xtra 'go large' p2p traffic restrictions off peak

Forums › Spark New Zealand › xtra 'go large' p2p traffic restrictions off peak

bobert

11 posts

Geek

Topic # 10220 10-Nov-2006 18:24

I just joined xtra 'go large' a week ago.
I understand that during peak times (4pm-12am) peer to peer traffic is restricted.
However i have been running either Bit torrent or Emule during ALL times of the day and I never get any speeds above 20kb/sec. This is trying to download files that have MANY sources and would have NO problems getting above 20kb/sec.
Also Emule's session download speed graph is quite telling in how it shows that speeds plateau and go no higher than 20kb/sec

I have tried a normal http traffic speed test and get 450kb/sec, which is fine, I have never had a problem with normal web traffic, just p2p traffic.

I have tried ringing Xtra, but they say as long as http speed test is ok then slow p2p is just due to what i'm downloading at the time.

any one had this or has any ideas?

cokemaster

Nate wants an iphone
3901 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 28

Mod Emeritus

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 51931 10-Nov-2006 22:21

Have you got your firewalls set up right with port forwarding?

webhosting |New Zealand connections | geekzone IRC chat
Loose lips may sink ships - Be smart - Don't post internal/commercially sensitive or confidential information!

dan

952 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 85

Reply # 51998 11-Nov-2006 17:01

bobert: I just joined xtra 'go large' a week ago.

I have tried a normal http traffic speed test and get 450kb/sec, which is fine, I have never had a problem with normal web traffic, just p2p traffic.

any one had this or has any ideas?

yes, Go Large is the issue, check the broadband forum for a large amount of threads on this

Xtra have acknowleged the problem but they have no ETA for fixing it

Also, i bet if you looked into your HTTP speed tests a bit more, you likely would see this has also downgraded as well,
it has for all my customers who have switched to it

cheers

andysh

177 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 52019 11-Nov-2006 22:23

juha:
Filterer: Anyone care to shed some light on exactly how they do their traffic prioritising?
Based on ports? keywords like HTTP GET and POST etc?
Done on a datastream or on individual packets of data?

"Deep packet inspection" I believe, similar to what BellSouth put into place in the US.

Well if they do that, you can encrypt your data if you use something like azurus. This way they wont be able to see what you are downloading so hopefully it will increase your speed.

bobert

11 posts

Geek

Reply # 52032 12-Nov-2006 07:21

update:

my p2p traffic has now become 'normal' i.e 60kb.sec d/l
this comes one week after I joined xtra - that fits into the explanation that I was put into the fair use pool, as the terms say "you will be put into fair use pool for one week"

i still have a 125.x.x.x ip though

sat

142 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 52037 12-Nov-2006 08:31

puzzles me? why would anyone want unlimited usage if they can only browse, the point of Unlimited is soe you d/l on p2p and your will.

In the uk i paid 29.95 pounds per month for unlimited and never had a problem with speeds, BT didnt decide what i could and counldt do

But here in NZ Telecom does what they like!@!

Filterer

485 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Reply # 52082 12-Nov-2006 13:15

andysh:
Well if they do that, you can encrypt your data if you use something like azurus. This way they wont be able to see what you are downloading so hopefully it will increase your speed.

If you have a read up on some of the data on the intermaweb about the DPI you'll see that thats not neccesarily the case....

pɐǝɥ sıɥ uo ƃuıpuɐʇs

SilentOne

290 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 8

Reply # 52092 12-Nov-2006 16:37

satellitesam:
In the uk i paid 29.95 pounds per month

Thats also close to or more than $NZ 90.....

spazz

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

Reply # 52114 13-Nov-2006 01:45

satellitesam: puzzles me? why would anyone want unlimited usage if they can only browse, the point of Unlimited is soe you d/l on p2p and your will.

In the uk i paid 29.95 pounds per month for unlimited and never had a problem with speeds, BT didnt decide what i could and counldt do

But here in NZ Telecom does what they like!@!

I freakin' hate this type of argument. It's like me going to live in Botswana and complaining that "back in New Zealand we got running water for free!"

It's quite simple. If Broadband is that important to you, fly back home to the UK. Because no one cares.

http://walkingisoverrated.com

mpmorrison

42 posts

Geek

Reply # 52117 13-Nov-2006 07:42

Well - I think that the arguement about NZ having poor Internet conditions compared to other countries has some merit.

As do TUANZ, who are constantly lobbying for better Internet for everyday NZers. And supposedly the Government do as well, with their plan to increase our position in the OECD rankings (lets hope Mr Cunliffe sentiments of late are carried over into actuality).

And if "no-one cares" about improved Internet, we would all still be on dial-up.

ANYWAY - slightly more on-topic... with the traffic detection, there are several 'methods' including deep packet inspection, stateful packet inspection, Layer-7 packet 'conversation' detectors ... the list goes on.
Most (if not all) ISPs all over the world will use something like this - firstly in the name of giving all customers fair access and QoS, but secondly to limit traffic like P2P to certain rates at all times for the same or other reasons (e.g. congestion avoidance).

And secondly, most (if not all) ISPs will never reveal what rules they have in place when asked.

Sal

1 post

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 54361 1-Dec-2006 05:40

Hi there I had the same problem with those kinds of torrent clients.
But now I use utorrent and with a little bit of configuration with the router and windows
I am getting good download speed up to 70 KB/s (560 Kbps)
even during 4pm to 12 am I get reasonable speed @ 40 KB/s (320 Kbps)
Im also on Go Large plan

You can find information how to setup your router, utorrent client and windows
in order to get good downoads by visiting the following pages

Part 1

How To fix utorrent speed problems

http://paperkingdoms.wordpress.com/2006/08/22/utorrent-speed-problems/

Part 2

Setting up utorrent to get optimum performance

http://paperkingdoms.wordpress.com/2006/08/17/setting-up-utorrent-for-optimum-performance/

mrbob6464

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 55735 17-Dec-2006 23:24

But that requires you to set up a static IP address, but static IP addresses are available with every Xtra plan EXCEPT the go large plan.

nhe911

27 posts

Geek

Reply # 55977 20-Dec-2006 21:30

static IP addresses as static IP on your home network. You should be able to set this using your router.

mrbob6464

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 56018 21-Dec-2006 00:41

I was surprised, but this seemed to really work (unless Xtra magically slightly fixed the network at the same time). Before all my torrents were virtually dead, but now I've been getting 50-60kbps (or more).

mrbob6464

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 56429 27-Dec-2006 19:31

And now my torrents have turned to [removed profanity] again....hmmm...

(Moderator edit (BG) - Removed profanity )