Or you could host the files on a CDN where the user downloads from the closest point of presence - most CDNs will have a UK POP
But torrents come from multiple sources, direct downloads rely on a single path to get from there to you.
So the solution would be to have localized servers for users?
This is odd because I can do server-to-server transfers from Texas to New Jersey at 125MB/s.
Tim I have my servers at the planet as well and I am located in South Carolina. I have not had any trouble anytime during the day.
I would say that it has a lot to do with how congested your current network is. I would also call your ISP and get them to run a test during these slow times.
Where are you? If your servers are at ThePlanet in Huston / Dallas and you are, Europe say, there will be a large element of transatlantic lag that will cause the speed to drop a bit.
Latency will affect the backwards and forwards messages of a transfer to some degree or another, in combination with the congestion on the network between the servers and yourself.
Here, in the UK, I get anywhere between 500K and the full 2Mb of our line from my servers at The Planet, it really does vary with time of day, weather conditions and god knows what else 