Blocking torrent programs on a shared home network

[Moose.]

I live in a shared house with a few other folk and we all share an internet connection over a Linksys wifi router. We've all agreed not to download stuff but we're all pretty sure a certain couple of people are doing just that which ultimately kills the connection speed for everyone else.

Does anyone know how I can block access to torrent programs somewhere in the router's settings? I've read a few things about port blocking and have blocked ports 6881 to 6999 but having done a little test can still download via uTorrent. I guess it's using a different port, outside that range(?)

Any ideas what else I can do?

[lestag]

what make and model linksys?

[XDA]

Use OpenDNS mate - very effective at blocking p2p.

[Taita]

Ban their MAC address for a few hours each time you notice it?

QoS?

[Moose.]

It's a Linksys WRT54G.

OpenDNS you say? I use that on my personal laptop but didn't consider using it in the router's settings. Assuming I do this, how do you control what to restrict?

[PedantLosesGrip]

Are you sure they are torrenting? Could they just be hammering the connection with downloads from a Rapidshare account or similar? Will easily max the connection for GB after GB...

[Magic919]

If you are that way inclined then install Tomato firmware and get clever with the QoS settings.

[Moose.]

Not exactly sure how they're downloading but whatever they're using it causes the connection speeds to drop and ultimately (about half way through the month) our monthly GB limit is exceeded and the connection is heavily throttled for the rest of the month.

In addition to the Linksys wifi router, there's a TP-LINK ADSL2+ modem which is connected to both the phoneline and the wifi router.

[Moose.]

Magic919 said:

If you are that way inclined then install Tomato firmware and get clever with the QoS settings.

Can't really do that as we don't own the hardware; it's supplied by our employer.

What is QoS? The modem has a page of settings for this which is currently disabled.

[Magic919]

Quality of Service. You can prioritise different kinds of traffic.

[lestag]

Moose. said:

Magic919 said:

If you are that way inclined then install Tomato firmware and get clever with the QoS settings.

Can't really do that as we don't own the hardware; it's supplied by our employer.

What is QoS? The modem has a page of settings for this which is currently disabled.

google QoS and WRT54G and read the manual

QoS allows you to set prioriy on types of traffic, for example VOIP or HTPP / HTTPS traffic

see http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?pid=80&...

Edited by lestag on Saturday 4th December 11:42

[Dracoro]

Can't you get everyone together and just ask which one of them it downloading loads of stuff.

Say if the real perpetrator doesn't own up, the net connection will be withdrawn until they do.

[dontfollowme]

Perhaps ask people to schedule torrent downloads to download overnight? Easy to do with utorrent.

[XDA]

Moose. said:

It's a Linksys WRT54G.

OpenDNS you say? I use that on my personal laptop but didn't consider using it in the router's settings. Assuming I do this, how do you control what to restrict?

It's simple to control the things you want restricted.

You just select the type of sites you want restricted and that's it. It's all tick boxes.

You can also choose to block a specific domain.

All very simple to setup and control.

[davepoth]

Just block piratebay, I doubt they'll be enterprising enough to find any of the other places.

[mmm-five]

davepoth said:

Just block piratebay, I doubt they'll be enterprising enough to find any of the other places.

Without knowing what they're downloading, or where from, how can you block anything specific?

Is it also your employer's broadband connection? If so, they may have remote access to the router logs to keep a tab of who's downloading what.

If your router supports bandwidth management you can allocate limits for specific MAC addresses, but you'd probably have to do it for each user as you don't know which is doing it yet - and it's relatively simple to change/spoof MAC addresses anyway.

[davepoth]

mmm-five said:

davepoth said:

Just block piratebay, I doubt they'll be enterprising enough to find any of the other places.

Without knowing what they're downloading, or where from, how can you block anything specific?

If it's torrents, they'll be 95% likely to be grabbing them from Piratebay. That'll cut it off at the source, without having to block any ports or anything.

If it's a proper corporate system, then the company will need to keep logs to make sure nobody is looking at extreme porn and you could check who is doing what quite easily. If it's just a furnished, serviced house the company is providing it'll be a bit different.

The simplest thing may well be to stick a linux box in between the router and the modem, and use that to manage the traffic flow, although that will be far from simple.

[tj2002]

Corporate System??? Employers???? Thought this was about a house share!

How about a conversation and agreement to leave any torrenting until after 11pm or so. Guess it's still a problem if it maxes out your useage allowance but don't think you should be trying to limit what people can and cannot do with their internet connection IMHO

[TuxRacer]

Talk to them.

There's no point starting a network arms race, no good will come of it. Oh, and find out exactly where the bandwidth's being used rather than just assuming it's them. It might just be your internet connection from what you've said.

[davepoth]

tj2002 said:

Corporate System??? Employers???? Thought this was about a house share!

Moose. said:

Can't really do that as we don't own the hardware; it's supplied by our employer.