Is my ISP blocking P2P?

[mathchris]

When I run BitTorrent, within an hour or two my connection goes down. Resetting the modem gets me a new IP. This only started happening in the last month.

I called them numerous times before I realized it only happened with BitTorrent running. they would have me reset the modem & act like they're running diagnostics.

Someone I know wrote me this:
"The reason it goes down is because they are resetting you IP probably cause when you use filesharing programs, they use UDP packets, the same packets that are used in DOS attacks. So they are rightly blocking your connection when that happens because when you share files, you disrupt service for other people on that line unless your leasing a T1 line or better"

Anyone else run into this problem? Should I avoid TW or Earthlink? Would this not effect other P2P apps? Would an ISP let me upgrade to allow more U&DLs or can i give them a funny story? Any recommendations? I'll update if I figure anything out.

Earthlink Cable thru Time Warner cable, Brooklyn NY.
BitTorrent v 3.2.2
Linksys router, 1ghzG4 OSX, 400Mhz G4 OSX & 350 iMac OS9.2

thanks,
mathchris

[Wolfie]

Have you tried opening ports on your router?

That does tend speed up your downloads.

[zaphodiv]

Tell the cable company you want a new modem that dosn't crash under load.

It is conceivable but very unlikly that your cable company is cutting you off when you use p2p however it will only affect other cable users if they have far too little bandwidth for the number of users, UDP packets should not cause equipment to crash.

[waqasr]

man iam not sure abt blocking but ISP's definatly
put filters on my ports tht i use for p2p clients
so i change them once in a while whn i see my
emule+ run slow and speed goes back
up! so wht u can do is change ur ports frm time
2 time!
:shoot :ass :upside

[depri]

Ahum, YES your ISP blocks it !
And YES you can solve it yourselve by taking another ISP or upgrade you current account.

Explanation: Worldwide ISP's are trying to counteract numerous attacks on their services. (DoS,Worms,Trojans and yes, even viruses lol)
So when they discover a new vulnerability they just cut off certain accessports wihout warning, resulting in disruptions of internettraffic on their customers side.
Because they lack the knowledge to overcome this they use this rudimentary action to effectivly counter the attack. (which is futile in the end !!!)

Why you started to get this problems just now ?
Because the internet is facing it's final day as it is, because there are soo many intrusive programs crawling the internet that a total collapse is inevitable. (time will tell ....)
(visit: http://www.grc.com on the final days)

To cheer you up :
The whole world has or will get this problem so don't worry to much about it.

Solution number 2:
Be sure to check your filesharing every now and then. Click some links or just browse the internet while downloading. (doesnt work for all ISP's though :( )