Users complaining about “weak and random” upload speeds, though for the time being is apparently limited to certain markets and P2P protocols.
Much has been discussed about how Comcast has been throttling BitTorrent traffic, but now it seems the problem is spreading to other ISPs, which in this case is Cox Communications.
Suspicions customers in the DSL Reports forum have been noticing discrepancies in their upload speeds for some time now, with one user in Oklahoma writing that he is “…rarely able to able to even come close (not to mention sustain)” his “self-imposed cap of 30kB/s.”
He continues:
I would have suspected a problem with up my upstream path, but my FTPs are 100% rock solid. Back to Bittorrent… I tried downloading off of a public torrent server, and was able to download just great, but my upload throughput was weak and random.
So Robb Topolski, a self-described “networking and protocol expert” with more than 25 years of experience, and the person who was the first to discover Comcast’s BitTorrent throttling efforts, was asked to investigate.
So far Topolski’s has discovered that Cox is “…using traffic shaping hardware to send forged TCP/IP packets with the RST (reset) flag set — with the goal of disrupting eDonkey traffic.” He said the technique is similar to what Comcast has using with BitTorrent traffic, but so far he’s unable to tell precisely what hardware Cox is using.
“This capture was on the eDonkey network between a Cox user and a user in Tel-Aviv, Israel,” says Topolski. “In this exchange, the non-Cox user connects, handshakes, and then requests parts, at which time the connection is immediately disrupted by an abort signal (TCP flag RST). The same pattern is repeated for all download requests.”
“This is conclusive proof that Cox is interfering with eDonkey uploads by abusing the RST (abort/reset) flag,” he says.
As for BitTorrent traffic he says that so far there is just “anecdotal reports that are similar but not proven,” but he plans to keep on looking.
I’m a Cox subscriber and haven’t noticed any odd patterns in my connection speeds and I hope I never do. With recent news that a Comcast subscriber has decided to sue the ISP for throttling his BitTorrent traffic, I may not have to worry about it anytime soon.
Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
STUDY: ‘Examining the Myths and Facts Concerning BitComet Behavior’
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3 Quick Ways to Watch Movies for FREE!
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BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading
News Tip? Comment? Suggestion? jared@zeropaid.com
Related Posts
- BitTorrent CEO Says Comcast’s Throttling is ‘Symptom of a Larger Problem’
- Cox: Yes, We Do Throttle P2P
- Canadian ISP Sympatico Admits to P2P Throttling
- Why won’t ISPs increase upload speeds?
- Comcast Quits Throttling BitTorrent, Targets Heavy Users Instead
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I hope that they will never do that in germany.
Isnt Edonkey long gone? I use Emule occassionally when I cant find what I want on PirateBay. But yeah the servers are all dead. They were shut down months ago I thought. You can only connect to the Kad network.
They mean the Edonkey and Kad Network not Edonkey2000.
I hope this lawsuit starts a move away from ISP’s trying to control what app people decide to use!
It is not an ISP’s job to act as a policeman!
They only provide a service to connect people to the internet.
They should not have control of what people do when they got there.
Emule is not dead its all i use and i still get everything i want even though there are feweer servers new ones keep popping up all the time.
Yeah but it is in no way like it USED to be!
When they raided those large servers that was pretty much the end of it as far as having everything like they used to have.
Sucks too because you could have gotten some very old and rare stuff before all the raids not anymore!
wham am i glad that MY isp isnt bothering about that as far as i know (i might even switch to the new fios) for now we can only hope that the isp’s dont try to do this as this will only create another war……..and this one will for sure be something like a World War only that itl be us against a company….don even want to think about that… :S
everyday they wanna monopolize everything more “its ilegal”…. well its not ilegal to make yourself rich from other peoples money even if they dont have that money is it??? look at oink for example ….poor guy… and now 4 more decent (2 are really good) music private torrent trackers have gained not only power but users….
It’s gonna be sweet if someone sues the shit out of the ISPs for doing that kinda trash. I hope they do. $50 a month is pretty steep for me to not be able to share back my legit linux isos over BT.