Broadband Provider Policy on Peer 2 Peer?

[weegirl]

I heard yesterday from a mobile sales rep that his Tiscali connection has slowed way down when he uses his file sharing program. The shop manager said that a lot of providers are going down the route of trying to block peer 2 peer file sharing.

Is this true? Or was he just talking nonsense (he was trying his hardest to sell my friend a talk talk package with her new phone contract - which she was having none of).

[moneyhelp]

Which file sharing P2P are they using?

[topCatDC]

Hi it's topcatdc
my conection goes realy slow when i use a p2p (Ares) i have tried others such as limewire but have had loads of problems with them
i might ask Virgin media if there are any issues with these
tc

[moneyhelp]

I think most ISPs are trying to cut down on this kind of illegal downloading - I wouldn't mention it to Virgin if I was you!

[topCatDC]

OK i will keep my mouth shut thanks
tc

[jmuggali]

Originally Posted by moneyhelp

I think most ISPs are trying to cut down on this kind of illegal downloading - I wouldn't mention it to Virgin if I was you!

I agree that most p2p is illegal downloading but not all of it is, some of us use it for work.

[Pat Mustard]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but surely you'd expect your connection (I guess you mean the speed of other things, not the p2p app itself) to slow down when using p2p because they tend to be quite bandwidth intensive

[king100]

What you need to understand about P2P, is that generally your connection speed to them is not based on your download speed.

1.

You might be on an 8 meg connection. Which is essence means you should dl @ around 800k per second. But your upload speed is probably 1/10th of that.

So whoever you are downloading from might be on a 2 meg conection which means he can only upload to your computer @ 20k per second.

2.

I have never heard on isp providers operating a system where they change your speed in relation to what piece of software you are using.

You could be access archived files for work etc.

3.

Your contention ratio will also affect your dl speed.

Contention ratio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

as will the time of day you dl stuff.

4. Test out the speed of your connection. Various online websites will do it for you.

Then test dl from a major site like microsoft, as they will give users high bw.

Hope this helps.

5. Dont forget most isps allow for fair usage policy which is extremely vague.


PS. Remember dl music films etc is illegal.

[Pat Mustard]

Originally Posted by king100

You might be on an 8 meg connection. Which is essence means you should dl @ around 800k per second.

Actually, it should be nearer 1000Kbs

[king100]

Originally Posted by pete123

Actually, it should be nearer 1000Kbs

hence my should be around that

if we are going that way then 1 meg = transfer rate of 1280 kbit/s downstream and 320 kbit/s upstream

so infact the dl rate is 10240 kbit/s so you are wrong

[Pat Mustard]

Originally Posted by king100

if we are going that way then 1 meg = transfer rate of 1280 kbit/s downstream and 320 kbit/s upstream

No it doesn't, 1 Mb is 1 million bits. And 1 Mb download rate doesn't say anything about what the bandwidth in the opposite direction is

so infact the dl rate is 10240 kbit/s so you are wrong

No

[king100]

Average speeds will vary dependent upon: user hardware, data line condition,
ISP hardware, Internet traffic, interconnecting server loads, and target server load.
Average download times are usually longer due to general server loads and traffic.

Theoretical max only exists when all variables and conditions are aligned. Very few people, even with the best of hardware and line conditions, rarely achieve this max.

[Pat Mustard]

You managed to fudge that nicely

[camdbug]

There is technology which is increasingly being used by providers to control downloads. "Packet Shaping" (google it - you'll find LOADS). Essentially it gives providers the ability to detect the type of traffic on your particular connection and - if they so desire - throttle your speeds when you use things like P2P.

It seems to be becoming quite a popular choice for ISPs and can essentially kill your "broad"band connection when it is activated.

There's a lot of controversy around it, especially as services such as 4OD (Channel 4 On Demand) and the still useless BBC equivalent use (bad implementations of) P2P under the hood.

Anecdotally, the only provider I've been told about (by friends - I'm not in the industry!) who definitely does NOT use it is certain services by Demon (that's my recollection - a few months old though). Anyway, I have seen some suspicious behaviour on my pipex connection.

Many of the P2P clients have FAQs on how to try to mitigate the effect of this, from using alternative ports to forcing encryption on ALL P2P packets - this seems to work for me as many other people are doing the same!

[t-star]

I have been using Virgin for Torrent file downloads without any issue. I think one of the main problems that you may be having is that Tiscalli use ADSL which is via a phone line. The only way you will get the true "UP TO *Meg" speed is to live in the phone exchange. The further you are from the exchange the more the signal degrades....

[MrShed]

Yes T Star, but hence the reason why the further from the exchange, the lower the advertised speed....

Worth noting I am on Tesco broadband, no P2P restrictions at all.

[funhat]

If you're on the 20MB XL Broadband with Virgin Media then they will adjust your speeds if you download > 3GB between the hours of 16:00 - 00.00 down to 5MBPS/30KPBS. The cap stays enforced for four hours after the initial trigger

[witchwq]

If we're talking Tiscali - yes, they are throttling p2p. And p2p doesn't need to be illegal! Many linux distros (free of charge, full legal) are ready to download from p2p and this is not a crime. Even NASA had some software fro public for free relesed on p2p for faster spread. So p2p doesn't need to be illegal.
Back to Tiscali - if you will try to download something in their peak hours you will get FUP-ed. The 3-rd FUP means your connection in peak time is unusable. Internet messangers won't work, IRC won't work, online gaming won't work. You will have your broadband just for extremely slow browsing. But - grat news! When you get your 3-rd FUP warning, you can get away from all of this, even if your contract isn't at end. You can request a MAC code without any charge, and go to other provider, who can be not so strict in their FUP.

[Jim0203]

I've had direct experience of Virgin throttl