Bittorrent Rate Limiting.

[swestrup]

I was just trying to download something via bittorrent, and it seemed to be crawling. Fearing that Bell was now rate-limiting me, I checked online for an application to check if I was throttled. I found this one. After letting it run for seven minutes it said it found no evidence that my download was being throttled.

I guess I was just being paranoid. Maybe its just one of those days when something is slowing throughput in the pipes. Its not that uncommon, but now every time it happens, I'm going to blame Bell.

I hope that makes them happy.

Comments

[pythonian.livejournal.com]

Apparently Bell does engage in traffic shaping, at least during peak hours. I can no longer cite the site (so to speak) but it seemed authoritative.

[swestrup]

Yeah, I wrote about Bell throttling earlier. Its just not universal, so some folks get throttled, and some don't.

So far, it seems like we don't, but I fear that any day that could change.

[azrhey.livejournal.com]

so i dont understand much about computers but would that test make a difference between the ISP throttling and Bell throttling when Bell is not the ISP?

I _KNOW_ I am being throttled. I have always downloaded LOST within 24 hours of it coming out at at least 200kps with over 1000 seeds. For the last three weeks I am lucky if I hit 30 or 40kps in the same conditions...

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

I have the same ISP as Sti. I don't think they throttle, so if there's throttling, it's likely Bell.

[swestrup]

That test should definitely show that you're being throttled. I'd be curious to see what it said about your setup.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

According to the guy at Primus, they are one of Bell's biggest resellers, so Bell doesn't usually mess with them. I don't know if it's true.

[pythonian.livejournal.com]

Here is an article which talks about what Bell is doing with traffic shaping:

http://tinyurl.com/28dprk

(Points to an "Ars Technica" article on the subject)


Here is another page from a forum dealing with the topic from the point of view of people switching to TekSavvy, a local and highly regarded ISP:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19479932-Switching-to-Teksavvy-Sympatico-Throttle

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but it's tax season. I barely have time to write a quick reply. I don't have time to go reading articles or discussion forums. o_O

[pythonian.livejournal.com]

OK, but the whole thread is a comment on Sti's observation and the articles were meant for everyone to read. Perhaps I should have hit "new comment" instead.

As long as the truth of the matter is known, the rest is irrelevant.

BTW, let me know when the final "return" is done and the three of us will go out for dinner. A place where they don't "throttle" the table service. :-)

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

Bell is now throttling *all* clients, including resellers. Needless to say, most resellers are angry...and what is worse, they are also throttling those who are only using Bell for the "last mile" connections too! Furthermore, Bell is giving 3rd party ISPs a hard time and very low priority for problems and hookups involving DSL lines. Various places like DSL Reports are chronicling this. Bell is slime....to prevent any problems, I am going to get Bell Sympatico DSL at my new place, then after the 3 month intro offer, dump them for someone, anyone else.

ttyl

[swestrup]

I'm sure that Bell is throttling all it can, but I don't think they have enough equipment installed to throttle everything. Last I checked, only half the Island of Montreal was reporting throttling. So far, I've been lucky.

[sps.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that it was all wrong from the start. An ISP should pass IP packets, no more and no less. That's the IS they're supposed to be P'ing. They've been deep into fraud land for years, IMNSHO. We should never have let them con us into accepting DHCP....