Comcast abandons net neutrality

**KelJu** · 08-18-2007, 09:20 AM

Comcast Throttles BitTorrent Traffic, Seeding Impossible | TorrentFreak

Comcast Throttles BitTorrent Traffic, Seeding Impossible
Written by Ernesto on August 17, 2007

Over the past weeks more and more Comcast users started to notice that their BitTorrent transfers were cut off. Most users report a significant decrease in download speeds, and even worse, they are unable to seed their downloads. A nightmare for people who want to keep up a positive ratio at private trackers and for the speed of BitTorrent transfers in general.

Comcast Throttles BitTorrent Traffic, Seeding ImpossibleISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for almost two years now. Most ISPs simply limit the available bandwidth for BitTorrent traffic, but Comcast takes it one step further, and prevents their customers from seeding. And Comcast is not alone in this, Canadian ISPs Cogeco and Rogers use similar methods on a smaller scale.

Unfortunately, these more aggressive throttling methods can’t be circumvented by simply enabling encryption in your BitTorrent client. It is reported that Comcast is using an application from Sandvine to throttle BitTorrent traffic. Sandvine breaks every (seed) connection with new peers after a few seconds if it’s not a Comcast user. This makes it virtually impossible to seed a file, especially in small swarms without any Comcast users. Some users report that they can still connect to a few peers, but most of the Comcast customers see a significant drop in their upload speed.

The throttling works like this: A few seconds after you connect to someone in the swarm the Sandvine application sends a peer reset message (RST flag) and the upload immediately stops. Most vulnerable are users in a relatively small swarm where you only have a couple of peers you can upload the file to. Only seeding seems to be prevented, most users are able to upload to others while the download is still going, but once the download is finished, the upload speed drops to 0. Some users also report a significant drop in their download speeds, but this seems to be less widespread. Worse on private trackers, likely that this is because of the smaller swarm size

Although BitTorrent protocol encryption seems to work against most forms of traffic shaping, it doesn’t help in this specific case. Setting up a secure connection through VPN or over SSH seems to be the only solution. More info about how to setup BitTorrent over SSH can be found here.

Last year we had a discussion whether traffic shaping is good or bad, and ISPs made it pretty clear that they do not like P2P applications like BitTorrent. One of the ISPs that joined our discussions said: “The fact is, P2P is (from my point of view) a plague - a cancer, that will consume all the bandwidth that I can provide. It’s an insatiable appetite.”, and another one stated: “P2P applications can cripple a network, they’re like leaches. Just because you pay 49.99 for a 1.5-3.0mbps connection doesn’t mean your entitled to use whatever protocols you wish on your ISP’s network without them provisioning it to make the network experience good for all users involved.”

Customers on the other hand like to fully use their connection, and don’t agree that traffic shaping is the correct solution. One reader commented: “If you pay for an internet connection, that’s what you should get from your ISP — an internet connection. Not a connection that will let you browse the web and check email, but little else. If an ISP has issues with the amount of data a customer is transferring, then the ISP needs to address that issue with that customer, and not restrict every user in one class of traffic.”

This blows! I pay almost $60.00 a month for a high speed internet connection. This means I download whatever I want, not be able to check my emails faster. On the flip side, there is a way to beat almost anything. I could just pay an extra $5.00 a month and use an http tunneling program if I had too.

**PreMier** · 08-18-2007, 09:52 AM

I use dsl so i dont care.

**KelJu** · 08-18-2007, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by PreMier

I use dsl so i dont care.

If comcast does it, so will the phone companies, eventually.

**DOMS** · 08-18-2007, 10:00 AM

I have Comcast and I've noticed that the up-speeds when I'm seeding are low. This only happens when I'm seeding, not when I'm download and uploading.

I may have to find another provider.

**PreMier** · 08-18-2007, 10:15 AM

i dont use bit torrent, so i dont care

**KelJu** · 08-18-2007, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by PreMier

i dont use bit torrent, so i dont care

Well that answer makes more sense.

**PreMier** · 08-18-2007, 11:02 AM

:

**soxmuscle** · 08-18-2007, 11:12 AM

Comcast is being poorly managed of late, in my opinion.

It's still the best service, but they're being fucking idiots.

**danzik17** · 08-18-2007, 12:29 PM

Newsgroups are the way to go imo

Let's just say my college network admin (good thing I know him) showed me the charts for the network one night - I was using 80% of the college's 40mbps. Figure that one out

**danzik17** · 08-18-2007, 12:30 PM

*Disclaimer!!!!* For downloading news articles

**KelJu** · 08-18-2007, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by danzik17

Newsgroups are the way to go imo

Let's just say my college network admin (good thing I know him) showed me the charts for the network one night - I was using 80% of the college's 40mbps. Figure that one out

But they cost money, I want free stuff.

**BoneCrusher** · 08-18-2007, 06:01 PM

What other choices do you have for broadband?

**mike456** · 08-18-2007, 10:05 PM

I don't have comcast, but I still care, because now it is gonna be harder to find torrents with good seeds... I have road runner

**Yanick** · 08-19-2007, 04:05 PM

damn, i just learned how to use torrents.

**JerseyDevil** · 08-19-2007, 04:40 PM

At the risk of sounding totally stupid, what are torrents and seeding?

**BoneCrusher** · 08-19-2007, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by JerseyDevil

At the risk of sounding totally stupid, what are torrents and seeding?

Ohhhh dude. You are sooo missing out on all the freeeee software and movie downloads. That's what it is essentially ... downloading movies and software without paying for it. A torrent is a file type and a torrent client is used as a p2p file sharing method. It's like kazaa for big files. The high-def movies and shows I download are sometime 45 gigs. Kazaa would totally suck for a file that large.

Seeders are people that are sharing a torrent. Leachers are people who are downloading a torrent. You should always try to seed at least as much as you leach, but double is the shit. Soem sites are private and keep track of how well you maintain a ratio of seeded to leached files. The numbers at a private tracker would look like: Ratio: 2.163 UL: 265.30 GB DL:122.67 GB Act:

6

0.

**fletcher6490** · 08-19-2007, 05:39 PM

Torrents are the greatest thing ever!!! Fuck Comcast

**danzik17** · 08-19-2007, 09:30 PM

I pay for newsgroups because I don't trust BT. It's TOO open the the sort of things people use it for, I would rather not have my IP address available to anyone who is downloading the same thing.

**mike456** · 08-19-2007, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

Ohhhh dude. You are sooo missing out on all the freeeee software and movie downloads. That's what it is essentially ... downloading movies and software without paying for it. A torrent is a file type and a torrent client is used as a p2p file sharing method. It's like kazaa for big files. The high-def movies and shows I download are sometime 45 gigs. Kazaa would totally suck for a file that large.

Seeders are people that are sharing a torrent. Leachers are people who are downloading a torrent. You should always try to seed at least as much as you leach, but double is the shit. Soem sites are private and keep track of how well you maintain a ratio of seeded to leached files. The numbers at a private tracker would look like: Ratio: 2.163 UL: 265.30 GB DL:122.67 GB Act:

6

0.

file sharing sites are were it is at now.. torrents are wayyyy to slow... Best thing to do is find a forum were people post links to software, music, movies, games etc. than you can actually take advantage of your internet speed.... With torrents, the highest I get is 100Kb/s, with file sharing sites, I get 1Mb/s. Also downloading software from torrents is wayy to dangerous... almost every software I downloaded from a torrent is a virus. Best thing to do is download all your shit to one folder, and than scan the folder with a anti-virus before you run anything.

**Crono1000** · 08-19-2007, 11:06 PM

comcast will lose customers. They'll get the idea and stop this fuckfest, unless someone is paying them more to do this

**BoneCrusher** · 08-19-2007, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by mike456

file sharing sites are were it is at now.. torrents are wayyyy to slow... Best thing to do is find a forum were people post links to software, music, movies, games etc. than you can actually take advantage of your internet speed.... With torrents, the highest I get is 100Kb/s, with file sharing sites, I get 1Mb/s. Also downloading software from torrents is wayy to dangerous... almost every software I downloaded from a torrent is a virus. Best thing to do is download all your shit to one folder, and than scan the folder with a anti-virus before you run anything.

I get speeds of 400 to 800kb from private trackers. Of course I keep my stuff updated and look at the comments if there are any so far as getting viruses go I've not had any troubles.

I haven't seen the sites you mention though so post or pm a link if you can.

**FishOrCutBait** · 08-20-2007, 04:02 AM

For music,

Soulseek is and will always be the way to go.

I just use bit torrent programs to either get audiobooks, or big discographies.

**BoneCrusher** · 08-20-2007, 04:05 AM

Originally Posted by FishOrCutBait

For music,

Soulseek is and will always be the way to go.

I just use bit torrent programs to either get audiobooks, or big discographies.

... googling it as we speak.

**FishOrCutBait** · 08-20-2007, 04:07 AM

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

... googling it as we speak.

gris805 is my user tag, primarily metalcore, hardcore punk, hip hop, and folky stuff

read the FAQ first before you run it,

AND

do you have wireless internet?

**BoneCrusher** · 08-20-2007, 04:13 AM

Comparison of file sharing applications

**FishOrCutBait** · 08-20-2007, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

Comparison of file sharing applications

Interesting that stuff such as Slsk is alongside clients like Bittorrent and Azureus (which I use), which are alongside the likes of limewire and bearshare.

apples and oranges.

theyre all fruit, but they're quite different

**BoneCrusher** · 08-20-2007, 04:28 AM

I haven't seen any kazaa style p2p client that will accommodate large files so torrent clients are what I use rt now. I like utorrent for it's simplicity and low resource usage.

**FishOrCutBait** · 08-20-2007, 04:54 AM

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

I haven't seen any kazaa style p2p client that will accommodate large files so torrent clients are what I use rt now. I like utorrent for it's simplicity and low resource usage.

Like I said, I like slsk

My friend is on his ISP's watchlist for excessive torrent downloading, and hes gained about 5000 songs on soulseek in about 2 weeks, and no word yet.

Pretty convenient, easy to use,

and you feel like you're giving back.

awwwww

**Dale Mabry** · 08-20-2007, 05:55 AM

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Comcast is being poorly managed of late, in my opinion.
It's still the best service, but they're being fucking idiots.

Correction, Verizon Fios is the best, luckily I just got it.

DLs=20 mb/s, uploads=5.

**Fetusaurus Rex** · 08-20-2007, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Correction, Verizon Fios is the best, luckily I just got it.

DLs=20 mb/s, uploads=5.

only $400 a month? wtf rich

Thread: Comcast abandons net neutrality

Thread Tools

Display

Comcast abandons net neutrality

Similar Threads

Comcast internet

McCain abandons Michigan

Comcast

Net neutrality

John Stewart on Net Neutrality

Posting Permissions