Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing any problems with your high-speed service, try one or more of the following troubleshooting tips before calling SwitchWorks’ technical support team.

• Make sure that you have placed the phone filters provided with your kit on all of the phones, fax machines and other devices that are connected to a phone line. Make sure you do not put a filter on the line for the PPPoE modem. If you plan on using a splitter make sure to plug the splitter directly into the wall jack and place a filter on any of the outlets on the splitter that will not be connected to the modem.
• Make sure all physical connections (power, phone and network cables) are firmly and securely connected.
• Try powering off the modem for a few seconds and powering it back on again. If you are using a router, switch or hub, make sure to power them off too and power them back on only once the PPPoE modem is up and running.
• Try using different phone and network cables.
• Try disconnecting all phones, faxes and other devices and then powering the modem off and on.
• Try connecting the PPPoE modem to a different phone outlet than the one you are using.

1. Double-click on “My Computer”.
2. Double-click on “Control Panel”.
3. Double-click on the “Network” icon.
4. Under the “Configuration” tab the only items that should be installed are, “Client for Microsoft Network”, “Dial-up Adapter” and “TCP/IP”.
5. Remove any other components, such as, extra “Dial-up Adapters”, “TCP/IP”, “NetBeui”, “IPX/SPX”, “AOL Adapters” or “VPN Adapters”. To Remove them, select the item and click “Remove”.
6. Click “OK” At this time you will be prompted to reboot the machine, click “Yes” and let the computer reboot.

1. Double-click on “My Computer”.
2. Double-click on “Dial-up Networking”.
3. Right-click on the Icon and choose “Properties”.
4. Click “Configure” at the bottom of the Window.
5. Under “General”, take note of your modem type and speed.
6. At the bottom change the “Max Speed” to match your modem. Example: 56K – 57600, 33.6 – 38,400.
7. Click on the “Connection” tab.
8. Click on the “Port Settings” button. Lower the “Fifo buffers” to the second line. Click “OK”.
9. Click on the “Advanced” button. Set “Flow Control” to “Software”.
10. Click “OK”.

Note: Make sure you have the correct drivers or upgrade for your modem before you continue.

1. Double-click on “My Computer”.
2. Double-click on “Control Panel”.
3. Double-click on the “Modems” Icon.
4. Under the “General” tab you will see your modem. Write down any information given before continuing.
5. Highlight the modem and click “Remove”.
6. Close the window and reboot the computer.
7. In most cases Windows will reinstall the modem for you.
8. When you get back to your desktop go back to the “Modems” Icon in the “Control Panel”. If the modem was not installed you will be prompted with a “Hardware Setup Wizard”.
9. At this point you will need the correct drivers for your modem.
10. Click on the “Have Disk” button (Make sure your driver diskette is in the A: drive)
11. Browse for the driver and click “Continue”. This will install the drivers for your modem.

What is BitTorrent

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol. File sharing is the downloading and uploading of files between connected computers, usually over the Internet.

Internet Problems: Slow Speed, Problems with VOIP, Video, Audio, or Gaming

If you are experiencing slow Internet speeds or problems with VOIP, streaming video, streaming audio, or gaming, the problem could be BitTorrent. BitTorrent is an aggressive protocol. It is designed to maximize file sharing and does so at the expense of other traffic and protocols.

Why BitTorrent Affects Other Internet Traffic

BitTorrent uses a lot of bandwidth and large numbers of connections.

Popular BitTorrent clients, like uTorrent, have default configurations set to optimize file sharing. This can cause bandwidth to be unavailable for other applications, resulting in poor quality phone calls and causing slowness, pausing, or, jitter on audio, video, or gaming connections.

Clients, like uTorrent, also optimize file sharing by creating large numbers of connections to share files with many peers. Large numbers of BitTorrent connections can over-utilize routers, causing them to act unreliably and sometimes hang, requiring a reboot.

There are, however, configuration settings you can use to set limits on BitTorrent to reserve bandwidth and connection resources for your other applications.

To keep BitTorrent from negatively affecting your use of the Internet, set its bandwidth and resource settings to conservative levels. Then, try your other applications and adjust BitTorrent settings up or down as necessary.

Configuring BitTorrent to Improve Your Internet Experience

Bandwidth Settings

Internet speeds are advertised as “up to” specific speeds. The advertised speeds are provisioned for customers, however, things like line conditions and distance from the central office (CO) affect the actual speed that can be delivered to customers. To configure your torrent client to improve your Internet experience, you need to know the actual upload and download speeds of your connection.

Run Speedtest

1. To get an accurate measurement of your bandwidth, stop any applications or devices from using the Internet.
2. Run the speed test at http://speedtest.switchworks.com.
3. Make a note of the upload and download speeds.

Configure Your Torrent Client’s Bandwidth Settings

Go to the Bandwidth configuration settings in your torrent client. Internet speeds are measured in Mbps (megabits per second), but torrent clients usually specify speeds or rates in KBps (kilobytes per second). Each 1 Mbps is approximately 125 KBps. (See conversion chart below.)

Begin by configuring your torrent client to use a maximum of half of your bandwidth for both the download and upload Global Rate Limiting settings. In uTorrent, bandwidth settings are located under Options => Preferences => Bandwidth.

Internet Speed – Conversion to Torrent Client Rate

Configure Your Torrent Client’s Connection Settings

Connection settings in uTorrent are also located under Options => Preferences => Bandwidth. Under Number of Connections, set the parameters as follows:

Global maximum number of connections: 100
Maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 40
Number of upload slots per torrent: 5

Configure Your Torrent Client’s Queueing Settings

Queueing settings in uTorrent are located under Options => Preferences => Queueing. Under Queue Settings, set the parameters as follows:

Maximum number of active torrents: 4
Maximum number of active downloads: 3

Making Adjustments

The above settings will configure your torrent client to conservative settings. Try them for awhile to see how the changes have affected your Internet experience. Adjust the settings, particularly Bandwidth and Connections, up or down as needed to achieve usability that meets your needs.

Seeding

Seeding refers to uploading to other peers. Torrent clients may have a default configuration to seed indefinitely. Limits can be set for seeding in the Queueing settings. For example, if you want to limit seeding to uploading as much as you download, you can do it like this:

1. In the BitTorrent client, go to Options è Preferences è Queueing.
2. Set the Seeding Goal Maximum Ratio (%) to 100.
3. Check the box labeled Limit the upload rate to (kB/s): [0=stop] and enter 0 in the parameter field.

Technical Internet Traffic Management Practices

See our statement on technical ITMPs in our Terms and Conditions.