is to download the .torrent file, then schedule the download at 2am.

Is anyone here experiencing the same thing, or is it just me?

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#280957 9-Dec-2009 19:35

BitTorrents are P2P, regardless of what you are torrenting.

edit: read your question a little closer.

Where are you downloading this torrent file from? Can yo download anything else from that server, to determine its not all data affected?

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Damager

2125 posts

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#280959 9-Dec-2009 19:41

Bit Torrent is a P2P protocol...

The torrent file is itself only small, a few kilobytes.. of course.. they only direct your bit torrent client to the tracker..

You do realise that an Ubuntu iso file is somewhere around 800 megabytes?? THAT is what you're downloading.

You download the torrent file, to point your client to the file you wish to receive eg the Ubuntu iso.

So you're not downloading a 27kb file @ 1kB/s. You are in fact downloading an Ubuntu iso around 800 megabytes @ 1kB/s.

Normal torrent protocol is subject to these factors:

Public vs Private Tracker
Number of Seeds
Number of Peers
Port Forwarded Correctly

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Big Time Traffic Prioritisation.

Hope that clarifies your query :-)

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siyuan

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#280965 9-Dec-2009 19:54

I was downloading ubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent, which I want to put it in queue and schedule it to start downloading at 2am. I had to wait half a minute just to download this torrent (is it called a seed file?) at 1KB/s, which I find rather surprising.

Edit: just to be even more clearer, I haven't even started any torrent client at all, just downloading the .torrent file from the web page.
Edit2: @rscole86, I was not aware of this problem until my brother complained to me about the slow speed of downloading .torrent files he experienced at another place. So I thought I should try something extremely popular, so I picked Ubuntu to try out.

Ragnor

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#281018 9-Dec-2009 21:18

To answer your question yes the actual. torrent files you download via http before the actually torrenting starts are slow on Big Time.

Http requests for mime-type: application/x-bittorrent specifically.

Jizah

229 posts

Master Geek

#281232 10-Dec-2009 15:44

Yeah some of mine are timing out, and when they do finally come down they are often said to be invalid and I have to try again. One tracker I use in particular is worse than the others though.

kobiak

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#281235 10-Dec-2009 16:28

yeah, same. But who cares when other content is "flying" :)

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HowickDota

420 posts

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#281649 11-Dec-2009 21:53

I get this problem as well, mostly on Bakabt since many torrents off there are anime series (unlicensed) they contain a lot of files and so I presume this makes the torrent file larger (one was 229kb) they download at about 2kBs which is okay, I guess considering what you get in the end :)

Damager

2125 posts

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#281652 11-Dec-2009 22:26

HowickDota: I get this problem as well, mostly on Bakabt since many torrents off there are anime series (unlicensed) they contain a lot of files and so I presume this makes the torrent file larger (one was 229kb) they download at about 2kBs which is okay, I guess considering what you get in the end :)

Guys,

I think there's some confusion here about:

The torrent file - This is the small file that tells your torrent client (http client or dedicated client like azureus or uTorrent) what tracker to connect to. This takes all of 1 second.. if that to download.

The actual file being downloaded itself which may be called "The Best of One Network News Clips 1990 to 2009". now this may actually be 500MB ... or 5GB or 10GB or whatever size it is.

So to say you're downloading a "229kb torrent file @ 2kB/s" is incorrect.

You're actually downloading the files/series/ubuntu iso @ 2kB/s.

Hope this clarifies things :D

munchkin

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#281654 11-Dec-2009 22:40

No, Damager, the *.torrent file itself comes through very slowly - they're quite correct when they say the 229KB file comes through at 2KB/s - I myself and several other people I know have experienced this.

"Hope this clarifies things :D"

Damager

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#281655 11-Dec-2009 22:45

munchkin: No, Damager, the *.torrent file itself comes through very slowly - they're quite correct when they say the 229KB file comes through at 2KB/s - I myself and several other people I know have experienced this.

"Hope this clarifies things :D"

Oh, very interesting! I stand corrected. Never experienced this phenomenom. Tried various torrent files tonight and had no problems. Is this an anomaly particular to Big Time?

richms

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#281657 11-Dec-2009 23:02

That and the blocking of them that some collage networks etc do is why lots of sites will serve them as a .txt file as well.

Can you use https on the site they are coming from? That should solve any throttling by mime type shenanigans that are going on..

Richard rich.ms

Kris89

23 posts

Geek

#288806 10-Jan-2010 21:29

Hi

I am on bigtime as well, and experience the same problem - .torrent files coming over http very slowly, and 90% of the time timing out or ending up invalid (regardless of source, demonoid, isohunt etc).

A solution to this to use magnet links, in utorrent, goto File->Add Torrent from URL.
Then paste in:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:[infohash]

where [infohash] is the long hex string on the torrent webpage, eg: d5de047dcca45306305a03a8801430dff26017c6
(the above is a hash for an ubuntu distro, if you wan to try it)

uTorrent will then find the .torrent file itself on the BT network, download it, and then start downloading the file contents.

I notice that it doesnt ask where to save the torrent contents, so make sure your default location is acceptable, before adding the magnet link.
Also, I don't think any trackers are added by default, so you may have to paste them in manually (DHT & PEX obviously still work automatically).

Hope this helps some people.

exportgoldman

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#288815 10-Jan-2010 22:08

I have the same problem, but through it was the pirate bay, it's been flacky and slow for the last few weeks, timing out completely today.

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OmniouS

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#288819 10-Jan-2010 23:12

Yes I experience this as well.

Most of the torrent sites I use have an option to download as another file type e.g. text file which I then rename to .torrent as the file is being saved. The torrent files download a LOT faster this way.

richms

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#288831 11-Jan-2010 00:04

Some ISPs overseas have had their internet mangling boxes rewrite .torrents with additional trackers in them so they can try to keep things local. Breaks lots of trackers that will kick you for cheating by not reporting stats.

Really there is little reason for them not to offer them thru https: - now the bulk of the net is finally starting to wake up that selfsigned is more secure than "trusted" certs it should make a push towards https becoming the norm for them.

Richard rich.ms

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