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Limiting Bandwidth Hogs on Public Wireless Nets?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the time-to-lay-out-the-speed-humps dept.

arglesnaf asks: "I'm a consultant and spend a lot of time on public wireless networks at client sites (mostly hospitals / universities), coffee shops, and hotels. Quite often, the problem is that some person is running BitTorrent and eating 100% of the bandwidth. The result is that I can't get email during the day or play World of Warcraft in the hotel. I have considered sniffing and spoofing TCP resets to free up some bandwidth but need an automated way to handle new BitTorrent connections. Does anybody have any ideas on how to automate the sniff and reset strategy, or other ways to carve out a little bandwidth from hogs on public wireless?"

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Steps for getting bandwidth by Kadin2048 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Step 1: Find wireless network with SSID "linksys" or "netgear"
    Step 2: Point browser at gateway
    Step 3: Log in with default password
    Step 4: Change channel, change SSID, enable WPA-PSK, change password.
    Step 5: ???
    Step 6: Profit!

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  2. That's not the question by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think there's an assumption here that he doesn't control the WL router.

    E.g., it's a public router, like in a coffeeshop or hotel, but which doesn't have any QoS set up on it, so it's being abused.

    He wants a way of essentially chiseling out some room on the commons, when the other guy is already over-grazing his sheep there.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  3. Short answer: No. by Stavr0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm a consultant and spend a lot of time on public wireless networks at client sites (mostly hospitals / universities)

    Get yourself an EVDO cellular modem. You can deduct it as a business expense. And stop trying to disrupt other peoples's connection.

    If you have a problem with bandwidth hogs, complain to the WiFi service provider. Don't take the matter into your own hands. You are not the bandwith police, what you are doing is probably illegal.

    1. Re:Short answer: No. by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly what I was going to say. A free wifi network is NOT your network. Just because someone else is being a asshat doesn't mean you need to be one as well.

      --

      Gorkman

    2. Re:Short answer: No. by Erwos · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The guy who sent in the question may not appreciate EVDO or HSDPA, because, IIRC, latencies are much higher. While this isn't a big deal for web or email usage, it's going to be painful on WoW.

      Then again, if the business is paying for it, that's quite acceptable.

      --
      Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
  4. I suggest by Acy+James+Stapp · · Score: 4, Funny

    You go from room to room asking if anyone is running bittorrent. When you find someone who is, shoot them and close bittorrent. I think any judge would consider this reasonable, after all it's *your* bandwidth they're stealing, and clearly thoes denied their WoW fix can't be expected to behave entirely rationally.

    --
    -- Too lazy to get a lower UID.