Confusing fluctuations in download speeds

[grangerjw]

ive been having some weird download speed fluctuations lately. i usually download several torrents at once (sometimes up to 10). lately when downloading, my downloads seemingly get paused (for lack of a better term). they seem to settle in at a certain download speed, continue on and then randomly slow down. i would think it normal as the nature of torrents means im gathering different parts from different sources at different speeds. but the thing is when this 'pausing' action starts it affects every one of the torrents at the same time. ive tried with various numbers of torrents from 1 up to 10 and its the same no matter the amount, always a periodic brief slowdown, then ramps back up to normal speeds. the upload speeds are never affected nor ever seem to suffer the same slowdown.

i have version 1.32 bitcomet, a 30mb/s cable internet connection, a green light and not blocked, everything else is relatively untouched except the global speeds set to appropriate upload/download speeds. ive read through the forums and guides as best i can, and im sure i have everything configured correctly. i was wondering if this is a common occurrence in the torrent world, or if this is something worth investing further.

Edited July 4, 2012 by grangerjw (see edit history)

[The UnUsual Suspect]

If you're using a router, it sounds like it's overloading and resetting. To confirm this you can try setting your global max connections to a low restrictive number, if the problem stops, then you can be pretty sure it's the router. Sometimes firmware updates are issued to address these performance problems, other times the only option is to replace the router or limit how many connections bitcomet opens. Also, by running so many torrents you're going to have a huge number of incoming connection attempts, even after you stop the torrent. They should stop within a couple hours. Another option is to renew your IP lease to get a new IP address which will stop all incomming connections immediately, or you can change your listening port, which won't stop them from reaching your router, but they won't get through to bitcomet so it will be less work on the router.