SABnzbd Forums

OS: Windows 7
SAB version: 0.6.5, windows installer

Problem: SAB can't pull down DL speeds anywhere close to my bandwidth cap. Further, SuperNZB DLs much faster over the same connection. My first guess was traffic shaping, then a firewall issue, but even that's not clear anymore. I'm open to trying almost anything rather than switch to another program.

I've been switching between two servers in an effort to find the best speeds: one at Giganews, one at Astraweb. In both cases, I've always had the best speeds on port 443. I generally use AW, but all the problems I'm having are consistent no matter what service I'm connecting to.

Last week, I switched from Comcast Cable to ATT DSL. I traditionally got excellent DL speeds with Comcast --- maybe 6000-9000 kbps. I don't even know what my bandwidth cap was, maybe 15000, but I never worried about it because the speeds were so good. On DSL, I should be getting 6000, and I do consistently get HTTP traffic at 6000. I know I can get Usenet DLs around 4000 with SuperNZB, but SAB and Grabit both leave me slow at ~600.

I've tested the connection speeds under every control I can think of: same server settings, same NZB file, same network conditions, wired, wireless, same # of connections, and basically everything else I can think of. The problem is the same across all my PCs. THe same on Mac OS (though I couldn't test SuperNZB there).

I have a 2WIRE DSL modem with its integrated, always-on, barely-any-user-control firewall, plus the Windows 7 firewall.

I've tried putting the computer in question in DMZ on the 2WIRE, I've tried turning off the Windows firewall, and I've tried turning off all the intrusion detection on the 2WIRE. I've tried all those at once. I consistently get the same speeds.

I updated SAB from 0.5.9 to 0.6.5. I reinstalled and reinstalled again.

I've checked through firewall settings both inside my DSL modem/router and Windows 7. Looks fine to me, but I'm not sure. Networking is not a skill I have. I do have the occasional dropped packet and some unknown incoming connections that get blocked by my 2WIRE. I don't know enough about how to read those to know exactly what they are. I could upload the logs.

I also ran Microsoft Network Monitor, but can't tell you a thing about what it says. Again, it just looks pretty normal to me, but I wouldn't know. I could upload the log files if that helps.

Alright, that's what I've got. Any thoughts?

I can pull 11Mbytes/sec from my ISP.
It is true that SABnzbd is not very optimized (it uses too much CPU time) but ony any
semi-modern system it should be fast enough.
So you changed to another ISP and things are worse? Tough issue.

I get great speed with Astraweb, supernews and giganews.

BTW: it is important to have an article cache set up in Config->General.
Set it to -1 if you have enough memory (like 2G+), otherwise 200M will do.

Last question.
We had some reports of people claiming that SABnzbd 0.6.x is slower than 0.5.6.
We have never been able to reproduce that, but we take complaints serious.
Can you give any feedback on how 0.5.6 behaves in your situation?

I don't see any difference with 0.5.6 vs. 0.6.5. I do have a -1 article cache.

You're right that my problem is simple on one level - I'm not satisfied with my DL speeds under a new provider. The reason I posted here was to see if there were some reason that another NZB program would be outperforming SABNZBD almost eight to one, which wasn't happening before on my old provider. Maybe some known issue behind 2WIRE routers or DSL in general or something similar. Seems there's no such issue and I'm going to have to consult a networking-specific resource.

Anyway, thanks for an awesome tool. I'll still be using SAB at slower speeds because it's such a smooth process.

Yes, it puzzles me too that people get such different results.
But there are always so many factors involved.
Although I think there must be something in SABnzbd aggravating an provider or router issue.
So far, I have no idea what it is.
I would need to spend time debugging locally.
but most issues are being reported from across the pond...

BTW: how many "connections" are you using to the Usenet provider?

I'm running 15 connections right now. I stay between 5-15 depending on the speeds I get.

Let me know if any ideas come. I'd even consider setting up a remote access situation if that might help.

For now, thanks.