Peer to peer networks

[theboyfold]

How do certain ISP limit the connectivity to these networks? I'm on Plusnet's £14.99 a month deal and can't seem to get any bandwidth when I look to down load from peer to peer networks...

Please note I never download anything I shouldn't be downloading, before anybody suggests otherwise!!

[plasticpig]

Its called bandwidth throttling or shaping. Basically each service has a port. 80 is the port number for web traffic and 119 is for usenet. Plusnet can restrict the bandwidth available on a port by port basis and they do. Plusnet refer to this practice as network management.

[theboyfold]

So in that case could I use my ADSL router to tunnel or forward the restricted port to an unrestricted port?

[aldi]

Yes usually you can set what port the p2p software accepts connections on, you could try moving it off the default and see if that improves matters... Personally I'm on Tiscali 512/unlimited and have no troubly maxing out the connection for days at a time infact *I* throttle my connection just so I can get other stuff done

One thing to mention is that XPSP2 has a new low limit on simultanious outbound incomplete connections that can slow p2p down quite a bit, google for event ID 4226.
Plus a lot of adsl routers haven't got the processing power to handle hundreds of simultanious natted connections and will die a death with some p2p programs, if you find that your web access goes slow despite not getting near to maxing out the connection with p2p then one of these might be a likley culprit.

[plasticpig]

No because the limits are set a plusnets end not yours. There will be some anomynous proxy servers out there which will map from port to port though.

[theboyfold]

plasticpig said:

No because the limits are set a plusnets end not yours. There will be some anomynous proxy servers out there which will map from port to port though.

OK, I'm slightly lost now... What's a proxy server and is there anything that I will be able to do with my P2P software and ASDL router to get round this problem?

[plasticpig]

theboyfold said:

OK, I'm slightly lost now... What's a proxy server and is there anything that I will be able to do with my P2P software and ASDL router to get round this problem?

Depends on the P2P software you are using. I have just found out that Plusnet dont use port throttling they use a TCP packet inspection system to limit bandwidth so the proxy server idea wouldnt work. Apperently Plusnet only limit bandwidth a peak times so the easiest route is to use P2P at off peak times. If you are using bittorrent try using the azerus client with the encrypt headers option switched on.

[theboyfold]

plasticpig said:

Depends on the P2P software you are using. I have just found out that Plusnet dont use port throttling they use a TCP packet inspection system to limit bandwidth so the proxy server idea wouldnt work. Apperently Plusnet only limit bandwidth a peak times so the easiest route is to use P2P at off peak times. If you are using bittorrent try using the azerus client with the encrypt headers option switched on.

I'll give bit torrent a try and see what I get from that.
I use Limewire, I might have a look at trying off peak, which I think is midnight to 4pm. Thanks for the help, I'm guessing the other option is to upgrade to the £20 per month contract or change my ISP.

[page3]

I'd just switch ISP. You pay for your bandwidth so should be able to use it, as long as it isn't for illegal purposes. Your ISP should be glad - it means they can sell you more!