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Broadband In Australia Just Got Slower

Posted by timothy on from the all-those-bits-are-upside-down dept.

liquidx writes: "Seems like broadband Down Under is getting more and more restrictive. First we had our _unlimited_ plans changed to capped usage plans, then incoming port 80 traffic was blocked (due to Code Red/Nmida worms) and now file-sharing protocol ports are filtered due to 'load balancing issues'! Whirlpool reports that Optus@Home throttled traffic to ports 6700-6702 (ex-Napster ports) without telling its users. Read the letter and article here. Are there any other broadband services, other than the ones in Australia, continually degrading their service to customers? When will this stop?"

1 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. A network admin's perspective by All+Dead+Homiez · · Score: 3, Troll
    I am a network engineer for a small, independent cable franchise in PA, and we recently were forced to make the difficult decision between open access and traffic shaping. Some of the things that we needed to weigh were:
    • Cost. With our traffic levels at the time, we were on the verge of ordering three new T1 lines for a moderately sized (pop. 80,000) suburb. Those lines would have cost us about $2000/month for service and support.
    • Service quality. Since the rise of KaZaA and Morpheus, our traffic has doubled from what it was during peak Napster season. Our upstream was especially swamped.
    • Maintenance. Many file sharing clients install spyware, "ad gators," and other software that does a splendid job of screwing up their network stacks. These customers then required site visits for us to fix their systems.
    • Copyright violation. As a small company, we had serious reservations about knowingly allowing such serious ethical lapses to take place on our network.
    As it turned out, we had no other choice than to start limiting service. I came up with the following plan, which the managers approved:
    • Block all file sharing ports at the router level. 1214, 6699, 6346, 40000-42000, and all of their cousins were history.
    • Block all incoming connections to our users, so that they could not become servers. We allowed SSH as long as it is OpenSSH >= 2.5.2.
    • Block all known VPN clients. These were sucking up tremendous amounts of bandwidth, since we are in a rural area and many people liked to telecommute using our service.
    • Cancel three of our T1 circuits.
    • Institute a "one strike you're out policy" on Nimda, email virii, spamming, and piracy. So far we have only had three disconnections.
    • Charge a $209 service fee to users who have crippled their internet access through a fault of their own.
    • And, the silver lining on the cloud: Cut rates by 33%.
    The result? Profits are up by 7.5%; from the $209 service charge alone, we have collected several thousand dollars. Most users report much better latencies to major sites and very good burst bandwidth. We lost a couple of users from the VPN ban but they were all above-average bandwidth hogs so we don't miss them. All is right in the world, and I'm very satisfied with how things worked out.

    -all dead homiez