Canadian ISP (Rogers) Throttling Bittorrent

[cyclo]

Interesting article on TorrentFreak about Rogers throttling bittorrent on its network. There is also a heated discussion about this on dslreports' forums.

It might be time to evaluate the alternatives such as Bell's Sympatico DSL.

[supervij]

well, I'm on Rogers, and personally, yeah, I did find that it dried up. But when I switched to a different port, I was able to get it up and running again. The speed was pretty low compared to what it was before the throttling, but at least it's something.

cheers,
supervij

[cyclo]

uTorrent's has a randomize port option but it is a little bit of an inconvinience for those whose PC sits behind a NAT/Router since they have to correspondingly forward the new port from the router everytime uTorrent is re-launched.

However, there may be a solution to this in sight... This article talks about bittorrent end to end encrypting which is already under consideration by Azureus and uTorrent clients and I believe being implemented by BitComet client.

[hugh]

I've asked this before but has any ISP's formally announced they were doing this?

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by hugh

I've asked this before but has any ISP's formally announced they were doing this?

Hugh, I don't think any ISP has formally announced they are doing so... however in the article at Slyck News I linked to above (regarding end to end encryption), here is what the uTorrent developer being interviewed had to say:

Slyck.com: Bram Cohen stated "Most ISPs don't do such shaping", yet the reaction from Shaw and Rogers broadband customers reflects differently. How many other ISPs do you know of shape traffic, and do you believe that the number will increase in months and years to come?

µTorrent: I think he's wrong, a significant number of Canadian users seem to be shaped, and there's various ISPs in Singapore doing similarly.

There's ISPs in the US, Israel, and Australia, Belgium, and many others (some are listed on Azureus'wiki). It seems to be a growing trend, since the list of ISPs that users report are shaping seems to be growing.

[bgclarke]

Originally Posted by cyclo

uTorrent's has a randomize port option but it is a little bit of an inconvinience for those whose PC sits behind a NAT/Router since they have to correspondingly forward the new port from the router everytime uTorrent is re-launched.

If you are using Windows XP and your router supports UPnP, you can let uTorrent take care of it automagically.

When uTorrent starts, it opens up the port on the router; when uTorrent shuts down, it closes the port on the router.

[asif9t9]

But I find that every time I change the port, the speeds are good for like 15 mintes or max an hour. Then I get throttled. I'd have to keep shutting down and turning back on my torrent program, which is like me throttling myself. The irony. Let's hope these software developers all work together. uTorrent, Azureus, BitComet and Shareaza.

[Proteosome]

Download the beta version of the latest uTorrent and enable encryption. Works like a charm (I also have set my port to 1755 and forwarded it as well).

[supervij]

Enable encryption? I have the latest uTorrent (I think . . .) -- it's the 1.4.1 beta build 420. Ah, I see: it's in the Other Options section, near the bottom. That's the one, yeah? Thanks Proteosome, I'll give it a try. *crosses fingers, toes, and other assorted body parts*

cheers,
supervij

[supervij]

She rides . . . she rides!!! Thanks, Proteosome, it worked! Went from zero speed to seventy or eighty. Not terrific, but certainly better than zero; I'll gladly take it! Enable encryption and 1755 -- thanks again!

cheers,
supervij

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by supervij

She rides . . . she rides!!! Thanks, Proteosome, it worked! Went from zero speed to seventy or eighty. Not terrific, but certainly better than zero; I'll gladly take it! Enable encryption and 1755 -- thanks again!

cheers,
supervij

Thanks for the feedback guys, will be checking the beta build this weekend.

I just wonder if this signals the beginning of another arms race between ISPs and the BT client developer folks. Hopefully Rogers will come to its senses and let this one go... let users be able to use the "extreme" bandwidth it advertises which users paid for.

[asif9t9]

You guys mention Port 1755. Is that like the VOIP port, 1720? Is it also a VOIP port or is it used for something else? Or does it matter? Maybe any random port will work as long as encryption is turned on. I'll also try this weekend.

[Proteosome]

I think it is another VOIP port (IIRC maybe from a company Rogers bought). I could not use port 1720 because it was already in use on my system for some reason.

I think the top spead is dependent on the torrent and the number of connections. Since I switched I get torrents that go fast (250kb/s) and some that go slow still (5kb/s). However, the average "good" speed is about 100.

Still, ridiculously better than the 5 or less I was getting before.

[asif9t9]

Well it's not working out so far for me. My problem with Cogeco is not just slow speeds, but my modem will crash after 15 or 30 minutes. If I don't do any torrents, I can get away with it for up to a day, but eventually the modem will crash and I have to unplug and plug it back in.

Anyways, at first, I had uTorrent set to "Enabled" for encryption. No luck. Then, I set it to "Forced". No luck. So, now I'm on the last option. "Forced" and I unchecked to allow incoming legacy connections. I'm downloading now at about 35Kb/s. I'll see how it lasts.

I guess my next options are to go to Torrent Options and lower my number of connections. Basically, throttle myself.

[asif9t9]

I'll have to try throttling myself, Even with encryption Forced, and no more incoming legacy connections, my modem would still crash. Cogeco still has me. Oh well.