Yes the modules are a bit complicated.
Regarding utorrent there are 3 things that determine speed:
1. ISP throttling: Some ISPs prevent p2p connections, this could affect download speed. ( I dont think this is your problem Grr )
2. Seeds: A torrent must have a greater number of seeds than the number of peers in order to provide good download speed.
Seeders are the people who have finished downloading the files completely and are "feeding" downloads for others, they sort of act like a server.
Peers are those who are downloading and uploding at the same time. They download missing files and upload whatever they have
Eg: A torrent with 20 seeds and 10 peers will be faster than a torrent with 10 seeds and 20 peers.
3. Cap your upload/download speed: You must not allow 100% of upload speed, it will actually slow down your download speed.
Read these articles at Gizmo's
Optimizing µTorrent for Speed
Additional µTorrent Settings