Speed of down and uploads with winME on cable modem

Is anyone else experiencing slow download and uploads on a Winme system with a cable modem and Gontella 0.9.9? Normally I can down load files directly from sites (Microsoft, Gnutella, winzip etc.) at 50 to 80Kbs. When I use Gnotella or Bareshare for that matter the best I can do is 5kbs. People uploading from me can only do 3 t o 5kbs too. I know the upload speed should be slower, and I should not expect the same performance from a p2p network but should it be this bad? When I look at the Gnotella help screen I see 25kbs downloads; I have never gotten above 8kbs with any p2p. Is it my system setup or is it just p2p. I am running a p4 1.7G so I doubt’s it is the hardware. The other thing I am experiencing is that even when Gnotella is download 1 file at 5kbs and 3 people are upload at 3kbs each my internet web page viewing is extremely slow compared to when Gnotella is not running. Again I am using a cable modem 1.5MB down and I think it is 256-upload speed. I am curious is anyone else is experiencing similar problems with broadband connections and if anyone has a fix

[zeroshadow]

I get a lot of slow connections, but then I also get a few faster one too. Have you tried a lot of different files and types of files and times of day just to test things out? You computer should be fine.

People with fast connects normally are uploading to a lot of other people so their uploads end up almost as slow as people with slower connections. BearShare has the QoS bars and the connection speeds, that helps sometimes. As more people share the network should become faster.

[HydroPhonic]

I'm not familiar with WinME, but here was my experience with cable (when I had it):
The cable guy put it in, when he was done, I was getting about 58kbaud, just over what my modem could do. I was not a happy camper.
While at work, the solution struck me like a falling apple. I had set my "Maximum Transfer Unit" (MTU) to a fairly low value to accomodate the modem. Upon resetting it (to more than twice it's previous value), my transfer speed jumped... to almost 1.2M

I don't know whether they've eliminated manual MTU adjustments in WinME or not (I run Wi***), but if you've recently upgraded from a modem, it's worth checking out... the higher the MTU, the bigger packets get sent over the wire, which is especially good if the arrival of packets is sporadic but your connection is fast...

Also, the fast people you're downloading from may have their upload speeds throttled to only allow 5kb/s per downloader...

there is a little program called EasyMTU, just do a search and you can find it... it's freeware and it will change those settings for you... easier than hacking your registry... also I was having trouble with my connection (I'm supposed to get about 200KB/s but lately I've been at 8Kb/s max) call your support desk they may be capping you cause of "network abuse" or there may be other reasons... try hitting a download speed test at "dslreports" check to see if the number it gives you is anything close to what you should be getting...

[elp2tlh]

Bear in mind that there are several critical issues that can impact your transfer speeds. Cable modem systems are more vulnerable to some of these issues than DSL or other directly connected systems. Of particular interest to those sharing files is the impact of aggregated upstream capacity limits. Not only can this trash your upload speed, it can also have a significant impact on your download speed.

One of the very best resources on this subject is the Navas Cable Modem/DSL Tuning Guide (http://cable-dsl.home.att.net) and you may find the section on asymmetry (http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/#Asymmetry) to be of particular interest.