It's Comcasick!
February 12, 2006 2:31 AM Subscribe
Is Comcast bamboozling us?
I'm pissed. After about four months on dial-up, I finally convinced my family to get cable internet (DSL unavailable). Now that we're all hooked up and ready to roll, the first thing I did was test out my bittorrent needs. And there the mystery begins....downloads will shoot up at lightning speeds, reaching about 150-200 k/sec within seconds....then crash into a wall, tumbling back down and hovering between 5-10 k/sec.
Basically, my question is this: does Comcast have caps or use filtering devices to strike out bandwidth-hogging programs like bittorrent (the same thing happens with eMule and LimeWire)?
(And no, I've been through enough to know it's not router/port issues, etc. I'm just interested in this odd phenomena of lightning-speed downloads crashing to near-nothingness within mere seconds.)
I'm pissed. After about four months on dial-up, I finally convinced my family to get cable internet (DSL unavailable). Now that we're all hooked up and ready to roll, the first thing I did was test out my bittorrent needs. And there the mystery begins....downloads will shoot up at lightning speeds, reaching about 150-200 k/sec within seconds....then crash into a wall, tumbling back down and hovering between 5-10 k/sec.
Basically, my question is this: does Comcast have caps or use filtering devices to strike out bandwidth-hogging programs like bittorrent (the same thing happens with eMule and LimeWire)?
(And no, I've been through enough to know it's not router/port issues, etc. I'm just interested in this odd phenomena of lightning-speed downloads crashing to near-nothingness within mere seconds.)
This post was deleted for the following reason: removed at poster's request
Are you going through a router, or do you have firewalling turned on? Bittorrent requires people to be able to connect back to you (so you can share the wealth with them). If you are using a router or a firewall, they probably can't connect. Bittorrent responds to "leeches" by throttling their download bandwidth.
A better test of Comcast's bandwidth would be to download a big file directly from a known speedy web site or FTP site. There are too many variables with Bittorrent. On my speedy Cox connection, Bittorrent can be a real dog and it can be awesome.
posted by knave at 2:44 AM on February 12, 2006
A better test of Comcast's bandwidth would be to download a big file directly from a known speedy web site or FTP site. There are too many variables with Bittorrent. On my speedy Cox connection, Bittorrent can be a real dog and it can be awesome.
posted by knave at 2:44 AM on February 12, 2006
Response by poster: I should also add....it's a sad state that I eventually end up getting my albums now by opening up the torrent, letting it run for 20 seconds, closing it, reopening, etc.
Props to whoever can name the band of the album in the pic (without Googling it).
Ok, I'm done now. Someone take this away.
posted by Mach3avelli at 2:44 AM on February 12, 2006
Props to whoever can name the band of the album in the pic (without Googling it).
Ok, I'm done now. Someone take this away.
posted by Mach3avelli at 2:44 AM on February 12, 2006
Response by poster: Gah, someone delete this. I just figured it out...stupid dial-up bittorrent settings
posted by Mach3avelli at 2:50 AM on February 12, 2006
posted by Mach3avelli at 2:50 AM on February 12, 2006
I've had Comcast for years and never had the problem you're talking about. If fact, it's only gotten faster over the years.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:04 AM on February 12, 2006
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:04 AM on February 12, 2006
The Korgis, wasn't it?
posted by Grangousier at 6:14 AM on February 12, 2006
posted by Grangousier at 6:14 AM on February 12, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mach3avelli at 2:40 AM on February 12, 2006