If you're not using a vpn your internet is probably getting throttled.
I'm using a VPN
You haven't specified if it's a free VPN or not
It is not a free VPN
Probably a ports issue if it's that slow.
Even on a VPN?
Did you forward the ports? Some provide that capability but you have to do it manually.
Never been an issue for me to use closed ports on popular torrents though.
check with a very popular torrent
That's what prompted this post, I'm getting a very slow download of something that should be damn fast based on the numbers. The trackers are working too, they're just not pumping out the data.
then you need to provide more info:
Make sure you are fully connectable (port forwarded). To check this you will want to test your torrent client's incoming connection port with a 3rd party port test website e.g. https://www.canyouseeme.org/, https://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/, https://portchecker.co/, etc. Those websites should be able to successfully connect to your torrent client's incoming connections port. If the test fails then you need to look at adding an incoming port forward in your network router's configuration.
Also make sure DHT/PEX is enabled in your torrent client (those are enabled by default).
PS - The above is if you're not using a VPN/Proxy (you didn't mention using one).. definitely don't re-configure your router configuration if you intend to use a VPN/Proxy, all port forwarding needs to happen on the VPN/Proxy server in those cases.
I torrent with a VPN and without port forwarding and can saturate my 20Mbps up and 100Mbps of my 300Mbps down. I don't think port forwarding is the issue.
OP had a different issue (see comments further below). They throttled themselves by severely limiting their own upload speed in the torrent client.
That aside you can always torrent without a port forward but the speeds & connectivity will heavily depend on other peers present in the torrent swarm. You're relying on other connectable peers in the torrent swarm to be able to download torrent data through. If they don't exist, or there's not many of them, then you will have performance issues.
e.g. In large torrent swarms you may not notice much difference since there should be plenty of other connectable peers to make direct connections with. The smaller the torrent swarm the less likely you'll find as many connectable peers which can lead to slower speeds.
And in much smaller swarms without any connectable peers you won't be able to download anything at all - All the firewalled (not connectable, not port forwarded) peers can see each other but they cannot initiate a data transfer until a connectable peer joins the swarm.
Any solutions for people whose VPNs do not offer port forwarding?
change vpn provider
It is impossible to port forward with a VPN service that does not offer port forwarding. You'd have to subscribe to a different VPN provider.
Great point, I edited the post: I am using a VPN and the client is bound to the VPN.
Make sure you've enabled PEX, DHT etc, also update your tracker list using the lists here: https://github.com/ngosang/trackerslist
Both were already enabled, but I manually added every tracker listed to cover my bases (both DNSs and IPs). I reannounced, but the speed hasn't improved.
Have you limited upload? The BitTorrent protocol needs some amount of upload to sustain download speeds and throttling upload can mess it up.
I did limit the upload, what's a good setting?
There really isnt a good reason to limit upload unless you have other devices that need the upload capacity on your Internet connection. It's best to leave it uncapped. Limiting upload doesn't prevent ISP or Copyright holders from viewing your IP. Torrent clients will do this automatically if left un capped but you want it to be about 70-80% of your max real upload speed.
You found the solution! I upped the upload to an arbitrarily high number and everything is working as I intended, thank you
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