Hi, all.

I'm having trouble getting good speed on BitTorrent Downloads. (truth be told I'm discovering that internet in Israel is about 1/10 as fast as it is back in North America, but ze sipur acher).

I can't seem to get downloads faster than 25kB/s, and most of the time they're around 7kB/s. I'm a computer technician by trade and I'm quite experienced at getting Torrents to run well, but that's in North America. Here I can't seem to effect any change no matter what I do. Oddly, my uploads are running faster than my downloads.

I'm with Bezeq and 012. I pay for a 5Mb connection. I'm using uTorrent. My ports are open and everything looks like it's working as it should.

I'm connecting to trackers in the States, however, as I don't know of any Israeli trackers yet. Could that be my problem?

What kind of speeds do you guys see here on average?

Piyono

hi.

i dont know whether or not i can use hebrew to answer, so its english for now. first off, welcome to isreal, enjoy your stay ;P

second, yes, network speeds here are quite crippled by massive traffic shaping from the ISP. however, the speeds you describe are quite low, even for that. it is a silly question, but are you limiting your upload speeds? this is pretty much a must, as uploading at full speed will choke your line.

It mostly depends on the ISP, but 012 are seriously BAD with connections to the states.

Each ISP has it's switches and routing to servers abroad, and each ISP will give different results for different trackers.

For example, Netvision's connection to Europe is pretty good, so European trackers such as Torrentleech usually give great download speeds.

I would recommend asking Bezeq about their "Gamer" connection deals, the routing is appearently different, and as far as i know, people get better speeds with those packages.

Also, get yourself an account in a good European tracker, Torrentleech is mostly recommended, that would pretty much gaurentee good DL speed.

תודה על התשובות!

אני כותב וקורא בעברית, אבל ממש לאט. אני עשיתי עלייה לפני שלושה שבועות ואני עדיין מתרגל להכל.

I know the Hebrew keyboad layout just because I do graphic design, and I work in Hebrew every now and again.

Anyway, in response to Kawaii, yes, I am limiting my upstream to about 80%. I've been playing with a number of settings including my half-open TCP limit. No love.

*Scorn* the reason I'm with 012 is because they work better for my VoIP line. When I was living here last year before I made aliyah I tried Barak and had far too many problems with call quality.

"Gamer" package, huh? I didn't know that Bezeq provides ISP services. I fact, I thought they for sure didn't. I'll check it out.

Thanks,

Piyono

Note that its not the Bezeq you think,there is bezeq which provides the infrastructure.

There Is Bezeq which provide's ISP services, they called Bezeq International.

Ah, I see... there are two different companies. A little confusing, isn't it, to have them both called Bezeq? Oh well.

Bezeq International, the ISP, is a subdivision of Bezeq inc.

it is also considered to be the lesser evil of israeli ISP's, as people say they block and shape less traffic. however, due to that reason, there have been a surge of users flooding there from other isps, which has led to some slowness recently.

אז איזה ISP אתם ממליצים?

I need both reliable VoIP and fast Torrent DL's from U.S. servers.

Piyono

First, congratulations on making aliyah and welcome to our forum!

The situation in regard to internet services in Israel is a bit tricky, I know. so lets make things a bit clearer, if we can

There is a division between the infrastructure (the "last mile" connection) and the actual internet providing services.

There are two options for the last mile connection: cable (DOCSIS) and ADSL. The cable connection is provided by HOT (which are the cable TV providers in Israel) and ADSL is provided by Bezeq (which are the POTS providers). Usually HOT are cheaper then Bezeq, but are regarded for having a lesser costumer service experience.

In the actual ISPs department there are about 5 options: 012 (merged with 015), Netvision (merged with 013 Barak), 014-Bezeq International (owned by bezeq but separated by limitation laws for business), 018-Xphone (using Bezeq-int. infrastructure) and Orange (also a cellular carrier) plus a few small ones. all of them, provide service regardless of the infrastructure provider. In addition to those, you can also get an internet connection through the 3 cellular carriers (Cellcom, Orange and Pelephone) which act as a full ISP (infrastructure + internet service) using their cellular network.

Now, recommendation:

there is no real difference between ADSL and cable. get the cheaper offer and in case of problems - switch.

In the ISP department things are a bit complicated. usually 014 are regarded as the lesser evil of the bunch and has the best "all round" connection, they're the biggest ISP and is considered the strongest. In second place the recommendation is usually Netvision. 012 is considered the worst, they do the most aggressive traffic shaping and are the smallest of the big 3 ISPs. 018 and Orange (as a provider for cable/ADSL connection) are the newest members of the group, hard to say if they are better or worst then the bigger ones.

If you are hesitant of leaving 012 I will suggest the following: get a one month no obligation connection from a couple of ISPs (I recommend trying 014 and Netvision) and switching between them. after a month choose one and cancel the rest.

hope this was of any help

Your problem lies in your ISP. 012 is known to be major throttler of bittorrent . I suggest you to move to either 014 who are "OK" for now, or move to one of the two new isps 018/ORANGE who are still new in the field and they didn't get to throttle bittorrent yet..

good luck