Networking noob and port forwarding help required please

[icorer]

Hi all I am looking for some assistance in setting up port forwarding with my router.I am sure this is the cause for my slow downloading ranging between a rather unhealthy 9kb/s and 11kb/s. I have followed the port forwarding guide but the changes dont appear to be working as i still get all local and nat results back when examining my peer download. Having done a speed test the results seem somewhat slow considering i'm supposed to have 512k connection any advice? The only file i have been trying to download so far has a health of 2300%. My settings and hardware are as below.

Many thanks

ISP: Tiscali broadband 512kb/s (using wireless connection shared with 1 other laptop)

Max Download Speed (following speed test0: 126 kbps

Max Upload Speed (following speed test): 241.7 kbps

Hardware: Belkin ADSL Modem Built-in 125g Wireless Router (F5D7633UK4A)

OS: Windows XP-SP2 fully updated (the SP2 firewall service is disabled)

AntiVirus: AVG free

Software Firewall: Zone Alarm (Bitcomet has access in and out)

AntiSpyware: , Adaware SE, Aol Spyware Protection, Bazooka and HijackThis

Location: England, United Kingdom

Listen Port 23803 (in the guide in most cases this ranges between 49154 - 65534, however if i click on generate random it only seem to vary between 7000-27000 for me)

[Dark_Shroud]

Zonealarm is crap, get Kerio I have a link to the free version in my sig.

As for your router, www.portforward.com.

[icorer]

Zonealarm is crap, get Kerio I have a link to the free version in my sig.

As for your router, www.portforward.com.

Hi yep i followed the port forward instructions as well as i could but i dont see where i'm going wrong. pesky thing lol. Would it help if i give details of my ip, subnet mask and default gateway. Thanks for the link to kerio i will look into it I always thought zone alarm was pretty good, shows how much i know lol.

Thanks

(posts mergered)

When i download a file through my browser i generally get download speeds of 60-80kb/sec, and can download 1mb in about 10-14 seconds. Should this speed be the same whilst using p2p?

[kluelos]

Download from a server has nothing in common with downloading via bittorrent, so there's no basis for comparison.

If you're clicking the "random port" button you're undoing all the work you just did to forward the listen port on your router, which suggests you aren't clear on what you're doing.

The router has a firewall. That blocks incoming connections. You want to allow incoming connections to BC's listen port. The router will allow exceptions for a particular port at a particular IP address. If you want to recieve them, your computer must be at that IP address, and BitComet must be running, and listening at that port.

If you're not getting remote connections, it's because the listen port is being blocked by a firewall. It may be your router, because you've used the wrong port, or have changed the port on BC but not on the router; or because you're not at the right IP address because you didn't set up a static IP properly; and/or because you have a software firewall blocking the port. There's no reason it can't be all three.

[icorer]

Download from a server has nothing in common with downloading via bittorrent, so there's no basis for comparison.

If you're clicking the "random port" button you're undoing all the work you just did to forward the listen port on your router, which suggests you aren't clear on what you're doing.

The router has a firewall. That blocks incoming connections. You want to allow incoming connections to BC's listen port. The router will allow exceptions for a particular port at a particular IP address. If you want to recieve them, your computer must be at that IP address, and BitComet must be running, and listening at that port.

If you're not getting remote connections, it's because the listen port is being blocked by a firewall. It may be your router, because you've used the wrong port, or have changed the port on BC but not on the router; or because you're not at the right IP address because you didn't set up a static IP properly; and/or because you have a software firewall blocking the port. There's no reason it can't be all three.

Hi thanks for your reply, the random button i had clicked several times prior to setting up portforward in order to determine roughly what the values ranged from as they were much lower than the usual range suggested between 45k-65k. Upon decinding my router must be an exception i left value at last random setting of 23803 and proceeded with the rest of the port forwarding instructions.

Next i needed to setup static IP which im unsure worked correctly. I did ipconfig /all wrote down the values of my ip, subnet mask & gateway dns and double checked seral times. I then proceeded to go into network connections tcp/ip protocal tab and marked use static ip and entered the values in correct boxes. Accepted changes and reconnected to network and connection works, allowing me to browse net as normal.

Lastly i opened up the belkin setup page using the http:// address. logged in to view my settings. added the my port value and ip address as approapriate under virtual server/connection tab (forget name off top of head but only "virtual" tab. accepted and saved changes.

Rebooted the machine for good measure and despite repeated attempts i havent been able to open to that port. Tried different numbers using the random generate button and changing in router setup approapriately. No connections get through to it. I should mention that in my various attempts i have tried with both zone alarm on and disabled both during and after setup with no difference. Probably an oversight on my part but i really dont see where i am going wrong. :(

[icorer]

i am sure once i discover where i am going wrong i am going to feel like such a pleb lol, hopefully someone can help this poor networking noob.