1) I have DSL, not 56K. I have no idea where you got that idea.

2) "Hits" I am using to describe how many items appear in a search window. I am not sure how you are using the term.

3) While the horizon numbers in Limewire are not necessarily accurate, if I notice that the number of available hosts is small relative to the number of connections, then it is because two or three Gnucleus ultrapeers are connected. If I make an effort to weed them out, hosts increase and hits increase, and thus my chances of getting a download. The I/O statistics are another indication. Gnucleus hangs on like a pitbull, but a Gnucleus ultrapeer brings me very little in terms of download potential.