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Determine If Your ISP is Throttling Your BitTorrent Traffic
Posted by Adam Pash at 4:00 AM on May 8, 2008
Web application Glasnost simulates BitTorrent downloads on your computer to determine whether or not your internet service provider (ISP) is throttling your BitTorrent transfers. It does so by measuring the difference between your regular download speed and your BitTorrent download speed, testing against different ports and other variables to get a better idea of what exactly is being throttled. The tool is aggregating the results of the test, which the site is publishing to encourage greater transparency among ISPs. If your ISP turns out to be throttling your BitTorrent traffic, you can still avoid the throttling if you know the right tricks.
Tags: bittorrent | file sharing | how to | isp | p2p | peer-to-peer | top
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
svetlana
Posted August 31, 2008 12:36 PM
this is a great idea, i think isp's should be open about everything they do, throttling is just another invasion of our rights as customers
Obsidian
Posted 5:01 AM 8/5/08
I know that my ISP does not throttle traffic directly, but because they have to license their lines from Bell Canada, they are at the mercy of Bell. Bell has started to introduce traffic shaping in select areas and there's been quite the uproar.
[www.dslreports.com]
Obsidian
iEddie
Posted 4:52 AM 8/5/08
Good to know Qwest DSL doesn't throttle BitTorrent.
iEddie
superbryant88
Posted 4:46 AM 8/5/08
"Actually this hit the top of Reddit, so I know its getting a lot of traffic. "
Well that probably explains it....thanks!
superbryant88
jamisonfitz
Posted 4:33 AM 8/5/08
Down, have to check this out later.
jamisonfitz
Lazarus
Posted 4:30 AM 8/5/08
And I see comment posts still are majorly delayed.
Lazarus
Lazarus
Posted 4:24 AM 8/5/08
@superbryant88: Maybe they are throttling their site? Actually this hit the top of Reddit, so I know its getting a lot of traffic.
Lazarus
superbryant88
Posted 4:17 AM 8/5/08
"We are sorry. Our measurement servers are currently busy. Please try again later."
couldn't try it out anybody else have any luck
superbryant88
philosopher_dog
Posted 5:13 AM 8/5/08
Yes I'm sure this piece is going to crush their server! Anyhow, if you have Bell or Rogers you know you're being throttled. No point in checking.
philosopher_dog
Giddygoon
Posted 5:44 AM 8/5/08
I have Comcast and they've been known for throttling. Though, it seems like the plan is now to throttle all traffic, not just BitTorrent traffic. At least that how it feels in my case. Maybe they just throttle the traffic of users who use torrent traffic.
Giddygoon
DCGaymer
Posted 5:53 AM 8/5/08
I can't get through....Does anyone know if RCN in DC throttles?
DCGaymer
gumnaam
Posted 6:43 AM 8/5/08
Lifehacker's getting them a lot of hits!
We are sorry. Our measurement servers are currently busy. Please try again later.
gumnaam
FLConsumer
Posted 6:59 AM 8/5/08
No need for a special tool to determine this. Just load up a torrent with a high level of seeders, such as a linux distro ISO file (even if you have no intention of using it) and watch the performance.
FLConsumer
CaptainRoin
Posted 10:20 AM 8/5/08
I tagged it as ComcastSux on del.icio.us if anyone needs to find it there.
CaptainRoin
adaminc
Posted 11:01 AM 8/5/08
Most ISPs in Canada throttle, especially the 2 leaders, Rogers and Bell. I am on Rogers, and for a small while the new version of uTorrent (Beta 1.8) worked awesome, but as of last weekend, things became business as usual with slow speeds.
There needs to be some legislation preventing ISPs from overselling what they are capable of, if I pay for a 8mbit/1mbit connection, I should receive those speeds 24/7, regardless of content. Otherwise, it almost seems like false advertising, although I know there are stipulations in the TOS. The stipulations should be removed, and the ISPs forced to offer only what they can provide.
adaminc
kylo4
Posted 12:19 PM 8/5/08
I know Rogers does. I used Transmission and it would go from 200 to 0, stay there for 10 seconds, jump back to 200, than back to 0, even with 20 seeds and a steady flow. Switched to Azareus and no problems at all, although the 250 is far from the 800 I'm supposed to be getting.
kylo4
Boter
Posted 1:03 PM 8/5/08
It's my fault for finding this post late in the day, but apparently word has gotten out. There servers are "busy".
Boter
Buran
Posted 4:17 PM 8/5/08
Not very "open".
STILL not working, 5 HOURS after the last comment. These people need to get something better than an 8088 powered by a hamster wheel using tin cans for a connection.
Buran
SamVed
Posted 5:44 PM 8/5/08
Same here, I'm not going anywhere......... "We are sorry. Our measurement servers are currently busy. Please try again later."
SamVed
CyberSkull
Posted 9:21 PM 8/5/08
Just tried the tool (after many page refreshes) and it says that my ISP is forging RST packets on seeding. My ISP is Comcast.
CyberSkull
Nxqd3051990
Posted 10:09 PM 8/5/08
lol look like many people test right now ...
Yay, I should have dinner and do it later :)
Thanks you guys
Nxqd3051990
busbodger
Posted 11:28 PM 8/5/08
So is there anyway around the ISP throttling? Do they throttle all ports or just some?
busbodger
Kyle Wegner
Posted 5:13 AM 8/5/08
I haven't attempted to use this yet, but it sounds like this only checks to see if your ISP is throttling your download speed. For me, I am having a much more difficult with my upload speed than download, making it difficult to keep my ratios high on certain torrent sites.
--Kyle
Kyle Wegner
nighttimestereo
Posted 4:13 AM 9/5/08
@busbodger: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It's a cat and mouse game. Each time the BT people come up with a new way to obfuscate the nature of the transfer, the ISPs seem to come up with a new way to jam the connections. Eventually we may get to the point where all traffic is encrypted and indistinguishable from an ISPs point of view, but the problem won't go away.
Ultimately, the problem is that there is more demand for bandwidth than there is supply. Demand isn't going away, so either prices for Internet connections will go up or ISPs will upgrade their networks.
nighttimestereo
Lazarus
Posted 9:42 AM 9/5/08
@nighttimestereo: "Ultimately, the problem is that there is more demand for bandwidth than there is supply. Demand isn't going away, so either prices for Internet connections will go up or ISPs will upgrade their networks."
Or Both!
Lazarus
Mr.Purple
Posted 10:45 AM 9/5/08
Huzaa for the lifehacker effect.
Mr.Purple
able-x
Posted 11:31 AM 9/5/08
Embarq High Speed in Las Vegas doesn't throttle at all.
Results for your host (nv-71-49-204-18.dyn.embarqhsd.net - 71.49.204.18):
Is BitTorrent traffic on a well-known BitTorrent port (6881) throttled?
* The BitTorrent upload (seeding) worked. Our tool was successful in uploading data using the BitTorrent protocol.
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits your BitTorrent uploads. In our tests a TCP upload achieved minimal 476 Kbps while a BitTorrent upload achieved maximal 489 Kbps. You can find details here.
* The BitTorrent download worked. Our tool was successful in downloading data using the BitTorrent protocol.
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits your BitTorrent downloads. In our tests a TCP download achieved minimal 1556 Kbps while a BitTorrent download achieved maximal 1802 Kbps. You can find details here.
Is BitTorrent traffic on a non-standard BitTorrent port (4711) throttled?
* The BitTorrent upload (seeding) worked. Our tool was successful in uploading data using the BitTorrent protocol.
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits your BitTorrent uploads. In our tests a TCP download achieved minimal 473 Kbps while a BitTorrent download achieved maximal 485 Kbps. You can find details here.
* The BitTorrent download worked. Our tool was successful in downloading data using the BitTorrent protocol.
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits your BitTorrent downloads. In our tests a TCP download achieved minimal 1531 Kbps while a BitTorrent download achieved maximal 1702 Kbps. You can find details here.
Is TCP traffic on a well-known BitTorrent port (6881) throttled?
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits all downloads at port 6881. In our test, a TCP download on a BitTorrent port achieved at least 1556 Kbps while a TCP download on a non-BitTorrent port achieved at least 1531 Kbps. You can find details here.
* There's no indication that your ISP rate limits all uploads at port 6881. In our test, a TCP upload on a BitTorrent port achieved at least 476 Kbps while a TCP upload on a non-BitTorrent port achieved at least 473 Kbps. You can find details here.
If you're in a region that they service, I actually recommend them as they've given me consistently good service, and don't give a damn about what you do online, they play the dumb pipe roll they should play.
able-x
guaterickie
Posted 9:59 PM 9/5/08
Been trying this for 3 days now or whenever it the post came out. It hasnt worked any time. I do it at night at about 11:30pm eastern and also when i get up which is now at 7:30. It hasnt worked either time. THEY NEED MORE SERVERS!!
guaterickie
Ken
Posted 11:22 PM 9/5/08
hmm.. i switched form cable to the cheapest DSL plan available in my area with at&t...
I dropped my speed from 5,000kbps to 200-600kbps.. lol
but also reduced my price plan from $130/mo to $25/mo.. just w/o cable tv
when i had cable, i encrypt my traffic, a feature available in utorrent and used a random port. I believe this makes it more difficult for ISP to throttle your bandwidth.
Ken
thegrumpyadmin
Posted 11:59 PM 10/5/08
I don't worry about throttling. I have a radical Hayes Accura 56K External Modem with V.90 and I am an elite member of no less than 5 bulletin boards. I also maintain a killer upload ratio.
-thegrumpyadmin.com
thegrumpyadmin