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kalg1975
@grouptelecom.net

kalg1975

Anon

Sympatico throttling Bit Torrents now???

Greetings all,
I have been using a bit torrent client for some time now to download. I have never had any issues with download speeds in the almost 8 yrs I have been with sympatico. I was regualrly getting download speeds of well over 100 kb/s.
However, starting on the Sept long weekend, all of my torrent downloads have been essentially capped. The speeds never exceed 30 kb/s. I have tried several different torrent clients to see if this was the issue, and found it was the same for all. I have even tried the enhanced security settings to supposedly avoid ISP throttling and still nothing faster 30 kb/s. This is occuring on all torretns as well...not just poorly seeded ones.

I have run speed tests and they all come out fine and downloading anything other than torrents occurs at normal speeds.

Other ISP's (noteably Rogers) is known to throttle back torrent downloads, claiming bandwidth reasons (which to anyone who knows anything about it, is a crock), I am just wondering if others are experiencing the same issues.
I have placed a few calls to tech support, and couldnt even get someone who knew what a torrent was!!!

Thanks in advance for any help on this folks.
Jorge23
join:2007-09-11
Toronto

Jorge23

Member

No, Bell isn't throttling your torrents. I'm downloading them at great rates. Is it possible that they're throttling your torrents specifically? Maybe, but highly unlikely. Depending on what bit torrent client you're using and if you have a firewall/router installed, you will need to open up some new ports.

If you have a software firewall installed, make sure that your bit torrent is allowed in the application settings. If you're by chance using any version of Zone Alarm, that's most likely your problem right there. Uninstall it and get another firewall. Comodo and Outpost are other good ones. If you have Vista, Pc Tools Firwall Plus is also good. All of them are free.

If you have a router hooked up separately or if it comes with your Bell modem, you'll need to follow the instructions here Port forwarding and open up the ports to your bit client.

Bell techs aren't going to help you speed up your torrents, this is something you'll have to figure out on your own.

kalg1975
@grouptelecom.net

kalg1975

Anon

Thanks for the reply.

Like I mentioned I have been using the same exact setup for years now, same OS, same router, same modems, same torrent client with the same setup but suddenly, over the labour day long weekend, my download rates just tanked...and no matter what changes I have tried, nothing seems to be able to get above the 30kb/s.

I have tried several different clients, and ports and port configurations, etc, etc etc. All the "how to's" I have been able to get a hold of. I finally spoke to someone at bell who had an idea of what I was talking about, and yup, they don't throttle anything, so that is one thing ruled out.

Thanks just the same for the reply I will have to play around a bit more I suppose

Deadpool0
Go Sens Go
Premium Member
join:2001-03-29
Canada

Deadpool0

Premium Member

You also have to consider that other ISP's throttle now, so the seeders you're downloading from may be with those respective ISP's, which would cause you to have crappy torrents.
Jorge23
join:2007-09-11
Toronto

Jorge23 to kalg1975

Member

to kalg1975
I guess it's something else then, are you sure you didn't install or download any new software?

If you can find the locations of the peers in your bit client and they're all from local locations, something is definitely wrong with your ports. There should be a mix of remote/local locations.

I know there's a slim chance this works, but it's worth a try, restore your computer to a date a little before the problem appeared using system restore. If you haven't installed any new software since then, you won't lose anything.
Jorge23

Jorge23 to Deadpool0

Member

to Deadpool0
Wouldn't that be more of a gradual thing though? Watching your torrent speeds diminish a little over time if that were the case. For him to be getting max speeds one day and then having it slow down to a halt the next, to me that's a sign that something is directly effecting his downloads.

PostAndRun
@dsl.bell.ca

PostAndRun to kalg1975

Anon

to kalg1975
Kalg,

I too have been dicking around with settings since the long weekend, figuring that it was utorrent settings or poor trackers or seeds etc. Now I know I am not alone and realize that I have been wasting precious time. 30 is the speed I am seeing as well. Coincidence that we both have those dl speeds? I think not.

Time to complain or switch to someone else.

Thanks for your post. I just stumbled into this forum by chance, and I'm glad that I did.

Cheers.
Prelude76
join:2007-08-30
Barrie, ON

Prelude76

Member

I dont know why everyone says 'no they dont throttle' like they know the inner working of Bell, when I myself got that magical 30kb/s limit.

That's why I left Bell in first place.

exact same torrents, same trackers, same utorrent settings, used to be fast on Bell, then dropped to 30kbs, and now that I'm on teksavvy, they are fast once again.

so Kalg, you're not alone. perhaps they are throttling only certain users or certain areas, but there definitely is throttling going on.

But this thread will get locked and forgotten just like all the other 'Bell is throttling my torrents' threads.

kalg1975
@dsl.bell.ca

kalg1975

Anon

Wow, ok well its good to know that i am not going completely nuts. I greatly appreciate all the replies.

I am hesitant to blame other seeders or locations of those seeders. These are very popular files I am trying to download with thousands of seeders. But again, that is not the troubling fact, it was that one day...200 kb/s, next day 30...and never any faster.

I tried the restore as well Jorge, as I was grasping at straws as I had literally installed nothing new in months (with the exception of Microsoft updates) and even after the restore same thing.

I am not trying to cook up a conspiracy or anything, just found it odd that no matter what I did...30 always came up the magic number on several different torrent clients (utorrent, azerus, bit torrent, etc).

Alas, thanks all for the input, it is greatly appreciated.
kalg1975

kalg1975

Anon

Oh one other question, to the two folks that mentioned the same problem (if you happen upon this thread again) what area of the country are you in...myself I am in ottawa, S end...just curious if perhaps it is a localized event.

Thanks again.

JenSuisUn
Premium Member
join:2006-02-23
Chatham, ON

JenSuisUn

Premium Member

you are using something to protect you (peerguardian) right... you wouldn't want to get swampped for nothing would you?
Reimer
join:2006-08-14
Toronto, ON

Reimer to Prelude76

Member

to Prelude76
said by Prelude76:

I dont know why everyone says 'no they dont throttle' like they know the inner working of Bell, when I myself got that magical 30kb/s limit.

That's why I left Bell in first place.

exact same torrents, same trackers, same utorrent settings, used to be fast on Bell, then dropped to 30kbs, and now that I'm on teksavvy, they are fast once again.

so Kalg, you're not alone. perhaps they are throttling only certain users or certain areas, but there definitely is throttling going on.

But this thread will get locked and forgotten just like all the other 'Bell is throttling my torrents' threads.
I don't really know whether Bell is actually throttling or not since I've experienced no such thing on my own line and I'm a fairly heavy user.

But you can't compare a torrent on one day and then try the same torrent on another and say it's the same thing. It's not.

rizzler
join:2004-07-07
canada

rizzler

Member

I am also a very heavy torrent user...I havent had any problem with my torrents. I am on a private torrent site..invites only and always have the same speed.
Prelude76
join:2007-08-30
Barrie, ON

1 edit

Prelude76

Member

i realize torrent speeds go up and down, depending on the day, on phase of moon, whatever. But when some torrents like EZTV torrents on mininova with 1,000+ seeds stop at 30kb/s on the dot for days (while my uploades where still normal, in 80 to 90 range), something fishy was definitely going on. I tried different ports, even throwing it on FTP port 25, and still no luck.

All I know is those same torrents came back to their full speeds after leaving Bell.

I'm in Barrie area, by the way.

I should note that our Bell Business at work running full tilt in uTorrent, 350+ kb/s. never slows down.

So something is going on, but it could be experimental, and perhaps on a user basis or area basis.

Glen1
These Are The Good Ol' Days.
MVM
join:2002-05-24
GTA Canada

Glen1

MVM

Try using your Bell Business Internet ID at home and see if there is a difference. You will be able to log on as it is the same network. See if you are throttled then.

Deadpool0
Go Sens Go
Premium Member
join:2001-03-29
Canada

Deadpool0 to kalg1975

Premium Member

to kalg1975
said by kalg1975 :

Oh one other question, to the two folks that mentioned the same problem (if you happen upon this thread again) what area of the country are you in...myself I am in ottawa, S end...just curious if perhaps it is a localized event.

Thanks again.
I'm in Ottawa as well and I was downloading at 520 kBps last night.

kalg1975
@grouptelecom.net

kalg1975 to Glen1

Anon

to Glen1
Morning All,

8 years with Sympatico, and I was never aware I even had a Bell Buisness Interenet ID. I will have to hunt that down.

At this point I would settle for an honest answer from bell really. Again, not trying to be an alarmist or anything, and I know the default position on tech help boards for someone with an uncommon problem is that they must be doing something wrong.

However, in this case, as I have said NOTHING changed...just the day. I have been downloading torrents for years, never had any issues and no I don't think bell is targetting me specifically, however it simply appears like there is a cap at 30 kb/s.

However since I appear to be in the vast minority on this one, and bell is denying that any throttling is going on (which still is a possibility) I think I am hosed...and I just committed to a new contract too...brilliant.

Glen1
These Are The Good Ol' Days.
MVM
join:2002-05-24
GTA Canada

Glen1

MVM

There obviously are different types of Business services, I am assuming you are on a PPPoE based service. That would enable you to troubleshoot whether the issue is on your line or associated with the user ID or IP assigned. Keep track of the assigned IP before you disconnect with the Sympatico IP and see if it changes when you use the Business ID. I have used Teksavvy test IDs, in the past, to try to find an issue on my line. I would get a completely different IP with the Teksavvy Id on my line at home...just a few ideas to assist. You could also go into the newest forum and ask for "one on one" help. PM me for "what to ask".

rescin
@dsl.bell.ca

rescin to kalg1975

Anon

to kalg1975
Yup, they're throttling BT, (occurs for me from 5pm-midnight). I doubt anyone is going to publicly admit it though. I'm leaving in a few weeks over to TekSav.

Jay_P
join:2005-12-12
Montreal, QC

1 edit

Jay_P to Deadpool0

Member

to Deadpool0
said by Deadpool0:

I'm in Ottawa as well and I was downloading at 520 kBps last night.
Maybe we need to put those rumors to rest, can someone setup a tracker with say a 100 Meg file to download ?

We could post it here and all the users on DSLR could seed (at near the max upload speed) during those hours.
malvernkid
join:2006-08-22
Pickering, ON

1 edit

malvernkid to kalg1975

Member

to kalg1975
I too am getting throttled speeds, never goes above 30 and like others my setup has not changed at all.

I turned on encryption in utorrent and now my speed seems to be throttled at 150..

WWM
Divi filius
Premium Member
join:2002-12-19
Mississauga

WWM to kalg1975

Premium Member

to kalg1975
I'm being throttled at 450kB/sec right now, at 10:30 PM EST on a Saturday night.

Cine
@dsl.bell.ca

Cine to kalg1975

Anon

to kalg1975
I also thought I was going nuts. I've noticed throttling for the past week - 10 days. It's shifting in & out but seems most consistent between 5:00 PM & midnight. Usually I get cut down to roughly 70/70 for an hour or two, then it's down to 26/26.

I've tried getting answers from Bell - after an hour+ with tech support I finally got someone who understood what bittorrent was, he promised to call me back the following day after he got info from the business office. Needless to say, no follow-up so I tried the business office who referred me back to tech support. Urgh!

I don't know if images are allowed here, but can post images of the uTorrent speed grid. In these you can see the throttling. Most dramatic in the grid is the perfect flatline during the thottling period - I've never had bittorrent traffic (and multiple torrents active) that moved at an exactly consistent speed for 12 minutes at a time. (After about 12 minutes I get a brief improvement for about a minute - it's a consistent pattern. )

I'm in downtown Toronto.

Sman52
join:2004-05-14
Toronto

Sman52

Member

Yes they throttle! Maybe not everyone right now but I know that my torrents are under 30kB/s from 5pm to midnight. Miraculously after midnight I'm back up to over 500kB/s. Can't wait for about an hour from now. What gets me is Sympatico's silence about this matter. I was in a Bell store the other day and saw a poster with one of the beavers noting consistent high speed. Their should be an asterisk to that statement. We have Expressvu, Mobility and a land line from Bell but no-warning-backhanded-throttling will be my reason to say bye bye Bell. I expect technology to make things faster not slower.

soldatenhund
@dsl.bell.ca

soldatenhund to kalg1975

Anon

to kalg1975
Yes and they don't tell the truth or want to about pretty much anything.
malvernkid
join:2006-08-22
Pickering, ON

malvernkid to kalg1975

Member

to kalg1975
well it's after midnight and my speed hasn't improved at all...
Omr
join:2004-01-10
M1S-1B3

Omr to kalg1975

Member

to kalg1975
Well to those that believe you are throttling try this torrent:

Ubuntu ISO

This torrent is for sure going to reach 500KB/s, and should be an indicate whether BT is being throttled or your setup might be giving an issue, or that everything is normal and those Torrents go at 30KB/s regardless. So test this torrent and see how fast it goes ... you don't have to download the whole thing, just see if it goes to 500KB/s and can keep those high speeds for like 5minutes.

shwing
A Sphincter Says What ?
join:2002-11-14

shwing

Member

Click for full size
from Windsor,ON

Cine
@dsl.bell.ca

Cine to kalg1975

Anon

to kalg1975
It's 5:15 PM and I see I'm back down to the moderate throttle rate, in this case 54/54. If it follows the normal pattern I'll drop to 26/26 within the hour.

The following is my uTorrent speed grid. At this point I had 6 active torrents, from 4 different trackers. I can't see any way this is just a chance occurrence.

Cine

Cine

Anon

Sorry, looks like I have to learn how to post images here. One of these should work in the meantime. »img265.imageshack.us/my. ··· iqw8.jpg
»img265.imageshack.us/img ··· iqw8.jpg