Uploading Speed

[MP79]

My uploading speed is supposed to 384 kb/s, but when I use bitornado or limewire I can only upload 46 kb/s combined. Is there something wrong?

[i an not a nerd]

Well, for one thing, uploading is illegal. Upload speeds arn't always gonna be as fast as what the service provider says because you can't dedicate all the bandwidth to one program. Your modem will save some bandwidth for other connections.

[Erik]

Uploading isn't illegal. Uploading pirated software, illegal music, etc. might be illegal, but uploading in itself isn't. You can upload pages to a website if you maintain one, and there is nothing wrong with that.

As for why it is slower well it would depend on a lot of factors. The only way to really determine if you are getting the full bandwidth up and down promised is by doing bandwidth tests. When you upload something the sending and receiveing PC negotiate a connection speed. So the remote PC you are sending to might need a slower speed than what you limit is. Just like when you download something you don't automatically get your full bandwidth potential, uploading works the same. It will also be limited somewhat by your PC hardware, how fast can it get the file off the hard drive and ready to be sent? If it is a fairly modern PC then that is really a non issue though. Also a lot of those types of programs will have options to restrict the amount of upload bandwidth used.

Bottom line is I doubt you have a real problem here, but are just seeing how data transfers over networks really work.

[Pentium100]

Maybe the units are different. ISP give 385kbps (kilobits) and bittornado shows the speed in kilobytes. 384/8=48
You can upload at 46, the 2 KB/s are used for ddownload ACKs.

[Paul Komski]

It will also be limited somewhat by your PC hardware, how fast can it get the file off the hard drive and ready to be sent?I dont think this would ever be a weak link in the chain - even with broadband on a very ancient hard drive.

The only way I know to test speeds is to see how long it actually takes to transfer a compressed file of known size. And yes - convert bits to bytes appropriately when doing the mathematics.

And as for uploading illegalities - !!! - everytime you contact a web page you have to upload before the site downloads the page to you.

[mjc]

It is not the act that is illegal, it is the content...and even then, not everywhere in the world. The RIAA/MPAA may be able to influence what is done in the US (and certain other countries) but copyrights are not international treaties (per se) and the US copyright laws only extend to the US borders (or at least that is the way it should work). That is why, if you pick up a book and look at the copyright page it will often show several countries in addition to the US. It is individually copyrighted in each country.

The original poster made no mention of what was being uploaded...for all we know it could be the latest Gentoo build (Gentoo is distributed on the BitTorrent network...along with many other Linux distros and other very legal software). Or his own original works.

There are many legitimate uses for file sharing networks, above and beyond the one that makes the news most often.