The DD-WRT document concerning router slowdown recommends non-optimal TCP and UDP timeout settings. The TCP timeout is too short and the UDP timeout is too long.



http://wrt-wiki.bsr-clan.de/index.php?title=Router_Slowdown



When using a P2P client, Xfire or anything else, most of the router's available 4096 NAT table entries (they call them "ports"), will be used by UDP. UDP traffic is connectionless, so a NAT table timeout for UDP entries is absolutely necessary.



What they're not telling you is the timeout setting is for idle TCP connections. TCP connections that close normally with a FIN or RST should be automatically removed from the NAT table. I say should because I haven't looked at the DD-WRT code. They could be lazy and depend on the TCP timeout setting, but I doubt it.



Xfire recommends the following:

TCP timeout = 300 seconds

UDP timeout = 60 seconds



The Xfire client has a 285 second TCP connection keepalive when you're idle. The Xfire 'pinginterval' setting should always be slightly lower than the router TCP timeout:



- you MUST exit Xfire

- start - run - notepad c:\program files\xfire\xfire.ini

- in the [Xfire] section, add:



pinginterval = 240



- save xfire.ini

- start Xfire