First post - a bit nervous as there's lots of smart people here, and I'm definitely not a Mac or Limewire techie.

My main problem is slow dl's (1-2 KBps) despite implementing all (I think) of murasame's and leeware's (and others) suggestions on various threads.

First, my home setup:
Pro 4.8.0/iBook G4/X.3.8/512 sdram/wirelesss setup (Airport Express Station)/hi speed cable isp - d/l speed:4704 kbps (? 588 KBps), u/l speed:1016 kbps (? 127 KBps)/ cable modem SB 5100 Surfboard.

On system prefs/sharing, I've checked that the firewall is off, as well, it tells me that the TCP network traffic on port 6346 is being let through anyway.

I've used airport admin utility/port mapping to, I think, port forward port 6346 to my private IP address. I set both the public/private setting at 6346.

I've gone through the limewire settings as described by muresame/leeware and others:
max dl' 20
dl speed unlimited
ul speed unlimited
router config: UPnP (should it be manual port forwarding?)

I've done all this and still I get 1-2 KB/s. Aarg!

To me, the firewall's off/open, ports are forward, limewire is set. What have I missed?

I am a little confused with respect to 'pushing' my actual computer IP through limewire. There may lie the problem. As well, could it possibly be the cable modem? The ISP tech guys say it's working fine.

Unfortunately, it looks as though some kind soul needs to hold my hand here and walk me through this.

Sorry about the long post. To someone who isn't sure about these things, I'm not too sure what info to include/exclude, so it all gets thrown in.

Thanks very much. I've spent today learning all about this stuff thanks to all the threads I've gone through.

dijon

The normal process for forwarding a port is:
1. Set up a Static IP address.
2. Forward a port (which you'd need to do for the Airport.)
3. Force IP within LW: Force IP instructions & sample image & 2 posts after that. UPnP is for devices that understand UPnP technology. If your devices do then forwarding a port would not be necessary. But yes Airport does use NAT firewall.

After LW's been on for at least 30 mins, do this test: Bug Report instructions & sample image Is it True/False? If True then that's good!

When downloading try to choose those files that have multiple star quality, 4 stars the best. And also try to choose those with many sources (ie: multiple no. under the # column.

If a file slows down to 0 or 1 KB/s for a significant period, select it from the Download window & press the Stop button. Then reselect it from the search results & press download. This can often re-vitalise the download. Back that up with the occasional new search if the process drags on. Sometimes LW needs some baby-sitting.

Thanks for the reply.
I forced the IP in Limewire as you described. I ran the test and it came up false. I think I port forwarded ok, but the static IP address thing is confusing me. I read the post on portforward.com and I'm not clearer on the concept. I know my private IP address (which doesn't change) and my external IP addres (which doesn't change). How do I make a static IP address, or do I have one already? And if so, how do I know that? I think I'm getting this confused.
Also, even though the cable ISP tech guys told me that the cable modem was functioning properly, could it be blocking the 6346 port?

Thanks.

dijon

Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say ‘Test Page was a Success’. What happens when you go there?

What sort of modem do you have (brand & model no.)?

"It says your test was a success!"

Wow, something actually worked! (heh)

The modem is a SB5100 Surfboard.

Just wanted to update my situation. I re-did the Bug Report test just now and it said 'true' this time. Not sure what that means but I guess it's better than 'false'. I tried downloading a file with lots of hits (192) at a speed of 'T3 or higher' and it got up to 50 KB/s transfer rate for a few seconds, but then spent most of the time b/n 0-5 KB/s. I spoke with the Mac tech guys and they say there should be no problem with the Express Station. They said I don't even need to do the whole port-forwarding business with it. The cable ISP guys have already told me the modem is fine. I've done (I think) everything to fine-tune L/W for speed, as per previous posts. So, to my mind, my firewall is off, the ports are open/forwarded/pushed, L/W is tuned as best can be - and it's still chugging along. Grrr! Not sure what else to do. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast. That sucks if that's the case. If I could get 50 KB/s reliably I would be happy, although a buddy with the same setup (except with adsl) gets in the 100s consistently. Lucky dog!

dijon

I don't even understand half of what they say to do to check speeds, but I know that for being on cable, I should be able to connect faster than 1 or 2 and have never seen it happen, even connecting to a T3. I have a set of files I have been trying to download for a couple weeks now with constant dropping out after 3 or 4 minutes, yet if I do a search those same files are sitting their saying download me. I am confused..

I am confused as well. I repeatedly get the same problem as you describe. All I know is that I'm getting fed up with this constant tweaking of this program/firewall/ports/router/etc/etc.. As a last resort, I'm going to try a different isp provider (adsl vs. cable) and see if that makes any difference. I get it tomorrow. If it doesn't improve then I guess I'll look for alternatives. I'm not holding my breath. I don't understand why I can bounce around the web, downloading stuff super fast with high speed cable, but when it comes to a p2p like l/w, it's just so darn slow. I obviously don't understand this technology. Like I said, it may just be the nature of the beast. If that's the case - good riddance.

dijon

Not everybody has cable or broadband. And even when you connect to somebody who has, how much bandwidth are they offering. And if they have a limitless no. of upld slots & they have over a hundred people uplding from them at one time then the bandwidth available to share around is going to get a bit small per upload slot. A worthy read about this: Slow Speeds (click on link) I had dial up modem for 3 years using LW & only upgraded to bottom level broadband 6 months ago b/c in this country marketing & available services & upgrading of services is much slower than say in the USA where it's been for available for much longer. There's also many countries in the world where anything faster than a dial up is an absolute luxury. Their country simply doesn't have the infrastructure to provide anything faster. For broadband it means upgrading everything to digital, including the phone exchanges, etc. Be it hard to imagine but the greater % of p2p users aroound the globe are dial up users. This will obviously change over time but this technology is still developing. And upgrading of services takes time, money & demand. Just some thoughts. Obviously there's a no. of reasons why slow speeds might be the result. Including one's ISP if they are filtering. And yes they are known to filter in both europe & in the USA to keep speeds minimal so the bandwidth is available for others & the company doesn't become overstretched.

Thanks for the explanation.

I guess it is just the nature of the p2p platform.

dijon