Best Free Bittorrent Client

mr6n8 · 27. Jul 2009, 07:21 PM

At my review, Best Free Bittorrent Client, these are the top four:
1. µTorrent
2. Halite
3. Vuze
4. BitComet

I would appreciate your vote, and comment, as this will help for future reviews.

Thank you

Steve

J_L · 27. Jul 2009, 08:04 PM

Bittorent is something that I only use as a last resort if I can't find the download for something (like whole seasons). The reason for that is because my ISP limits my bittorent bandwidth, and download are always faster (usually 10x overall) for me.
Therefore, utorrent fits all my needs.

mr6n8 · 27. Jul 2009, 08:36 PM

The thing that is great about µTorrent is that it fills just about anyone's needs, in spite of its extremely small size and memory use.

That is some heavy duty throttling by your ISP. I almost always get much better speeds from bittorrent, than I do from places like Rapidshare (although megaupload is fast for me).

Just curious, who is your ISP?

J_L · 27. Jul 2009, 10:55 PM

Mine's Shaw Cable. Not sure about the details, because my dad got it.
It's not only because of the ISP I admit, during the rare times I use utorrent, I usually don't seed at all (my family doesn't like the bandwidth drop, and I tend to want things over as quickly as possible). Also, my upload speed influences my download speed a lot nowadays, it's usually faster unless I limit it. At least my ratio is improving..
Sometimes, the torrent does get to normal download speed, but it isn't consistent at all and that's just a third of the max accomplished by my download manager.

mr6n8 · 27. Jul 2009, 11:12 PM

Yeah, Shaw is a bad one and apparently getting worse. The Azureus-Wiki lists them and indicates as of March, 2009, additional encryption steps are needed.
http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Bad_ISPs#Canada
http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php...haping#Level_5

One of the steps, I do not believe can be done in uTorrent.
The Shaw interference is probably related to the lack of consistency.

Have you tried encryption? (Options>Preferences>BitTorrent)
uTorrent has a few variations to try.

Also, the new uTP protocol may help (although I found it slowed speeds on my unthrottled connection).

On the upload, yes that will affect as, while downloading, the more upload you send out to peers, the more download you will receive back. Usually capping upload at 80% will allow web surfing, VOIP etc., to work fine. If still not, then gradually lowering the % until everybody is happy should still help.

J_L · 28. Jul 2009, 12:15 AM

Never knew it got worse.. Ok, I've enabled (or should it be forced?) encryption now and changed the "Seed While [Default Values]" to 80% ratio.

What do you mean by the new uTP protocol? Where can I find the settings for that?

I don't have any torrent to test right now and is downloading quite a lot of stuff, so I can't find out the results yet. Hopefully it'll be enough to change my mind, because I'm getting real tired of batch downloading, especially on those damn rapidshare parts.

mr6n8 · 28. Jul 2009, 12:47 AM

I would suggest using the uTP as a last resort.
I have heard it helped Bell Canada customers, but I have not seen anything on Shaw.

uTP is UDP torrenting and is not officially released yet. There is the capability in 1.8, but it is not enabled. uTorrent 1.9 Alpha has it enabled at default. More info here:
http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=49813
http://filesharefreak.com/2008/12/02...-19/#more-1331

As far as encryption, you will have to play with it a bit to see what works best.
Enabled means uTorrent will establish encrypted and unencrypted outgoing connections.
Forced means it will only establish encrypted outgoing connections.
Enabled will get more peers/seeds as forced will not allow you to connect to a bittorrent client that does not support encryption.

Allowing incoming legacy allows incoming non-encrypted and encrypted connections.
Disabling it allows only encrypted incoming connections.
If this option is disabled, it will severely cut down on the number of seeds/peers you can connect to.
Most people do not enable encryption so your initial communication from them would be blocked if you did not accept non-encrypted incoming.

If encryption is enabled (or forced) on your client and you accept incoming legacy (non-encrypted) connections, then when a person using a client that supports encryption sends you a non-encrypted communication and your client accepts, their client will automatically enable encryption on the connection between you two.

So first try Enabled with accepting incoming legacy.
Then try Forced with accepting incoming legacy.
I do not think you will benefit from Forced and disable incoming legacy, but you could try as a last resort.

You might want to take a look at this guide: Optimizing uTorrent For Speed.

Some screen shots and info on encryption here (you do not need to mess with lazy bitfield referenced there)
Additional uTorrent Settings: Dealing with ISP Interference

Edit: I think you misunderstood on the 80%.
What I referenced has to do with the upload bandwidth cap setting at Options>Preferences>Bandwidth. See the optimizing guide for more info.

J_L · 28. Jul 2009, 01:13 AM

Yes I've followed that guide already. So I decrease the Global Upload Rate by 80% right?

mr6n8 · 28. Jul 2009, 03:38 AM

The "Maximum upload rate" under "Global Upload Rate Limiting" should be set to 80% of the overall upload capacity of your internet connection.
So if the speed test showed 100kBps, upload in uTorrent would be capped at 80kBps.

Setting upload in µTorrent is a fine line. The more upload you give, the more download you will get from other peers. However, if upload is set too high, or to unlimited, then download speeds will suffer as outgoing communications (acknowledgment signals, resend requests etc) will be interfered with.

Basically, while downloading, you want to give out as much upload as possible while still leaving room for your outgoing communications.

J_L · 28. Jul 2009, 04:10 AM

Ok, now I just need a (useful) torrent to test. The weird thing is that I never even got close to the Global Upload Rate, so I wonder what kind of change it'll bring.
Thanks for your support thus far.

27. Jul 2009, 07:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
mr6n8 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 424	Best Free Bittorrent Client At my review, Best Free Bittorrent Client, these are the top four: 1. µTorrent 2. Halite 3. Vuze 4. BitComet I would appreciate your vote, and comment, as this will help for future reviews. Thank you Steve

28. Jul 2009, 12:47 AM	#7 (permalink)
mr6n8 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 424	I would suggest using the uTP as a last resort. I have heard it helped Bell Canada customers, but I have not seen anything on Shaw. uTP is UDP torrenting and is not officially released yet. There is the capability in 1.8, but it is not enabled. uTorrent 1.9 Alpha has it enabled at default. More info here: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=49813 http://filesharefreak.com/2008/12/02...-19/#more-1331 As far as encryption, you will have to play with it a bit to see what works best. Enabled means uTorrent will establish encrypted and unencrypted outgoing connections. Forced means it will only establish encrypted outgoing connections. Enabled will get more peers/seeds as forced will not allow you to connect to a bittorrent client that does not support encryption. Allowing incoming legacy allows incoming non-encrypted and encrypted connections. Disabling it allows only encrypted incoming connections. If this option is disabled, it will severely cut down on the number of seeds/peers you can connect to. Most people do not enable encryption so your initial communication from them would be blocked if you did not accept non-encrypted incoming. If encryption is enabled (or forced) on your client and you accept incoming legacy (non-encrypted) connections, then when a person using a client that supports encryption sends you a non-encrypted communication and your client accepts, their client will automatically enable encryption on the connection between you two. So first try Enabled with accepting incoming legacy. Then try Forced with accepting incoming legacy. I do not think you will benefit from Forced and disable incoming legacy, but you could try as a last resort. You might want to take a look at this guide: Optimizing uTorrent For Speed. Some screen shots and info on encryption here (you do not need to mess with lazy bitfield referenced there) Additional uTorrent Settings: Dealing with ISP Interference Edit: I think you misunderstood on the 80%. What I referenced has to do with the upload bandwidth cap setting at Options>Preferences>Bandwidth. See the optimizing guide for more info. Last edited by keroffs; 28. Jul 2009 at 12:53 AM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

View Poll Results: What is the best free bittorrent client
µTorrent	13	81.25%
Halite	0	0%
Vuze	0	0%
BitComet	1	6.25%
BitTornado	0	0%
Deluge	0	0%
BitSpirit	0	0%
Miro	0	0%
BitTorrent	1	6.25%
Other	1	6.25%
Voters: 16. You may not vote on this poll

27. Jul 2009, 08:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
J_L Co-Author, Best Free Security List Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,003	Bittorent is something that I only use as a last resort if I can't find the download for something (like whole seasons). The reason for that is because my ISP limits my bittorent bandwidth, and download are always faster (usually 10x overall) for me. Therefore, utorrent fits all my needs.

27. Jul 2009, 08:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
mr6n8 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 424	The thing that is great about µTorrent is that it fills just about anyone's needs, in spite of its extremely small size and memory use. That is some heavy duty throttling by your ISP. I almost always get much better speeds from bittorrent, than I do from places like Rapidshare (although megaupload is fast for me). Just curious, who is your ISP?

27. Jul 2009, 10:55 PM	#4 (permalink)
J_L Co-Author, Best Free Security List Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,003	Mine's Shaw Cable. Not sure about the details, because my dad got it. It's not only because of the ISP I admit, during the rare times I use utorrent, I usually don't seed at all (my family doesn't like the bandwidth drop, and I tend to want things over as quickly as possible). Also, my upload speed influences my download speed a lot nowadays, it's usually faster unless I limit it. At least my ratio is improving.. Sometimes, the torrent does get to normal download speed, but it isn't consistent at all and that's just a third of the max accomplished by my download manager.

27. Jul 2009, 11:12 PM	#5 (permalink)
mr6n8 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 424	Yeah, Shaw is a bad one and apparently getting worse. The Azureus-Wiki lists them and indicates as of March, 2009, additional encryption steps are needed. http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Bad_ISPs#Canada http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php...haping#Level_5 One of the steps, I do not believe can be done in uTorrent. The Shaw interference is probably related to the lack of consistency. Have you tried encryption? (Options>Preferences>BitTorrent) uTorrent has a few variations to try. Also, the new uTP protocol may help (although I found it slowed speeds on my unthrottled connection). On the upload, yes that will affect as, while downloading, the more upload you send out to peers, the more download you will receive back. Usually capping upload at 80% will allow web surfing, VOIP etc., to work fine. If still not, then gradually lowering the % until everybody is happy should still help.

28. Jul 2009, 12:15 AM	#6 (permalink)
J_L Co-Author, Best Free Security List Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,003	Never knew it got worse.. Ok, I've enabled (or should it be forced?) encryption now and changed the "Seed While [Default Values]" to 80% ratio. What do you mean by the new uTP protocol? Where can I find the settings for that? I don't have any torrent to test right now and is downloading quite a lot of stuff, so I can't find out the results yet. Hopefully it'll be enough to change my mind, because I'm getting real tired of batch downloading, especially on those damn rapidshare parts.

28. Jul 2009, 01:13 AM	#8 (permalink)
J_L Co-Author, Best Free Security List Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,003	Yes I've followed that guide already. So I decrease the Global Upload Rate by 80% right?

28. Jul 2009, 03:38 AM	#9 (permalink)
mr6n8 Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 424	The "Maximum upload rate" under "Global Upload Rate Limiting" should be set to 80% of the overall upload capacity of your internet connection. So if the speed test showed 100kBps, upload in uTorrent would be capped at 80kBps. Setting upload in µTorrent is a fine line. The more upload you give, the more download you will get from other peers. However, if upload is set too high, or to unlimited, then download speeds will suffer as outgoing communications (acknowledgment signals, resend requests etc) will be interfered with. Basically, while downloading, you want to give out as much upload as possible while still leaving room for your outgoing communications.

28. Jul 2009, 04:10 AM	#10 (permalink)
J_L Co-Author, Best Free Security List Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,003	Ok, now I just need a (useful) torrent to test. The weird thing is that I never even got close to the Global Upload Rate, so I wonder what kind of change it'll bring. Thanks for your support thus far.