How I Fixed My Slow Download Problems
 

I am writing this thread to hopefully help some people with their Connection problems with Limewire as I know how frustrating it is!

Firstly I will tell you what my problem was.
We were on 28.8kbps dial-up up until 4 months ago. Then we managed to get satelite broadband and the 512kbps plan. I am using Limewire Pro 4.8.1.

I also run ZoneAlarm Secuirity Suite. I had studied this place for weeks and tried all the methods put forward but nothing could help me with my problem.

After 1 month of using the satelite connection and enjoying the superfast speeds of downloading, our Limewire Pro began playing up. It would not connect, and when it did the searches would come back with very little and downloading speed was no more than 1 or 2kbps. So I was back to dialup speed on a satelite connection!

At first I thought it may have been settings but I had configured them for my new internet connection and Limewire had worked flawlessly for over a month on the satelite.

Then I thought that ZoneAlarm was at fault but all Limewire related connection were allowed and I had not changed those settings.

Well, I can't really put it down to one thing that made it faster but firstly I uninstalled the Java I was using. It was like version 4.xxx or something. I downloaded and installed the latest version of it 5.03 I think. Then I also altered some settings just to see what would happen.

I changed the "Downloads" number to 2 so that I am only able to download 2 at a time. I also changed the number of slots for uploads to 2 & 3 for "uploads per person" and "max uploads"

I will admit I dont get the speed that I first did on satelite, but now songs download at around 10kbps which is alot better than before.

Some weird things that maybe someone could help me with still.

* Everytime I start-up Limewire and check the "view sample" in Bug Reports it always has "FALSE" beside "Received Incoming This Session".

*Also I was downloading a song at 10kbps when the status was "Connecting". How can this be happening when i am still connecting?

* Another thing is when I do the test at http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ it says " Your Test Worked! "
but when I do the test at https://www.grc.com/x/portprobe=6346 the status is "closed" for the port 6346.

Anyone help me get the proper downloads speeds and what is the go with the above sites and what do they mean?

Thanks for your time!

I'm guessing that your false incoming is a result of your connection devices. I've heard of satellite users having issues with this before.

As for the port test, I don't know. lol :D I noticed it about a week or 2 ago. It might also depend on whether LW is open or not. The strange thing is this happens with that port test site & also the Shareaza port test sites. Both gave closed ports for me, but as soon as I opened LW they both gave me opened port results. Odd!

Connecting means you're still trying to establish a stable connection with 3 or 5 Peers (depending on whether you're using Pro or LW Basic.) But you can still downld if connected to only one I believe. Likewise, I've been able to direct connect to someone in similar circumstances, before my incomplete files had even loaded & it said I was disconnected at the bottom right-hand corner. ;) :)

Hey thanks for the reply LOTR. :)

But it appears Limewire has gone back to its temperamental self of barely connecting and when it does the quickest speed is 1-2kbps.

One more thing, I checked our Limewire Free at our dad's work and it works fine. Songs download at around 20-30kbps on the 512 ADSL connection. I checked the settings on their and the only main difference is that the port used there is "6349:.

I tried this on the Limewire Pro here with satelite and nothing has really changed after disconnecting/restarting. :(

Btw, thanks for all you help and topics on this issue LOTR! :)