Only $5, but It doesn't work

[pristine2]

Ok, it was only $5 and I am happy to support Bitcomet.

But the VIP acceleration service does not work, at least not for me. I click on VIP, I click on "enable VIP acceleration," and then I get this message that never goes away:

"VIP acceleration is enabled. Preparing your download channel ... "

There is no detectable difference in download performance, either.

[kluelos]

When it works, you'll be in no doubt of it. The download is as fast as your bandwidth allows.

Too bad that it seldom seems to actually work.

Experience indicates that if it doesn't get out of that "preparing" stage within about 10 minutes, then it never will and there's no point waiting for it.

[pristine2]

Alas, it has yet to work even once for me ... although I have noticed that my "remaining VIP bandwidth" number drops every time I try it.

I'm in a pretty high bandwidth environment. On a good day I get maximum download speeds of 800kbs anyway for high-traffic torrents. VIP probably wasn't a necessary purchase in the first place. I just wanted to see if I could boost download performance for the less common torrents that sometimes trickle in at 10 - 25 kbs.

BTW: The "disable acceleration" function doesn't seem properly coded, either. Once you close the VIP dialog box and re-open it, it disappears, and you have to "enable acceleration" all over again.

I realise Bitcomet needs some sort of revenue stream. Nice try with this, but if this is the state of affairs after all these months since launch, I think it needs to stop selling VIP acceleration.

[kluelos]

We (the support team here on the forum) are unpaid volunteers from all over the world. We have no connection with BitComet beyond volunteering our time in these forums, so we don't really have any input on anything BitComet does.

That said, BitComet isn't anybody's real job. It's something more volunteers work on evenings and weekends. It's really not "all these months", from that perspective, in the sense that you can apply to production software. VIP acceleration is a neat idea. It's also the first thing that BitComet proper has done, that produces any revenue at all.

But it is a new, completely anonymous service, which is something bittorrent hasn't ever had before. Rather than think of this as a Microsoft product gone wrong (although it wouldn't hurt to remember that the first version of MS Word was delivered five years late), it's more like Henry Ford tinkering in his garage with this newfangled automobile nonsense in his spare time. Might well be months of nothing much to show for it. Expect that. Think of Edison trying 2,000 different things before coming up with a working light bulb. He had no idea how long it would take and nobody told him that the 2000th idea would work. He just slogged on through, and it must have been terribly frustrating for anyone waiting on him to produce.

This is likewise somebody trying to work things out in his spare time, apart from earning a living, having a family and a life, etc.

[king_lou]

I also got the $5 buck plan, selected the VIP took the bandwidths but never left the preparing channel aspect by that time the torrent had downloaded from seeders, not looking for a refund, but when the system or beta is fixed could I please have the unused bandwiths that did not work?? I think the service is great and hope that the bugs can be fixed soon, please infor me of the status of the beta VIP program...thanks and keep up the good work.