September 01, 2008 by sharky
Podmailing is a peer-to-peer mail service that incorporates BitTorrent as the protocol for sending/receiving large files and folders. Podmailing is a simple and efficient way to send and receive large files and folders by e-mail. It even works with ultra large files of several Gigabytes (there’s no size limit). You just need to install their Podmailing software for Windows or MacOS X in order to start sending files for free. It is very simple because it works just like composing an e-mail.
OK, enough with the shameless plug - on with the tests!
After sending a notification e-mail, Podmailing transfers the file directly from your PC to your recipients using peer-to-peer. The file is also relayed through our servers in order to assure a fast and reliable delivery. Then the file can be downloaded using their Podmailing software (recommended) or any BitTorrent client. As soon as the file has arrived on our servers, it can also be downloaded directly in a Web browser with a standard http download. So your recipients are not required to install the Podmailing software.
Our Tests - Downloading:
When a file is sent via Podmailing, the receiver gets an email notification that the file is now available for downloading. Users then have three options for downloading the file:
- — Via the Browser Window
- — Through the user’s default BitTorrent client
- — Through the Podmailing program
We first waited for the file to be completely uploaded, and used all three methods for downloading.
1. The "web browser" method produced DL speeds around 350 KB/s - very impressive:
2. Next up, we used the Podmailing application to download the same file and achieved download speeds in excess of 600 KB/s - even better!
3. Lastly, we used our trusty BitTorrent client (µTorrent) to download the completed file. Speeds were slightly higher compared to Podmailing (at around 700 KB/s):
Our Tests - Uploading:
To attempt to achieve the highest upload speeds we could muster (and thus send files as fast as possible), we shut down everything that uses any Internet bandwidth. Also, we changed the Port Number in Podmailing to a more BitTorrent/P2P friendly number (within the ‘unassigned’ port range of 49152 - 65535), with uPnP enabled (the default). Additionally, we changed the default upload rate from 100 KB/s to 125 KB/s, to represent a better reflection of our ISP’s true upload bandwidth capacity.
After making these adjustments, the upload rates didn’t seem to change substantially, and the default settings are already pretty much optimized for most high-speed Internet accounts. Having said that, we did notice a slight increase in speed (about 15-20 KBs/s higher), and we managed upload burst speeds in excess of 100 KB/s and sustainable rates easily hovering between 80-90 KB/s.
Podmailing Tips:
— When sending multiple files at the same time, we noticed that one will always take a back seat to the other in terms of upload speed. Add (send) the biggest file first, then add another smaller file (see the speed of the 2 sending files in the screenshot above). Not that this particularly matters, regardless: The receiver will be able to begin downloading (and receive an email notification that the file is ready to download) even when the file has not yet been completely uploaded by the sender (read more on this below).
— For the receiver of the podmail to download at maximum speeds, it would be recommended to wait until the sender has 100% completed the upload. Thus, the receiver is not limited by the uploader’s line speed when downloading, as upload speeds are almost always much slower than download.
— As previously mentioned, there are 3 methods for a receiver to download the files. Browser-based downloading produces the slowest speeds, but doesn’t require an external program. Great for No0bs, although not as efficient as a BT client for large file transfers.
Our Overall Review of Podmailing
Podmailing is a first-class service for sending large files! Top-notch in our books! Upload rates were fantastic - much faster than if you created a *.torrent file and seeded it privately to a friend through a BT client such as µTorrent. Download rates were unbelievably zippy at over 700 KB/s (out of a possible 1.1 MB/s for our connection). We have a winner!
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