Step 1:
A lot of my friends told me the ISPs in Singapore filters P2P and
this makes download hell. So it is best to have a proper ISP. I am
using Starhub, no troubles so far.
Step 2:
Router. This thing about wireless router is, its sometimes more
complicated than your computer. For frequent torrent users, it is a
common fact that with a router in your internet connection at home,
forwarding your ports is a must. I got myself a Linksys WRT54G,
which had been reported by many to be very troublesome for P2P. It
is true for me. Up till May, I was always getting more than 100kb
for average speed, however, suddenly, my DHT is firewalled. I am
very sure my settings are in place and ports forwarded.
I am now waiting for myself to be free from work to sort out this
issue.
Solution: I am not against linksys. In fact i think it has got a
pretty firm protection. Just that to avoid this freaking problem,
exclude a router from your network, or use a computer that connects
directly to the Internet
Doing portforward and building static ip:
www.portforward.com
Step 3:
Have a good client. As 2 years of experience tells, me, Bitlord
sucked. I would avoid it if i were you. Azureus is the best for me.
Java based makes it one of the highest RAM comsumption of them all,
but its worth it. Azureus never fails me to give me over 100kb/s if
my network is right.
uTorrent is a good choice too. Though never expect speed to always
hang at the hundred point, it requires so little RAM that you
barely notice it's existence.
Bit Comet is definately not my favourite. I found that it is
neither here nor there. It wastes a lot more RAM than uTorrent, but
the speed is still a level below Azureus. However, if the first 2
didnt suit you, choose this.
Many said Bittorrnado is the best, but so far for me, its nth
special.
Step 4:
As many ppl might have told you now, choosing your speed is
crucial. Setting all to unlimited is suicide. Many guides will tell
you to go online and test your download and upload speed, and do
some unit convertion and allow only 80% for torrent usage. I
personally find this method troublesome.
As many of you are with broadband, getting above 100kb or 200kb
should not be a chore. So if your upload speed is 50 and download
speed is 30 and they have not been changing much, you can set your
upload to 70 and download to 50. Just allow them a little extras.
Come back after a while and check, if the speed peaked, you can
then readjust and shift the limit up a little again.
Of course, doing the 80% of maximum is better and if you don't mind
the trouble, go ahead! However, remember. Always go online and do
checking, nv base on your ISP's claims. What they put in
advertisement is possible but not frequent. Also, online checking
is not always accurate. Do multiple checkings with a considerable
period of time in between.
Step 5:
Choice of torrent. After doing your ports properly, i would
consider choosing a good torrent the major factor affecting your
speed. Always look at the amount of seeds and peers before jumping
in to download 1. To have a acceptable speed, at least in my own
opinion, the peer and seed ratio should not be more that 5:1. For
examble, if there is 100 peers, there should be at least 20 seeds
or you might not get the speed.
There are exceptions, as i have encountered a network with 3 seeds
and 100 peers. Guess what, the speed go beyond 300. I think the 3
seeds in this case are servers instead of indivisual users and the
peers in this network are really doing the uploading well.
Final Step!!!!
Patience! Although I do not know what every torrent users is
downloading, I am pretty sure most of the time it is not very
legal. Maybe something you normally need to pay for.
So keep this in mind, you are getting something (whatever it is)
for FREE! So please do not complain and WAIT WAIT WAIT 
