I'm tired of hearing of everyone complaining about slow downloads and trying to explain the same thing over and over. I'm going to try to explain a few things here and just point people to it.

Connection speed settings:
The first thing you must do is find out how fast your connection really is. One place you can try is Broadband Reports. Make sure you shut down any program that uses the internet before starting the test. You will recieve two results. One for your download speed and one upload speed. For example, a DSL may recieve 1220 download and 110 upload. Then go into eMules Preferences and click on Connection. Within the Connection window, click the Wizard button. At the bottom of the wizard screen, enter your results from the test you just did. Press apply.

If you know what kind of connection you have, it is still highly recommend that you type these valuse within the wizard since it also sets up all the other network settings to match your connection.

Warning: If you do NOT take the time to set these setting or feel like setting some of these values to very high settings, you will not have a good experience with eMule! If you set your upload to high, this will actually cause your downloads to be very slow. Also, setting the max sources and max connections to high values can cause your internet connection to die forcing you to reboot your machine and/or router.

(If the speed test requires java, go to http://java.sun.com/ and install it from there.)

LowID:
Another problem you may be having is that people are not able to "see" you. This means that your client is firewalled and you will recieve a LowID. Although you can still download like this, it does limit you some. Here is a link to better info one this.

Supply and Demand
The fact is, total upload = total download within a network. A large portion of the users in the network are DSL type users with connections that can download at speeds over 100Kb/s but can only upload at about 12Kb/s. So, lets say this is a perfect world and everyone is uploading at their max of 12Kb/s. This means everyone is downloading at 12Kb/s no matter how fast you are capable of downloading!! But this isn't a perfect world. So, sometimes you will download at a fast pace at the expense of someone else downloading at a slower pace.. And at other times, you will download at a slow pace, while others download at a fast pace.

A basic overview of the ED2K network:
Many people will still complain that they can download with amazing speeds on other networks and not on eMule. This is because the content on the two networks are completely different. eMule's content is full of very large files. Transfering very large files to a lot of users in a reliable fashion is very hard. For example, downloading a large file with Kazaa is very unreliable. You may start off with a fast transfer, but if that person disconnects, your download may be a waste. Also the data you're downloading can get corrupted as their method of corruption detection is not very good.
So, why is eMule better at this? I'll try to break it down with a very basic example which would work only in a perfect world, but gets the point across.


eMule
Lets say I want to share a semi large file, 144MB and I have a 30K connection and 16 people are wanting the file. eMule will break this file into 16 parts of 9MBs each. Now, instead of uploading the entire file to one person at a fast speed, I upload to about 8 users at a slower speed. Each of these people should be downloading a different part of the file. Once these initial uploads recieve 9MB, I send them back to the queue and start uploading to the other 8 users. Since those first 8 users recieve 9MB (or a complete chunk), they now start uploading that chunk to everyone else wanting the file. When the second set of 8 users finish downloading 9MB, they are put back on the queue. Now, if everyone downloaded a different 9MB chunk from me, I have just uploaded 16 chunks (The whole file) into the network and could even unshare the file since I also now have 16 users helping me share it. Now, this means that everyone gets the files slower, but they ALL get the file even if I leave the network.. So, lets say after uploading 300MB of the file, I disconnect. Then after I disconnect, more people want to download that file. Although there isn't anyone in the network with the full file yet, they can still get it because they find the 16 other sources of that file still on the network. Then they themselves quickly become sources for others that want it.


Other networks
Again, I want to share a semi large file, 144MB and I have a 30K connection and 16 people are wanting the file. I start uploading that file to one of the people wanting the file. This persons downloads at pretty fast speed.. But, when he finishes the download, he disconnects so he can use it. I upload to the next person real fast and he completes it. He stays on a bit and begins to share it to one other users. I also begin to upload to the next user.. But I disconnect at 300MB.. This leaves only one person able to share that file in the network and this person doesn't stay on long either since he has the complete file. Now, only two people got the whole file, and 2 others only have part of the file. The file is now dead to the network and nobody else can get it.

OK, I just typed this up without really thinking to hard about it. It is very hard to simply explain how this network works in just a few paragraphs, without preparing, as I just found out.. But, hopefully this helps some people.

Warning: I will keep this thread open for discussion.. But most likely will update the main post periodically with the good information and corrections and delete the added posts to keep this thread clean. So don't be surprised if your post disapears, it's nothing personal.

I think there is an important information missing.

Info:

Don't upload at more than ~80% of your line capacity otherwise you will saturate the line and downloaded packages cannot be acknowledged.

I think Unknown1 hinted at this fact:

Since Kazza users typically share small files, and since small files download much faster (obviously), many (most?) of the clients are not downloading at any given time. So all those idleing computers increase the overall average download speed.

eMule users typically download huge files, so there is allot less client-idleing, and less overall network resources.

This is a good lesson to learn for eMule users: Leave your mule online as much as possible. Especially when you are not downloading. This improves the network as a whole. It also does wonders for your credits.

For those people using Windows 95, 98 or ME, there is a limit of 100 set for Maximum TCP connections, so although emule can go higher your system will not allow it to and you get "Too Many Connections" errors in your download queues, which affects potential download speeds.

The maximum connections figure of 100, also covers connections for email or web browsing, so setting it higher than for example 80 in emule, will cause issues if you try to browse the web or send email.

I have found that it is possible to alter the maximum connections in the above Windows versions by editing the registry. If not familiar with this do not attempt it and please ensure that you create a backup before making alterations to the registry.

The details can be found here, this page lists a good many settings normally missing from TCP section of registry.

Extract from the page:

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

The value entries that are described in this article do not normally exist in the Windows registry; they must be added to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP

Values


MaxConnections = 32-bit number

Data Type: String

Specifies the maximum number of concurrent connections. The default is 100.


I would suggest finding out the max number of connections your router or modem can handle and setting the max number of connections in Windows lower.

My DG814 (like many routers designed for home use) can handle a maximum of 255 connections, so I set my max connections in Windows 98 SE to 240 and then adjusted my max connections in emule to 180, allowing me to browse the web with emule running.

Hope this helps someone.

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

The original post state:

LowID:
Another problem you may be having is that people are not able to "see" you. This means that your client is firewalled and you will recieve a LowID. Although you can still download like this, it does limit you some. Here is a link to better info one this.


The "HERE" link was disdabled so I was not able to get additional information. Can someon explain why my UPLOADS click along at 15 to 20 kbs and yet my downloads are 'waiting' .... seemingly forever.???

I have tested my boradband connection and adjusted my settings appropriately but cannot figure out what a "LOW ID" is and how to fix it.

THanks

The new URL to the FAQ (which is now called Docu) is this: http://www.emule-project.net/home/perl/help.cgi?l=1

And if you read there, you should also find out, why you have a "waiting-problem".

Despite all help files & forums, checking all settings again and again (including UL and DL capacity) and installing several versions of emule -- I still have the same problem (wating forever).

I use DSL and always get a high ID. Uploads start immediately @ full speed. Downloads take hours to start at all (often at ridiculous dl-rates of about 0,1kb/s).

For test purposes I tried to download a popular movie with 100+ sources but the problem persists. It just shows 123/124 (0) forever..

In my firewall TCP ports 4661 / 4662 / 4711 are open for emule. But as I get a high ID the firewall has probably nothing to do with it...

Help is very much appreciated!

Greetings, Mark

When will people learn!!!! This is not a problem this is how emule works and this is even written in the "why is my downloads so slow" sticky! MEMORIZE...

or pedal a little faster you have to make upload sweat.

If all else fails, try changing all of your port numbers to something other than default. Don't forget to let the new ports through your firewall.

Read this: http://forum.emule-project.net/index.php?showtopic=38953 to see why.

At least the 99% of them don't have the complete file. The "queue full" have them, but in addition to the time you must wait until you reach QR1, you must also wait until you get in the queue (if it's a non-MLdonkey-user). MLdonkey's have (AFAIK) no queue, to there is everytime "queue full". For the "askes for another file (A4AF)"-users, since you can't queue for more than 1 file per user, 1 file shows the user as source, all other as A4AF. So when these other file finish, the user will be a valid source for this download. If you can't wait, you can swap this source from the other download to this (activate "show more controls" from extended settings, then you have a new option in the contextmenu (rightclicking a download), which will swap the source to this download, look for something like "swap A4AF" (don't know how it's called)).

Yemble: You mean My Webpage?

I just did that to make your text a link. I am sorry if you intended to not make it a link, but I wanted something to click on.

I too am having problems with downloads. I have a high ID and can download from emule on my laptop at good rates everywhere but home, even on slower connections. Weird that downloads are so horrible at home when I have a 1.5mbs download compared to 768 kbps at work, where emule will actually download at a decent rate.

I'm still having a low ID problem. I followed the direction here http://www.emule-project.net/home/perl/hel...ic&topic_id=129 (the second ones) with no luck and I'm using the same router. I even took it one step further and set my TCP port to 4662- 4711. When i'm hooked directly to the internet (minus the router) I get a high ID every time! Any suggetions??

Thanks for the reply Andu, I did forward UPD ports 4672 I didn't mention in the above post because I was trying to make it as brief as possable and figured I'd just let people know I followed the forums guide for Linksys BEFSR41. (in the link posted above) . any other suggetions??

OK now one PC (out of my two PC network) is able to achieve a hi ID but the other can't. Could it have something to do with the way my network is setup? In the network wizard I chose "This computer connects to the Internet through another computer on my network or through a residential gateway" for both.

EDIT: OK so I dont have to make another post ... I discovered under the DHCP tab / DHCP client table / There is only one Client Hostname. That is the one that I am getting the high ID with. Shouldn't both PC's be listed there?

After running the network setup wizard in Windows XP Pro, an extra service called Deterministic Network Enhancer was added.
DELETE THIS SERVICE!
It caused me to have lowID. By deleting this service, effectively restoring my computer to the state before running the wizard, i recovered my HighID.

Good morning, anyones here understand portuguese language?

Guys, I have scoured the net, read 1000 reviews, sat here many a night playing with upload/download speeds, and the best download speeds I have achieved are when I simply use the wizard to setup my connection and just leave my pc alone for 1 week...

OK, one tweak, on a 576/288 DSL USB modem, I've found setting UL to 19 k/b limit works my connection nice with all the overheads...

Forget USS, forget listening to all those "I have 10,000 connections set" losers, the wizard is the way forward, and a bit of patience...

I just want to say thank you for this particular sticky post. I had trouble downloading files. I was always waiting and if they did start it would only be 0.01 kbps. LOL UNTIL I read this sticky, after I read it I tested my connection and entered the results into the connection wizard and WALLAH! I had a decent consistent connection. Which I may say isnt the greatest but considering the information in this sticky I now know why I wont get the file in 1 day. LOL These are huge files being shared and alot of people are online trying to get same file I understand all that now and my experience with emule is now a more pleasurable one. And my download speed is at 7.7 kB/s to 11.0 kB/s. And it varies from time to time but hey its better than 0.01kB/s! LOL Thank you so much for this sticky topic!

It's not so much for me the amont of speed for me just how long it takes to start the downloading process! But I have fond that you have to choose an item that not many people are also downloading. That has helped me the most.

You're thinking on the wrong scale here.

In any network the TOTAL download speed can never exceed the TOTAL upload speed. Simply because for every donwloaded mb there has to be somebody uploading that mb to you.

The reason for your friend's high download speed is propbably that he had a lot of credit built up (by uploading a lot, before he started the download), this causes him to take percedence over other users in queue's, which makes for a faster download.

Is it my impression (or network) or recently things began to get slower than usual? I usually connect to Razorback, because the large amount of files... and I spent clearly more than 90% of recent time only uploading...

[SIZE=7]System Specs
Windows XP Home SP1
Pentium 4 2.8ghz
1GB Ram
Radeon 9800 Graphics card(if it matters)
DSL 850kbits (dl) and 100kbits(ul) 106kb/16kb
eMule v0.42b( I have a High ID)
Use port 4662

Guys i have done everything in this forum and in the eMule guides and my downloads are still really bad(less then 10k) on my DSL.On other filesharing clients my downloads are usually 30-100k.My uploads are at maximum efficiency. If anyone has any ideas please i beg you help me.

Yes mate you are right,
There have been a number of threads relating to a recent "slump" in download speed.
The techies on this forum are ignoring it .... as they probably think its a newbie issue, and they are above such topics.
There is a definate correlation between recent download performance and the introduction of the new client.

see this thread....
http://forum.emule-project.net/index.php?showtopic=41512

Once I thought I'd tweak my setting to decrease the load that e-mule imposed on my pc. I set Max.Connection to 100. I forgot about it and for days I couldn't download more than 40-50k/s (I've got 10Mbps so that's really slow).

Then one day I set max.connections to 5000 (just for a try). In les than 5' I was downloading at 180K/s. And my upload was 10k/s.

It helps of course that I'm online all the time so I rise in people's queues. And I've uploaded about 200GB in total. So I've got a good upload history. But my ratio is not good (DL/UL: 1/1.2).

So my point is that it's not the client's fault or anything wrong with the available bandwidth (like kazaa being so weak anymore). I think it's a matter of setting and patience.

my 2 cents.

I think your firewall block emule tcp frames.
What firewall do you uses?
look in the blocked packet view ... what can u see?

try agnitum firewall with all rights to emule ... it should work my friend ... :-)

Hello, I have been using emule for about 1 year with a cable connection. Now I switched to a 128/64 adsl connection. I have High ID and no problems regarding connection to servers. My only problem is that my dowload speed never exceeds 5kb/s when it is supposed to reach 12kb/s. Can anybody tell me how can I solve this? My hard limit and max connections are 300 & 250 respectively. Max connections / 5 secs is 20.

Respond quickly please. 10x a lot.

edited

What Happened?
I've upgraded to v.42d from .3something, and now I can't download at all. (Naturally, I can't find the old version available anywhere)

I've got high ID, and yes, I've left my emule going for over a day.
My upload:download is 647:1 (!!!!!!!)

I've uploaded 168 MB, downloaded 251 KB

Sources for a lot of the files I'm going after are up at ~350+ sources available (though I admin many read this "too many connections" error.

I wouldn't write if I didn't believe this was a version problem, as up until a week ago when I "upgraded", downloads were flying.

Can anyone help?

That's pretty bad. I've noticed lately for the past few sessions (maybe 6 or 7 at 2 days a piece) I've been getting something in the neighborhood of 8:1. Right now I'm uploading at 90 and downloading at 0. Sessional average right now is 3.14 GB to 380 MB. That's just not right.

I had this same problem last week!!! My download is 0 or 5k max!!!! I have high ID and no firewall. My connection is OK! what happen with our emule??????

i've already changed my connection settings by going to and using the advices of broadband reports...

but i still have a problem...

i don't seem to get the full chunks of info...i can only download 300/400k of info and then the connection falls...as you know, i go to the bottom of the queue again..this happens even if the people i'm downloading from has the full file...the server connection keeps falling too..

all my other programs seem to work just fine!

can anyone help me...

i'm using emule for quite a while (my currently upload is about 80GB at a 1.61:1 ratio) and this is only happening lately...is there any problem with the latest version?

thanx!

I have the same problem I have recently gotten a ADSL connection and upgraded e-mule to 0.42d ports are open in the modem and open in my firewall but I cant download anything. I am uploading at my max. When I change back to my dial up I can download fine is this a problem with a fast internet connection?

Other clients work fine with my ADSL connection but I would prefer to use e-mule as it have a better selection of files. Pls Help

One more week....... i can't download anything on emule!! overnet works fine, bittorrent too...... i have cable connection.

someone can explain whats happen with the ed2k net?

Hi!!! I' m an new user in this forum (it is very interesting).
I use emule but i m not an expert.
I read in this forum:

I have the same problem since I installed v.42d; Downloadratio about 100:1. Hopefulle there will be a new version soon.

Greetings
10564

No you do not have to use any program.
For example if you have 256/128 ADSL put the upload limit to 12/13.

128Kb/8 = 16KB Max upload speed
16 * 80% = ~13KB

GaMe oVeR

Hi, I posted something about this problem seem to have with the new eMule versions (the one people in the posts above are talking about), in this ame thread in the eMule forum, but I don't know why, it "misteryously" disappeared. Could be just me, I'm new (to the forums, not eMule), but I just can't find it (I wanted to see if someone replied), so I'll say it again...

I've been having this same problem with the recent versions of the program. I didn't change any setting, but the performance is terrible. I can't upload to anyone, and in the rare cases I can, the speed is not any bigger than 1kb/s. The same goes download. I left eMule running for more than a day, and it only dled 6MB and uled 36MB (it usually would dl at least 100MB)...

This is not a "newbie issue", cause I've been using eMule for almost a year, I've already uled 80GB and dled 34GB. I have read all help part, and a lot of FAQs out there. I recently upgraded from Win98 to XP, but the problem was alredy happening before this, and it still is...

I hope someone notices this now, cause I don't want to have to type all this again, and I want to finish watching my anime...