> I'm trying to download Slack iso's using bittorrent. I've never used it
> before and had heard all the hype so I decided to try it. I have to say
> I'm not overly impressed with the performance. I get better download
> speeds from the iso mirror! I figure I must have something
> miss-configured.. I'm behind a router but I have ports 6881-6889
> forwarded! I even just plugged right into my Cable modem to see if the
> forwarding wasn't working properly, no dice! Seriously though I think
> everything is set fine and the torrent seems healthy with >30 peers. But
> 50k/s isn't very good seeing as I can get ~90k/s just downloading the file
> as per usual. From what I've read on the web people are bragging about
> the download being so fast that they have to cap it so they can surf....
> that would be nice.
>
> TIA,
> Jason

Bittorrent is designed to keeps downloads smooth when there's an expected
surge of demand, like when a new version of a distro is released. The more
people using bittorrent, the better the download speed and reliability
will be, not to mention it doesn't overload the master server. As ISOs
trickle down to the mirrors and less people resort to bittorrent it's to
be expected that it won't be as effective.