Why You Can't Connect.
 

Hey all frustrated Limewire Basic/Pro users.

Are you having the following problems?

=> Poor Connection
my Limewire would load up and the connection would either be "connecting" or "poor". Couple time I got Turbocharged but usually once I started a search it would go back to "connecting"

=> Slow Download Speeds
we went from 50-60kbs to 0-3kbps in a day. It was actually slower than our old 28.8kbps dial-up. It was very frustrating because we had just got 512kbps Satelite plan. It worked VERY fast for the first month.

Now, I have spent 4 months trying to get it faster. I have researched this forum and site like you wouldn't believe and tried ALL possible fixes, to no avail.
The funny thing is that it was slow 0-3kbps at home on satelite yet 50kbs+ here in town at my parents work on ADSL 512kbps plan. So I finnaly put it down to either the computer at home or the satelite modem. So I brought the computer from home and installed and hooked up the ADSL cable. Guess what happened?

Limewire automatically went to Turbocharged and I was downloading songs consistently at 40kbs+ and up to 60kbs. That means that the problem is not Limewire OR any settings whatsoever. I thought I may as well muck around with the settings to see if they affected it and they didn't at all. Same fast speeds and huge searches.

So it is obvious the satelite modem is too blame. I am pretty certain that about 1 month on the satelite OptusNet (one of the biggest ISP's here in Australia) blocked certain programs/ports from accepting and sending connections in the modem and therefore making Limewire not work.

Funny thing is that on the Optusnet site in the FAQ area there was a question regarding the throttling of P2P. It said that because of alot of traffic using P2P that they were throttling it. Then underneath is had an aterisk and said "Optusnet does no longer filter or throttle P2P..."

Then I go to have a look at exactly what it is so I can show my mum so she can get onto them, and guess what? I cannot find that page! I am sure they are filtering it and our satelite modem is a prime example!

So what my point is, if you are experiencing the problems above like limited connection and very slow downloads, it's most likely your ISP and not Limewire!

We are in an 18 month contract on the satelite so I can't see what we can do. Just have to use Limewire in town at work.

Hope everyone reads this before being mad about Limewire, because it's not the version that matters, I have Limewire Basic on this computer and it flies! So I went with Pro at home and it will no work because of the modem restrictions/blocks.

Lord Of The Rings- Could maybe a mod make this sticky so people can understand and not ask the same questions time and time again.

Believe me, I know how frustrating it is when Limewire won't download things, I spent months trying to fix it.

YOUR PROBLEM IS YOUR ISP!

Hope this helps!

Hi Aus Rider 22,
While I see your point; your connection & speed probs were probably due to your ISP, it's not always that simple. I use another fairly big Oz ISP & had heaps of connection probs when I started using LimeWire, for me it came down to forwarding a port through my modem... problem solved. I think anyone experiencing connection probs should search around first to make sure it's not a computer firewall, modem/router using NAT or program (SP2 comes to mind) causing the problem. There could be many things stopping connection. You shouldn't just assume it's your ISP! I don't think they're above reproach, just that there may be other factors at work!!

I can see what you mean, but in my case it's definetly not the computer, firewall. So the only thing it could be is the variable when I took this computer into the other connection, the variable was the internet connection.

It would be interesting to hear how other satelite users go with Limewire or any other P2P for that matter.

Btw, it's not just Limewire, ANY P2P program will not be succesful on this satelite connection....

yea i use optusnet cable in sydney, ive ben having problems wiht limewire but at this moment is working fine but sometimes il get on and it be firewalled for no reason, i havnt even been on the computer so i think its optusnet too, and like you said, all the other p2ps wont work either.