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ISP Rise Against P2P Users

bananaendian writes "Spencer Kelly from BBC's Click program writes about the emerging backslash against high bandwidth P2P users. Apparently it has been estimates that up to one third of internet's traffic is caused by BitTorrent file-sharing program. Especially ISPs who are leasing their bandwidth by the megabyte are more inclined to resort to 'shaping your traffic' by throttling ports, setting bandwidth limits or even classifying accounts according services used. What is your ISPs policy regarding P2P and is it fair for them to put restrictions and conditions on its use."

9 of 574 comments (clear)

  1. Use NNTP Please by abscissa · · Score: 3, Informative

    I hope most Slashdot readers are using NNTP by now (not NTP) to use their music, movies, software, pr0n, etc. etc.

    You will help out your ISP by only using downstream bandwidth. You can also usually max-out your connection speed. A CD can take only 15-20 minutes to download.

    Further, your troubles with the RIAA/MPAA/Homeland Security are likely to be limited to when you, say, post on a heavily visited site about your activity but forget to post anonymously.

    For the best binary newsreader (to download files) from USENET, I reccomend Power Grab -- small, fast, free, and doesn't fiddle around with your registry.

    You will probably need to subscribe to a USENET service as well; I reccomend easynews or if you plan to download more than 20 GB per month than Giganews.

  2. Rogers by TheSpoom · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use Canadian cable ISP Rogers. They do packet filtering whenever they detect a download coming from multiple sources -- including BitTorrent, podcasts, and several other types of "shotgun" downloads. They also have a digital phone service, which always goes through port 1720, which they cannot filter lest they affect their VoIP customers. Combine the two and you find that any BitTorrent download going through port 1720 goes at full speed.

    It's just a matter of time before they find a way around this to filter all multiple-connection downloads though, and that scares me, considering that we really only have two high-speed ISPs here, Rogers and Sympatico DSL. Everyone else uses their lines, and thus their filtering. Hopefully we'll have more effective header encryption by then.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
    1. Re:Rogers by CokoBWare · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm on Rogers, I use Azureus, and I am now, after a bit of research, getting good Torrent traffic rates after getting crummy experiences with BitComet.

      Here's what I do with my Azureus client:

      • Use RC4 header compression
      • limit my connections to other encrypted users
      • don't allow for fail-over to unencrypted connections
      • use nonstandard port # with port forwarding through my firewall
      • Use plugins:
        • SpeedScheduler - limiting my heavy torrent seeds to overnight use only
        • SafePeer - blocks questionable IPs from leeching off of me and collecting stats they have no right getting from me

      I find that by using these settings and plugins, Roger's datashaping devices (that they won't publicly admit to) haven't kill my fullspeed torrent traffic yet. I'll wait for the next countermeasure, but I might just maneuver my port onto the VoIP port since their Home Phone service is too expensive.

    2. Re:Rogers by manly_15 · · Score: 3, Informative
      Everyone else uses their lines, and thus their filtering. Hopefully we'll have more effective header encryption by then.
      Actually, that's not true. I work for an ISP (who shall remain nameless) who sells DSL (among other things) and everything relating to filtering is up to the ISP selling the service. This is why many different ISP's selling DSL can have different policies regarding quotas and packet filtering. Feel free to call one up in your area and free youself from the shackles of Bell and Rogers!
  3. Re:Inevitable by MooUK · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ever heard of false advertising?

    "All you can eat" does not mean "all you can take home". "Unlimited use high-speed connection" DOES mean "unlimited use".

  4. That's nothing by caffeination · · Score: 4, Informative
    Spencer Kelly from BBC's Click program
    I think it's better form to refer to the BBC.
    Apparently it has been estimates
    Blatant typo.
    Especially ISPs who are leasing their bandwidth by the megabyte are more inclined to resort to 'shaping your traffic' by throttling ports, setting bandwidth limits or even classifying accounts according services used.
    "Especially" is redundant because of "more". The sentence sounds terrible.
    What is your ISPs policy regarding P2P and is it fair for them to put restrictions and conditions on its use.
    1. Possessive apostrophe missing from "ISPs". Should be "ISP's"
    2. Question mark missing from the end of the question

    However, I am not a grammar or spelling nazi. I love Slashdot just as it is, warts and all. I make spelling and grammar mistakes all the time. I just wanted to play at being an anal dickhead for a moment, just to see how it felt.

  5. Re:This can be fixed by _xeno_ · · Score: 3, Informative

    To the best of my knowledge Azureus doesn't yet, but intends to. You can read about their Vivaldi system on their wiki. (Version as of the time I posted.) It's designed to compute nodes that are close to each other so that Azureus can pick closer peers.

    However, they don't actually use it yet, according to that page. But there is work towards it.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  6. Yes it can, and here's a paper on it by sdpinpdx · · Score: 5, Informative

    For a detailed analysis of exactly how, see Should Internet Service Providers Fear Peer-Assisted Content Distribution? (PDF Related papers can be found at http://del.icio.us/tag/locality+p2p

  7. Re:Just so I understand... by MarkRose · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's why traffic shaping exists. I even do it on my home router. I can leave bittorrent running with several active torrents, using 95% of my available bandwidth up and down, yet still have snappy ssh, http, vnc, email, dns, voip, etc. All I did was configure my Linksys router to prioritize that traffic over bittorrent, letting bittorrent use the rest. Granted, my home network is nothing major, but anyone who has managed a network should see this as the obvious solution. Anyone who doesn't know about traffic shaping shouldn't be managing a network in the first place.

    --
    Be relentless!