Bittorrent and my ISP.

[Sanada]

Currently I seem to be unable to bittorrent anything regardless of the content. I found out my ISP (Pipex http://www.pipex.co.uk/) is known to restrict these activites or "throttle" as I think it's known as. I last heard that during peak times all bittorrent data is restricted to 20kb/s for Pipex customers. I, however, can't seem to download anything at all right now. It use to work, although badly, but it'd finish eventually. During peaks times I'd get around 1-10kb/s and it'd shoot right up to max speed after 1AM which is around 110-120kb/s for my 1MB connection. Knowing them they've probably changed their policy again so that no bittorrent activity is allowed.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for getting around ISP restrictions such as a specific client or tricks/hacks. I've heard they're some ways but I really don't know where to look. It sucks not being able to download a single kilobyte from a torrent that has like 300+ seeds.

 

[Hazar]

encrypt the data and/or set up an ssh tunnel

 

[PimpinPenguin]

The best solution is to leave them i did after Tiscali pull the same shit i went to Sky now i can bittorrent no problem.I hear that using encryption can bypass it but really if your isp is determined to throttle bit torrent you don't stand a chance.

 

[MRG]

Have you tried to connect to the Bittorrent site via a Proxy? If you use Firefox, it has a feature that lets you connect to the web via a proxy. Or you could of course just connect to a proxy site and go from there.

Some proxy sites will limit the sites you connect to unless you are a paying member while others will not hamper you. While there are a huge selection of proxy sites to choose from, I have linked to a few below.

http://proxy.org/
http://www.oreilly.com/pub/h/4807
http://www.publicproxyservers.com/

-MRG

 

[Teta_Bonita]

The bittorrent client Azureus has built in transport encryption. It might not work for you, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Sanada]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have tried a proxy but it didn't work. I probably didn't set it up properly so I'll give it another shot. I'm using Bitlord at the moment. It's OK but doesn't have many options so I may try Azureus.

I would switch ISP but most of them are shit in this country anyway and it just isn't worth the hassle TBH. Last time I switched it took over a month just to get back online again. :|

 

[Link]

Encryption may help, but leave them anyway. I left pipex because of this. You should not be forced to bypass it. Move to an ISP that dosen't throttle. Check out eclipse. They are unlimited apart from a 50 gig cap between 6-12pm, so set your torrents to not run at these times, unless theres something you want urgently, and you will NEVER break it. Been with them about a year, no issues at all.

 

[Asus]

μTorrent also has an encryption option. Azureus is good too.

 

[MRG]

Send an angry letter to your ISP about it and see how they respond.

Yeah.. Mention to them that you are a WOW player & tell them that Blizzard releases their patches & updates via Torrent Sites...

Or don't... Complain too loudly & they might just take a deeper look into which files you were trying to download, at which time you *could* get into some serious trouble.

-MRG

 

[Barney Fife]

First of, they offer only 1MB/s connection speed.
And second, Instead of boosting speed for clients in the peek time, they restrict clients?
Are you sure that's what they said in the contract when you first signed up? If you do P2P your connection will be restricted?
You could try some class action.

Some cable company here did the same shit with P2P users and there was some kind of shouting going on. I don't remember exactly how it went down but, I remember the ISP backing off.

There is always the other way. Hopefully someone will come with a reach-around solution.

Good Luck.

 

[Boogaloo]

I am on sky broadband and i can bittorent all I want. Also Sky is cheap, and connection took about 2 weeks.

 

[stewie]

You could try some class action.

id love to see that.

"your honor, they wont let me steal things over the internet fast enough, and sometimes they even stop me from stealing things when i want to".

and dont even try to claim any of you "only" use it for wow updates.

 

[Pesmerga]

BitTorrent was originally designed for opensource file sharing. But, like all things, it was abused because it was a great way to share large files illegally without much threat from law enforcement because it's hard to pinpoint the crime on a specific person.

BitTorrent is a completely legitimate file share method. It's the files themselves that can be illegal to download.

 

[99.vikram]

Remember that there's a whole lot of legal stuff that you can only download from torrents.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

First of, they offer only 1MB/s connection speed.
And second, Instead of boosting speed for clients in the peek time, they restrict clients?
Are you sure that's what they said in the contract when you first signed up? If you do P2P your connection will be restricted?
You could try some class action.

Some cable company here did the same shit with P2P users and there was some kind of shouting going on. I don't remember exactly how it went down but, I remember the ISP backing off.

There is always the other way. Hopefully someone will come with a reach-around solution.

Good Luck.

Here they usually hide behind a fair usage policy. All i know that quite a few ISP here do that and get away with it.

 

[stewie]

BitTorrent was originally designed for opensource file sharing.

yes im aware of that. nuclear energy was originally researched for power, but we all know its more popular use now. intent doesnt mean squat. were talking about the real world here, not some magical land where intent = actual common use.

But, like all things, it was abused because it was a great way to share large files illegally without much threat from law enforcement because it's hard to pinpoint the crime on a specific person.

right.

BitTorrent is a completely legitimate file share method. It's the files themselves that can be illegal to download.

youre splitting hairs now. sure, its legal to use BT - but 99.9% of its use is for illegally downloaded files, so you can say that 99.9% of the time BT transfers are illegal.

Remember that there's a whole lot of legal stuff that you can only download from torrents.

sure - it fits into the 0.01%. there are approximately seven people in the world that have used torrents ONLY for legal reasons.

at the end of the day, people who use torrents regularly use them for illegal downloads. dont be so naieve or try to bullshit and say they are just getting the latest wow patches, or linux.

 

[elrasho]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have tried a proxy but it didn't work. I probably didn't set it up properly so I'll give it another shot. I'm using Bitlord at the moment. It's OK but doesn't have many options so I may try Azureus.

I would switch ISP but most of them are shit in this country anyway and it just isn't worth the hassle TBH. Last time I switched it took over a month just to get back online again. :|

www.zen.co.uk, THE best ISP EVER! Yes they are more expensive that others but man do you get the best service. Im torrenting 24/7 all week and not once do my speeds decreas, plus their tech support is brill

 

[lePobz]

I'm on Virgin (ye olde NTL cable) and haven't had a single problem downloading anything so far.

 

[Chug a Bug]

Currently I seem to be unable to bittorrent anything regardless of the content. I found out my ISP (Pipex http://www.pipex.co.uk/) is known to restrict these activites or "throttle" as I think it's known as. I last heard that during peak times all bittorrent data is restricted to 20kb/s for Pipex customers. I, however, can't seem to download anything at all right now. It use to work, although badly, but it'd finish eventually. During peaks times I'd get around 1-10kb/s and it'd shoot right up to max speed after 1AM which is around 110-120kb/s for my 1MB connection. Knowing them they've probably changed their policy again so that no bittorrent activity is allowed.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for getting around ISP restrictions such as a specific client or tricks/hacks. I've heard they're some ways but I really don't know where to look. It sucks not being able to download a single kilobyte from a torrent that has like 300+ seeds.

Pipex are a piece of shit. I was with them for 5 years or so but was very happy to leave them this year. They used to be really good but standards really went down the pan after the founder sold off the business and as for being taken over by Tiscali don't even get me started on that.

Theres no way around the restrictions the ellacoyas they use make no difference whether encryption is turned on or not. Usenet won't help either thats just as throttled.

My advice is quit for another ISP ASAP.