ISPs Throttling Connection for Torrent Downloading?

Ilpav

Ilpav

Forum Addict
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
6,653
Location
GTA, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
'04 Toyota Corolla LE
There are some stories running around that my ISP (Rogers) will throttle your connection considerably if they see you're downloading torrents.

I learned this from my friend who claims his connection slowed down considerably after downloading quite a few torrents.

I'm worried, because I remember before when I had Bit Comet, the internet was slowed down a lot only when it was downloading a torrent.

Right now, I have a program called Free Download Manager, and it's freaking awesome! I'm downloading the Skullptura rip of GTA4 (3.4 GB, this guy's a genius) at 700-900 kb/s with 0 seeders and 150 leechers (Bit Comet would probably download this at only like 150 kb/s tops.)

Anyway, did anyone else hear stories about ISPs doing this? Should I worry?
 
This is old news. My ISP cuts my speed by about 50%. It is Charter Communications and my only option for high speed intenet. As soon as I get another choice I will be switching.
 
GRtak said:
This is old news. My ISP cuts my speed by about 50%. It is Charter Communications and my only option for high speed intenet. As soon as I get another choice I will be switching.
Click to expand...
I'm so glad I didn't go with Charter here. Who knew SBC, of all ISP's, wouldn't throttle or QoS bandwidth?
 
We've been with rogers for 6 years, at first they were great, then they introduced this free 'modem upgrade' and speeds did increase (mind you this was within the first 2 years). Then rumors arose that they were throttling about 3 years ago, and my torrent speeds were in the 50ish area with Bitcomet and Azerus, then they introduced this 60gig limit plus like 2 bucks a gig after that a year ago (not sure if they're still like that) which was was the final nail in the coffin for us. Canceled their service, been with teksavvy for almost a year now, they piggyback on Bell's lines so throttling during 'busy hours' is in effect, when throttled, speeds drop to either 25kb/s or 55kb/s so I usually let the computer download during the night.

On another note, good to hear that you found a way around it!
 
Ilpav said:
Right now, I have a program called Free Download Manager, and it's freaking awesome! I'm downloading the Skullptura rip of GTA4 (3.4 GB, this guy's a genius) at 700-900 kb/s with 0 seeders and 150 leechers (Bit Comet would probably download this at only like 150 kb/s tops.)
Click to expand...

I hope you already own the game. Otherwise shame on you.

Torrents are brilliant for getting things from clogged servers (ie, a demo that just came out and every server is clogged) because it creates it's own bandwidth. It's just unfortunate that people steal with it.

(I've downloaded Medal of Honor Airborne but only because for some reason the disk won't fire up in my new drive and won't install).

Anyway, I have SBC and I've never had any problems (besides the usual upload-sucking bandwidth). I know Comcast sent e-mails to a couple of my friends for downloading music (albeit unattainable in the US). Apparently they can see exactly what you're getting.
 
MadCat360 said:
I hope you already own the game. Otherwise shame on you.
Click to expand...


It's ok, I decided to cancel the download because it froze for some reason and I'm actually gonna buy it once prices go down.

I still have quite a few pirated games; I'm not proud of it, but I don't feel ashamed either.

GTA IV is the exception because it's such a big game (literally) I don't want to spend a lot of time downloading and then finding out that there's some kind problem.

And plus, this is one of those games that I MUST have in my REAL collection. :D
 
GRtak said:
This is old news. My ISP cuts my speed by about 50%. It is Charter Communications and my only option for high speed intenet. As soon as I get another choice I will be switching.
Click to expand...

I'm with Charter as well, havn't noticed any p2p bandwidth throttling yet.

Avg download speed is around 800kpbs, http download is around 1.2mbps
 
They just changed there Acceptable Use Policy as of about a week ago... so you have a 100gb cap if you are <15mbs and 250gb if you are >15mbs. Once you hit cap you get a $1/GB charge. They say they are not going to strictly enforce it to begin with but we will see how that goes.
 
Last edited:
Ilpav said:
Right now, I have a program called Free Download Manager, and it's freaking awesome!
Click to expand...


Free Download Manager has a secuity bug that you should fix. It is a small update. Great progam though.


MadCat360

I'm with Charter as well, havn't noticed any p2p bandwidth throttling yet.

Avg download speed is around 800kpbs, http download is around 1.2mbps
Click to expand...

Do a speed check with your torrent manager running and another with it shutdown. I have a 10Mbs connection that gets cut down to 5MBPS or less whenever I have mine running.
 
I am sick of Bell, I have some going now with over 100 seeds and I am getting <10kb/s...I know that when I go back to university I will get over 700kb/s...it is annoying and I HATE BELL.
 
Roger is just a shitty, evil company in general.

Thankfully, they pulled out of Western Canada about 8-9 years ago. They got replaced by Shaw, which was alright, but now I'm with a much smaller company which offers awesome FTTH. Apparently it's availability is very limited, so I feel pretty lucky.

Anyway, you might want to look into Shaw if it's available in Ontario, they didn't throttle when I had it a year ago.
 
GRtak said:
MadCat360

I'm with Charter as well, havn't noticed any p2p bandwidth throttling yet.

Avg download speed is around 800kpbs, http download is around 1.2mbps



Do a speed check with your torrent manager running and another with it shutdown. I have a 10Mbs connection that gets cut down to 5MBPS or less whenever I have mine running.
Click to expand...

First off, I'm MadCow, not MadCat :p And secondly, I've tried it with torrent manager running in the background, I still get my full 10mbps.
 
Cat/cow.... you are both MAD mammals! :? :p
 
hmmm using rogers dsl right now, maybe i should switch back to telus? :O
 
I gpt tired of torrents a while back...theyre gret, but I just got tired of them.

I use direct downloads (rapidshare, etc) now, i have a rapidshare prem. acct and dl at about 1-2MB/s :)

Down side is it is about $40 a year...not very much IMO though.
 
swraman said:
I gpt tired of torrents a while back...theyre gret, but I just got tired of them.

I use direct downloads (rapidshare, etc) now, i have a rapidshare prem. acct and dl at about 1-2MB/s :)

Down side is it is about $40 a year...not very much IMO though.
Click to expand...

Same here. It's worth it for the speed (I get an average of 2MB/s, sometimes 2.5)
 
I consistently get 900 kb/s and above on free BitTorrent.

Sure it's slower than Rapidshare, but it's free and a one hour TV show in 720p only takes 10 or 15 minutes tops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top