help with BT/firewall

[kkaye]

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but can anyone out there help me figure out how to forward my ports?

I use Verizon DSL, and have a Westell A-90 210015-04 router.

There are plenty of instructions out there, but none address this hardware.
Also why do I sometimes get a green light/ real high speeds and other times get a yellow light and slow speeds ? (and avg same amount of seeds for both cases)

Where can I find info to forward ports for this?
Thanks!

[Brian Skalinder]

Have you checked your router's documentation and online support resources?  The instructions are very similar for all the common broadband routers I've seen, the primary differences are the UI/menu structure.  Your router probably offers either one or both of the following interfaces:

[1] telnet text-based menu structure - you can usually telnet to the router by typing at a DOS command line: telnet < router's IP address on your internal network >

[2] web browser configuration - you can usually telnet to the router by specifying a URL of your router's IP address on your internal network

In both cases you'll need to know your router's password.  Your router documentation should include the default password, and if you haven't changed it yet, you should.  Once you get into the router config utility, poke around and I bet you'll find it.  Should list something like:

Starting port - start of the port range you're forwarding
Ending port - end of the port range you're forwarding
IP Destination - the IP address to which you're forwarding the ports

[kkaye]

Thanks for all the tips, but I have been reading up on this for months, ie all the google/ bt.etree pages I can find.

I also have read the manual for my particular version, and have come to the conclusion this router is way too old to configure. I ran the "diagnostic" utility and all it featured was information I already knew.

So now my question is, the past 2 nights I have downloaded each night of Deer Creek.

The 6-23 BT, the light turned green, and I completed the download in around 2 hrs.
Today, 6-24 BT, the light stays yellow and I have over 4 hrs to go.

Why is this? Esp. considering the # of seeds is about the same.

If I am firewalled, according to bt.etree I am, should I never get a green light?

[Cooker]

i thought the green light meant you were sharing, and yellow meant you were not. so if you are firewalled, but nobody is trying to d/l from you, it is green. i could be totally off my rocker on that, though.

[Nick in Edinboro]

Alright.  Here are some thoughts, stealing Brian's formatting

[1] Color me retarded but that's not a router you have but a DSL Modem.  Westell 2100 is the model I believe repackaged for Verizon.

[2] If your going from the Westell directly into your computers network card you are not firewalled unless you have a software firewall (Kerio, Zone Alarm).  If you do have a software firewall you should just be able to set your BT application to "trusted" and it will not interfere in anyway.

[3] Where/how does bt.etree.org say your firewalled?

The client BT application can have different meanings for the yellow/green/blue/red lights, it could mean that there are no seeds, that your firewalled, or just that no one has asked for any files from you yet, etc.

Speeds are dependant on a number of things, safe bet for you (since I'm a verizon DSL guy too I'll chime in here) is that it'll prolly take all night if not a day and a half to get an "unpopular" or old BitTorrent, but most of the "popular" BitTorrents will come down the pipe in about 2.5 hours.

Hope that helps some,
Nick