The current way Limewire distributes upload bandwidth works fine if all the files in my library are about the same size (such as all mp3 songs). However, it is NOT fine if the files vary widely in size. Limewire should prioritize uploads based on bytes remaining (the lower the number, the higher the bandwidth allocated) in order to maximize the number of people served. I'll give an example:

Situation: I share 34 files. Most are mp3, about 2-6 megabytes. A few are video clips, 20-50 megabytes. I'm sharing one DVD movie, 700 megabytes. I have ADSL (limited upload bandwidth). I allow 8 upload slots, but Limewire usually tops out at 7 for me.

Problem:

Say 50 people are in the queue requesting files. 7 of them are requesting the big 700 megabyte file. As requests for the smaller files get fulfilled, eventually all upload slots will get occupied fulfilling the requests for the huge file.

Uploading this huge file can take DAYS to complete! This means that, once all slots are occupied by requests for huge files, all requests for smaller files are locked out for days!

Here is what I would like to see happen instead:

Suppose all 7 of my upload slots are occupied uploading a huge file that takes a few days to upload. Someone requests a small MP3. Instead of that request being denied, I'd like to see all existing uploads get downgraded in bandwidth, inversely based on the number of bytes remaining, to make room for new, smaller requests. Any subsequent request for a file that is currently in "downgraded bandwidth" status would be denied until the downgrade is released.

Another idea is to limit the number of upload slots per file at any time, and this slot limit per file could be increased as long as no other requests are being fulfilled, but then bandwidth-downgraded as described above when new requests come in. Identical files would be downgraded until the number of non-downgraded files is again within the slot limit.

There are probably other ways to distribute bandwidth more intelligently than Limewire does now. Now it seems to attempt a uniform distribution across all uploads, regardless of size, time remaining, bytes remaining, simultaneous requests per host, and so on.

-Alex