[H-GEN] Bittorrent query

[Andrew Pullin]

Hi All,
    I don't know a great deal about bittorrent, except for that they are 
supposed to be a quicker way to download software by taking the load off a 
server and sharing it around amongst the downloaders.

    OK so what is a reasonable download speed to expect?

    I have 512/256 ADSL running and if I download via ftp or http download 
then I get almost the full speed download, but I have tried several 
bittorrent clients on linux and windoze XP, but I am lucky to manage a mere 
5k bps (often slower than that). I have tried small files, ie 10-50 MB, and 
they take ages, but when I try large files, ie iso bundles, they take 
forever. At present the double iso bundle I am attempting to download has so 
far taken 1 DAY to get about half of it. I was able to direct download about 
the same amount of data in about 6 hours last week.

    The data I get from my current client seems to indicate everything 
should be OK, but as I said, the speed is woeful eg.

Piece size                1 MB
Total File Size         1.28 GB [54.0%]
Tracker Status         Tracker Response OK, reannounce in 1800 s

Progress                  54.0%
Remaining                605.41 MB

Connected Seeds    20 (Max Possible 20)
Connected Peers     38 (Max Possible 332)

Connecting Peers    4
Download Rate       5kb/s From 15 Peers
Upload Rate            0kb/s To 11 Peers

Total Downloaded    784.25 MB (0 B rubbish data dropped)

Average Download    7kb/s within 28:37:30


The client also indicates 18 Seeds, 39 Peers used out of 20 and 339 
available.

As I said, I don't know alot about bittorrent, but surely if the Peers are 
setting abysmal upload rates, then the server the file is on would be better 
than that. What about a torrent that is a bit long in the tooth and you are 
the only one downloading it - what speed could I expect then?

I don't really know if I am doing something wrong here or if this is normal, 
so could a few of you kindly shed some light on this for me?

    Cheers!
        Andrew