Written by Janko Roettgers
Posted Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 9:00 PM PT

 

5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P

mpgtorrenttest.pngDo your torrent downloads seem to be taking longer than usual? Are you trying to transfer, say, a home video to a friend via Pando and the upload keeps getting stuck? Or maybe you’re having problems with BitTorrent’s new streaming service, which just doesn’t seem to work on your system? There’s a good chance your ISP is at fault, as more and more providers are putting the brakes on BitTorrent these days.

Though Comcast was the first to make headlines with its anti-P2P policy, a bunch of other ISPs in the U.S. and elsewhere are throttling BitTorrent traffic as well. Take, for example, Bell Canada, or Germany’s Kabel Deutschland. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to tell if your ISP is one of the bad guys — we’ve pulled together five tests that will do it for you.

The Web-based Java applet: Germany’s Max Planck Insitute has developed a web-based test that works right in your browser. Just run the Java applet and give it a few minutes to simulate BitTorrent uploads and downloads. The Institute’s server has unfortunately been a little busy lately, so you might have to come back multiple times before you’re actually able to run the test.

The Linux Live CD: Italian P2P enthusiasts have developed an Ubuntu-based Live CD project called Gemini Project to test for BitTorrent throttling. The catch is that you need to team up with a fellow user of the same ISP. But at least you won’t have to install any additional software on your machine.

The Vuze Plug-In: BitTorrent vendor Vuze has developed a plug-in for its own Azureus client to test ISPs for bandwidth throttling. The plug-in will display the test results to the user and send anonymized data to a Vuze server if permitted to do so. The company’s plan is to collect multiple tests per ISP to get a more accurate picture of the specific measures and time frames — great for identifying ISPs that only throttle during peak demand hours. The only downside: No OS X version yet, but we were told by Vuze that it is “actively working on future versions.”

The l33t way: The EFF back in November published a paper called “Detecting packet injection: a guide to observing packet spoofing by ISPs,” and the procedure to run this test is about as sexy as its title. You’ll need to install a bunch of programs, play with your firewall settings and, if at all possible, “disable TCP and UDP checksum offloading and TCP segmentation offloading.” Phew. At least you’ll be able to pat yourself on the back for your hacker skills.

The bureaucratic approach: Shouldn’t your ISP tell you if it throttles BitTorrent? Well, it might be already doing so. Comcast denied any network interference for the longest time, but other ISPs have been far more forthcoming about their plans for P2P traffic. For instance did you know that RoadRunner, Charter and Cox have language in their Terms of Service that allows them to do pretty much the same thing as Comcast? So go back and finally read those contracts you clicked through during your sign-up process. To be fair, TOS provisions don’t mean that your ISP actually throttles BitTorrent — but it’s good to know what a company is willing (and able) to do.

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Topic: P2P
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. [...] as more and more providers are putting the brakes on BitTorrent these days. How can you find out? NewTeeVee recommends five ways you can find out if your ISP is doing the hanky-panky with P2P Rating: None Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Share/Send Related Print [...]

    5 Ways to test if your ISP throttles P2P - GigaOM on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm - Permalink

  2. [...] Do your torrent downloads seem to be taking longer than usual? Are you trying to transfer, say, a home video to a friend via Pando and the upload keeps getting stuck? Or maybe you’re having problems with BitTorrent’s new streaming service, which just doesn’t seem to work on your system? There’s a good chance your ISP is at fault, as more and more providers are putting the brakes on BitTorrent these days. How can you find out? NewTeeVee recommends five ways you can find out if your ISP is doing the hanky-panky with P2P [...]

    - 5 Ways to test if your ISP throttles P2P on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm - Permalink

  3. [...] wrote this awesome article that describes 5 ways to know if your internet provider throttles [...]

    Miro - Internet TV Blog » Blog Archive » Is Your ISP Throttling Bittorrent? (test it yourself) on April 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 pm - Permalink

  4. [...] Статията е от NewTeeVee.com – 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P [...]

    5 начина да проверим качеството на връзката за Р2Р « Здравей, свят! on April 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 am - Permalink

  5. If you are using the Verizon Wireless Broadband Connect card, be advised that their TOS in small print on the back states that the service “cannot be used for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games”….when I did that, they just reduced my speed to 100kbps without telling me and still charged me $59 a month. Although they were sued by the attorney general of New York for cancelling subscribers for watching movies on the serivce, this new trick of reducing speed hasn’t been cracked down on like it should be. It is absurd that anyone can offer internet access and restrict the user from watching (legal) movies, music and games. Consumers need to keep the pressure on.

    Jean on April 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am - Permalink

  6. [...] 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P « NewTeeVee Do your torrent downloads seem to be taking longer than usual? Are you trying to transfer, say, a home video to a friend via Pando and the upload keeps getting stuck? Or maybe you’re having problems with BitTorrent’s new streaming service, which just doesn’t seem to work on your system? There’s a good chance your ISP is at fault, as more and more providers are putting the brakes on BitTorrent these days. [...]

      5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P « NewTeeVee by CRACKMAC.COM on April 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am - Permalink

  7. [...] at NewTeeVee, they’ve come up with 5 ways to test if your ISP throttles P2P. A must read for anyone that uses bit torrent for filesharing, and the like. We’ve just [...]

    Steve’s Tech Links on April 4th, 2008 at 6:30 am - Permalink

  8. [...] 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P « NewTeeVee [...]

    Bookmarks from April 3 on April 4th, 2008 at 7:48 am - Permalink

  9. 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P | nerdd.net

    rnIs your ISP one of the bad guys?rnIf you are using the Verizon Wireless Broadband Connect card

    nerdd.net | news and opinion on April 4th, 2008 at 10:16 am - Permalink

  10. [...] 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P « NewTeeVee Do your torrent downloads seem to be taking longer than usual? Are you trying to transfer, say, a home video to a friend via Pando and the upload keeps getting stuck? [...]

    links for 2008-04-04 - MusicbizHacks.com on April 4th, 2008 at 10:38 am - Permalink

  11. [...] Caught Blocking BitTorrent Remember that web-based tool to test whether your ISP is blocking BitTorrent that we linked to a couple weeks back? Thousands of broadband users around the world have tried it [...]

    Cox Caught Blocking BitTorrent « NewTeeVee on May 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am - Permalink

  12. [...] if your ISP is one of the bad guys — you can view and try the five tests that will do it for you here [...]

    Endorse Net Neutrality NOW or Face Big Business Takeover of the Internet on May 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm - Permalink

  13. [...] this article: Is My ISP Throttling BitTorrent? Test Your Connection Online More testing options: 5 Ways to Test If Your ISP Throttles P2P NewTeeVee Good luck man, sorry I couldnt’ help [...]

    I've done almost literally everything suggested, but my speed is STILL super slow... - Torrent Forums - The #1 Bit-Torrent Community on September 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am - Permalink

  14. Even though I can’t remember the sources, I thought I read that it was deemed illegal for ISPs to throttle. I guess that it doesn’t mean that it isn’t being done.
    Even though my ISP doesn’t throttle, it still invoked a 250G/month bandwidth cap…

    baracuda68 on December 31st, 2008 at 5:13 pm - Permalink

  15. [...] このエントリーはこちらのエントリーの短縮です [...]

    ISPが規制をかけているか知るための3つの方法 « my96soft避難所 on May 17th, 2009 at 5:19 am - Permalink

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