There is an experimental Bit Torrent client that lets you cap the upload speed. This makes it possible to stay on longer as an uploader, and still use your connection, not get in trouble for insanely massive uploads, etc.
Some people have reported problems with it, like corrupted files, but I've never had a problem with it. This way, I can get a file, and seed it all night without killing my whole connection, some of which is needed for um, other things...
It also works great for people who have a hard cap on their cable modem. I got
faster downloads (all 30k of bandwidth

) at my mom's house by capping the upload, whereas if I didn't, the download would crawl along at 10k.
http://a.wirebrain.de/torrent/clients/
That leads to a download page for the cappable client. Don't be a dick, share a reasonable portion of your upstream.