O Canada! > Canadian > TekSavvy > Hotfile IS throttled!

Hotfile IS throttled!

I'm always a skeptic of those dl sites. You never know what they're up to or what they set shit at. Your at their mercy and control. Those places are simply just another extension of the multiple methods of dl'ing available I find. They all have some stuff others don't. So combine all the methods and enjoy.

Ok, but my friend with cable doesn't have problems with hotfile. I'll double check by letting him use my account to download something during throttle hours. And I do combine methods. I also have usenet (bought by GB downloaded and not time), and torrents if I really want a file that isn't available anywhere else.

reply to zsto
I believe you are correct, Bell is throttling online file storage sites. I got 30 KB/s just the other day on both hotfile AND a rapidshare source. For a 315 MB file.

I couldn't get the file any other way; I prefer torrents generally.
--
Speak Truth To Power.

reply to zsto
The only real proof is to show a bandwidth graph downloading from HotFile before and after the throttling period. If it is being throttled, you should see a sharp drop in the graph at precisely the time that the throttling starts.

Besides, you should use MLPPP anyhow

reply to zsto
I've downloaded from many, many file-hosting sites over the years. In my experience and informal testing, most are now throttling themselves during various hours.

My guess is that the reason for the uptick in self-throttling is:

Rapidsh**, in the top 50 sites worldwide by traffic and the obvious potential (and alleged) one-stop-shop for the *aa's copyright infringement data collection efforts, has driven a lot of unwanted traffic away in their latest round of years-long on-going efforts to arm-twist "free users" into signing. The site is all but inaccessible to non-prepaid users for 12-14 hours a day. As a result, much of this traffic has moved to other sites and as each of them is getting hit with a lot more traffic, they also move to self-throttling and other non-prepaid user use-limiting practices.

Just my guess.

reply to zsto
As I have been saying for a while. Thank you.

reply to Guspaz
Ok, hopefully this will be proof enough for the non-believers.

»www.megavideo.com/?d=TFTFQ4PM

It gets interesting at around 1:30 mins in. And yes, I know that it's not throttled down to 30KBps this time.

So this video proves that there is no throttling.
Good, I am glad you proved yourself wrong.
The throttle is 30kb/s
You are getting 60-70kb/s there.
Proving that it is not being throttled by Bell.
However hotfile is throttling the file because there is too much traffic on their own servers.
When that traffic dies down at around 2minutes you shoot up to 250 kb/s further proving that there is no Bell throttle.

There are a number of factors that are different from your buddys cables setup that will make your connection slower.
The path that the file takes to you is different. This can affect the speed of the file until traffic dies down.
Another way is that Hotfile could start throttling after x users are connected. Some could disconnect after thus giving you the bandwidth boost.

We have a Solaris server that students test Unix programming on at Laurier.
I've tested the ftp with some large files, one line connected to Rogers, and a bundle of 2 MLPPP links for 10mbps on both.
The Rogers line consistently maxed out 900-1200kb/s, while the MLPPP line stayed around 100-600kb/s with rather inconsistent speeds.
This was simply due to the routing path taken.
While the Rogers link went directly over Cogent the TSI bundle went over a different way with a lot more hops.

fine, if that really is true, then the keyword is 60-70kb/s.
if you can get over 60kb/s its not the bell throttle.
70kb/s is over that.
Additionally I was under the impression the throttle lasts for 4pm-4am at 30kb/s.
Unless they have different implementations of it on different DPI boxes.

additionally I have never seen that download manager before, but it opens multiple connections (up to 8 from the screenshots). i would doubt that hotfile would open multiple connections to its own server for a single file, it doesnt make much sense, this looks like some sort of P2P application is it not?

reply to zsto
i'm not sure if it is the same for everyone but my throttling hours are the ones described by sMURF. that is, 60kB/s for the first and last hours between 4:30pm and 2am and 30kB/s for the rest. in fact, i'm not sure where that 4am number comes from since i distinctly recall tsi having massive upticks in network activity at 2am every day for the first couple of weeks of the bell wholesale throttle (with charts posted by tsi somewhere on these forums to back that up).

with regard to the 60-70kB/s download in the video, isn't it possible that the download manager being used is incorrectly measuring the download rate by including overhead data? if my understanding of other people's explanations of dpi is correct, then dpi doesn't throttle the entire line, merely packets that it identifies as p2p. so the download speed could still theoretically be limited to 60kB/s and still allow for the 60-70kB/s shown in the video. this second paragraph is pure speculation, but so is most of this discussion.

reply to zsto
Well, I would just like to comment that my cable company Cox seems to be throttling as well (either that or rapidshare itself is throttling )

reply to the cerberus

reply to zsto
I will now also confirm that hotfile is throttled. Bhell never ceases to amaze me. bite me!

reply to zsto
I too have experienced this "throttle". At first I thought it was hotfile but then I tested rapidshare and did not experience the same throttling. I have premium accounts on both. I believe that hotfile is just throttling their own servers during peak times. I've experienced throttling on weekend afternoons and evenings. Mornings are the best times for downloading. I also had better speeds with Rogers when I was with them. They may be trying to reduce the impact on their own servers or are just overloaded at peak times.

It's not hotfile doing the speed management. I tested the same file with a dsl and cable connection at the same time.
dsl - 30k
cable - 300k

oh and this was not premium it was free service

reply to zsto
Maybe Rocky can comment for you. Apparently this subject came up 2 years ago »rapidshare, yousendit, badongo...etc, throttled as well ?! and he was going to look into it Note that the poster even mentions 30kB/s.

reply to the cerberus