I use uTorrent with Comcast every day without issue. Thankfully, I'm not yet afflicted by that problem.

not sure if this was posted already but DSLreports.com forums members uncovered this traffic shaping at least 2 months ago.

Problem: Comcast sucks.

Solution: Dont use Comcast.

The problem is most people have no other choice. Or if they do have a choice, it is literally, _a_ choice to Verizon or AT&T. Are they any better?

Basically you are screwed no matter what.

Some folks (thankfully not one of them) don't really have a choice unfortunately.

Solution seems to be to force encryption(easiest and free), or get a virtually hosted domain (as low as $6 a month for a decent one) and seed off of that.

Azureus and uTorrent allow forced encryption that I know of. I am sure some are available for other platforms as well. I think Transmission (MacOSX) supports it, but not sure.

Pretty much agreed, but as far as verizon and ATT are concerned, if it's FIOS or DSL it's not really an issue.

Comcast, charter, and others are cable providers doing this mainly because the "last mile" is shared and they've over-sold the available bandwidth. DSL is dedicated, so the need for things like this is simply not there unless the company is simply trying to piss off customers (there's no benefit to the company).

No problems with BT here on Comcast, and I have a 20MBps down/2MBps up link. It is -fantastic-. Still doesn't compare to the internet links in other countries, but.. oh well.

Oh, the 20MBps down is only on small files, once any connection transmits more than about 4MB, it throttles it back to the 12MB that we're actually set for in our plan. It's their "Turbo" mode, or some crap. It's super nice for web surfing, and downloading smallish files.

If you want to compare to other countries, A friend of mine that I've known online for years is always complaining about his government in Australia not allowing internet growth over there. He can't even get a 4th of what your getting.

I've read most of the comments on this article. The majority of the reaction is a bit surprising. The questions seem to be "Why is Comcast doing this?", "How can they be doing this?", "What are my options for alternative providers?" and so on.

I will point out some obvious facts for you all. The reason Comcast is doing this is pretty straight forward: money. File sharing accounts for a huge chunk of their bandwidth. Eventually their networks become saturated and it's easier to find ways to reduce bandwidth, rather than upgrade equipment. They can do this, because, like most big corporations, they have the fine print in their TOS that allows them. This makes it perfectly legal for them to "manage" their traffic as they see fit.

"In the US, the obvious solution is enactment of Net Neutrality legislation requiring ISPs to treat all traffic equally without discrimination as to source or nature of the communication. However, the Net Neutrality legislation is presently stalled in the US Congress."

Surprised that such a legislation is stalled? It is in the best interest of the "fat cats" that this sort of legislation does not pass. It would pretty much make it illegal for Comcast to do their little traffic shaping/blocking trick.

No one seems to even want to consider the software that Comcast installs on computers for activating modems. Not all computers get this but many do. It's interesting that Comcast is noted for "traffic shaping" but not TimeWarner. TimeWarner does not (atleast to my knowledge) do things this way. With TimeWarner, modems can be activated without a computer at all (in the home).

Hmm, I didn't need to load any software when I used comcast in Pennsylvania. I bought one of those self-instal kits from radioshack, I called comcast, gave the technicion the MAC address of the modem, and was able to get up and running. Granted, the install kit came with the software you mention, but was not required. The only thing I had to install was the modem drivers, as I used USB because I didn't have a router yet.

As I said, the software isn't installed in all cases. Modems can be and often are provisioned remotely. Without someone (at some point) provisioning the modem, you can't surf. There are articles posted to the net about this software not being compatible with Linux or MAC computers.

How many MAC or Linux machines have bittorent problems?

btw:
What does not having a router have to do with connecting through usb?

Didn't mean to confuse, I was trying to clarify that I did have to install USB drivers for the modem, so technically I had to install software to connect, it just wasn't comcast's software. Now that I have a router, I connect through CAT5 and don't drivers.

Also, I agree that comcast's software is crap, and I wouldn't install it if they paid me, but I can understand newbies using it, as it allows comcast to help troubleshoot.

btw: owning the modem is great instead of renting. I have since moved and was able to provision the modem on Cox, also with no problems or software.

Interesting that in both of your responses that you make it sound as if you need a router in order to use cat5 instead of usb. I don't want to be misunderstood here. I mean nothing against you. I'm just trying to understand.

I am glad to see that you stuck with cable based internet...I think it's the better way to go.

There are more than enough good trouble shooting tools available to cable companies without installing any software on anyones computers. I see nothing that indicates that this software is used for troubleshooting. Infact, I see no real reason for this software period except for the cable co. to get into your computer.

Timewarner, or actually RoadRunner, doesn't block P2P, however there is a port 119 cap in effect to limit usenet downloads to 3Mbps. It is possible to bypass though.

A Timewarner tech remotely activates the modem on installation, either during the initial installation via a phone call by the intstallation tech or via a customer service call by yourself. No software installation is required.

They also don't impose a download quota.

RoadRunner is a good ISP with a good network. They keep upgrading the bandwidth. When I got it in 2000 the cap was 3Mbps, now it's 7Mbps, and I consistently get 6.5-6.8Mbps. It's also extremely uncommon to experience downtime.

I don't remember exactly what the software was when I had comcast, that was about 6+ years ago, when I finally convinced my then wife to go to cable Internet instead of dial-up. The premise of the software was that it would help with connection.

A not so quick search of the Comcast site brings up the "Desktop Doctor" software, which is seems also may come with Dell and some other computers. The premise is that it is a "one-click fix" (probably trademarked by someone) of fixing your Internet connection if it goes down. http://www.comcastsupport.com/forms/net/home.asp

At the same time, I agree it is just another way for them to get into your computer, which is why I didn't install it.

As for using cat5 instead of usb, I guess you are right. I could use a cross-over cable between the modem and my computer. My self-install kit came with a regular cat5 and a usb cable. I tried the cat5, but it didn't work. Instead of going to buy a cross-over cable, I opted to use the usb. (I'm not sure I understood the use of a cross-over cable at the time). I'm still using the same modem, but have gone through multiple computers and a new router. (Wireless n with gigabit instead of 10\100 with wireless b) and my current nic card and router are auto-sensing, so it doesn't matter if I have cross-over or regular cat5, but I digress.

Hope this explains.

(This was a fun dialogue, but I'm off to my B-day dinner)

Roadrunner actually doesn't block P2P but they do throttle bandwidth. Customers that call in about it get directed here. http://help.rr.com/HMSFa...erf.aspx?topic=Policies

Happy Birthday!

Thanks, another day / year older and deeper in debt. :-)

Damn. Good song. I'll have to hunt that one down again.

Gee comcast blocking internet traffic? I would have NEVER guessed THAT one.

Another reason to drop Comcast for Fios... if it ever gets to my area that is.

this shows what kind of people they are.

The number of options is dwindling fast.

I moved to an area that has no copper. The ONLY choices you have for wired connectivity are Comcast for Cable and Verizon FIOS.

There is DirectTV or Clearwire. But Clearwire doesn't work well in my area and the Association does not allow Sat TV yet.

You can Protocol Encyrption on some clients, I think, but that's about it in terms of protecting from Traffic Shaping.

According to the press I have been reading, they are still allowing full-speed downloads, and full sharing speed while the file itself is being downloaded. You just can't actively seed after download is done, I guess.

Don't DSL users avoid this by already having a limited Upload speed? Like 768k / 128k or 1.5m / 384k?

I wish that like DSL, each line was dedicated, but with all that HDTV stuff sharing the same bandwidth and areas sharing "pools" of bandwidth, Cable can kinda suck, I guess.

"There is DirectTV or Clearwire. But Clearwire doesn't work well in my area and the Association does not allow Sat TV yet."

There is a Federal law which makes it illegal to refuse to let you install a sat antenna. Just thought you should know. The link is below.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Yea I actually encourage this to a point periodically to encourage developers to find ways around it. This way the software evolves over time and becomes all teh more secure to use.

Once the p2p network gets to a point that all connections are privacy protected, and allowed to filter WHOM may access you machine on any level. it will become all the more popular, and lists like the Peer guardian lists will be built into the system effectively locking out abusers that have zero interest in using the service, but only using it to find victims to extort. Namely the RIAA MPAA.

If this is true, I encourage everyone to nail this service to death learning both how its being done and how to get around the problem. Possibly with a new service.

BTW there are new Torrent systems that make full use of proxy system to protect your IP identity. This will revolutionize this market. Its not far away... Once more secure subnets like Hamachi go mainstream into the p2p network this will revolutionize the entire system. Give it a month or two to develop a little more and I'm sure you will see it here on Betanews and other such Internet news services.

That's Com-Smash-Tic.

Grannie Mona Shaw...Comcast Killer!
http://whatcomestomind.c...-19/thats-com-smash-tic/

If only we could block the TV garbage streaming unfettered into our homes from these people.

Yeah, its called the OFF button.

I use torrents on Comcast all the time. Never had issues.

Don't you think there would be much more uproar about this, since torrents actually are used quite a bit for legit, legal reasons?

I think Comcast is blocking packets from certain applications, not torrents in general. I use a different client and a nonstandard port. Things work well for me this way.

why would a business do something negative to their customers?

I don't know, but Comcast is really good at alienating their customers. We'll be switching as soon as we get access to something else. Right now, it's either Comcast or dial-up. Comcast seems to see itself as a utility like electricity, forgetting that it's actually a business with customers who need to be understood and catered to. In a few years, they may find themselves as redundant and irrelevant as AOL.

Comcast will never be as 'redundant or irrelevant' as AOL. You forget that AOL was never a monopoly. AOL had a hold on people because they were lazy or just not PC savvy enough to get an independent ISP and use netscape/ie. It was a one stop dialup shop. Later, when people began to embrace faster internet it shattered AOL's hold...and voila, enter the demise of AOL. There's noone out there that can do this to comcast. In many cities, comcast is THE only cable operator. Take it from someeone who's evaluated options. I'm with comcast...cable and internet and I have voip phone service. IF I was running basic cable and net, I'd be paying about 70 for my service and my voip is only 20 more. The alternative is...well, comcast cable only and dsl with another company, but ofcourse I'd have to get Verizon phone service which is 65 after all the nitty gritty and this wouldn't include long distance.

So really, unless other cable and cable internet companies spring up out of nowhere and become competitors to comcast, they are running the show - and they know that. In an absurd way, it really is like electricity unless you can do without cable tv completely....

You mean their customers abiding their TOS?

Nothing.

Those abusing the TOS? Anything and everything they can while still retaining their patronage. :)

Careful around that bridge. You may wake the troll up....

betanews can do nothing about it.

Pretty sure of yourself, eh? Keep it up, spanky.

I cannot wait until there is a decent alternative to Comcast where I live. I will be dropping them without a second thought. They haven't ever done anything to endure customer loyalty from me.

have fun waiting....

it sucks. either Comcast or Verizon where i live.

I think I'd take Verizon's FIOS over Comcast. At least you have an option!

I suppose I could go DSL, but then I don't need phone service and I've heard stories that the "phone free" options are that great. But I've never really looked into so I don't know for sure...

Be careful. I made that switch thinking the grass is greener. THough I do like the faster uplink speeds with FIOS I am finding they are blocking some ports from me for example port 80 for HTTP traffice and now I found I can't use T-Mobile's @HOME feature with it though it works fine with Comcast.

Sorry, but I am confused - if they are blocking port 80, how were you able to post on this site?

I think he means inbound, so he cannot run his own web server, on the standard port.

wonder what M$ thinks of this? How will people use Home Server to get to their boxes remotely?

Not that anyone is buying that overpriced turd.

on the standard port.

Which is funny because, ya know, folks who run web-servers wouldn't know how to, like, change that or anything....

Shut up.

You haven't used it.

You haven't read anything but BS about it.

Incoming port 80 is blocked on Charter as well.

Guess what?

It works regardless.

Isn't that special?

Now go run away before you the one last person here who actually thinks you may have a brain is convinced otherwise.

Too late..... He's awake.

Funny how you call me a troll and yet not one post of yours in this thread is at all relevant to the article.

You're a fine one to talk. [rolleyes] Its no real surprise that an economic sociopath would always side with big business, and hates the average citizen.

[rolleyes]

lmao...

I am an average citizen, moron. I hardly think I hate myself.

You can [rolleyes] all you want, perhaps you might actually knock something around in that head of yours enough to start thinking instead of name-calling and blaming everyone else.

Yer so darn cute.

And you are what I scrape off of the bottom of my shoe.

Hardly, you're an economic sociopath, you've more than proven this in post after post after post. Libertopians care nothing for others, but themselves. They're just one small step away from being anarchists. It is your way of thinking that is now sending America down the toilet and making it a laughing stock around the world, that is when they aren't pitying you for your shrinking quality of life as a nation.

The way things are going it won't be long before the world starts to send you aid...... You already import far more food than you produce for yourselves.

You truly live up to your alias.

Just curious what your definition of America is? Are you referring to the United States OF America? Since you didn't specify what part of America you are talking about I can only assume you are talking about North, Central and South America.

I'll assume you really mean the United States of America. So a few peoples way of thinking is sending an entire country down the toilet? Must be the ones the vast majority of the country voted in to office.

Hardly, you're an economic sociopath, you've more than proven this in post after post after post. Libertopians care nothing for others, but themselves.

I donate quite a bit every year. I help out family and friends whenever I get the opportunity. I give blood, I volunteer, I even try to educate idiots online. A more caring person you'd be hard-pressed to find.

Perhaps you get this impression because I expect people to take responsibility for their actions and I hold them accountable for their actions just as I hold myself accountable for mine. It's a simple expectation of personal responsibility which, unfortunately, the majority of Liberals seem ever so happy to pass on to the government.

They're just one small step away from being anarchists.

Big Government != Good Government
Limited Government != Anarchy.

Get your facts straight.

It is your way of thinking that is now sending America down the toilet

Interesting... It's not the out of control social welfare spending? It's not the out of control immigration policies? It has nothing to do with taxing our citizens above and beyond the the realm of logic and common sense? What about the Nanny State laws? Those aren't destroying the country and our freedoms?

No, my way of thinking, and that of many like me, calls for less of what is destroying this country. We are a laughingstock because we have let liberalism such as yours run rampant in this country for far too long.

The way things are going it won't be long before the world starts to send you aid...... You already import far more food than you produce for yourselves.

I'm sure it won't even come close to the amount of aid we are sending *out* of the country. :)

You truly live up to your alias.

Hoe cute. I've never heard that one before...

the only thing i'll be knocking around is your f**got head, shill.

A threat? On an anonymous online forum? ROFLMAO!!! Dude, you are so impotent here to be able to affect me in any way shape or form that that comment will keep me entertained all day long. Thanks!

as you continue, i continue. when you learn to stop posting, i'll stop posting. keep repeating that to yourself, f**boy shill.

No, you'll stop posting when you get your IP-Range banned by the staff. :) Shouldn't be too long. Enjoy your stay while you can though.

Your mommy must be *so* proud.

Heh... So your saying what you scrape off your shoe has more sense than you do?

How true...

I'm shaking.

Really.

It's hard to contain the laughter, you see.

Do you actually think I care if you follow me around like a puppy dog? Hell, I wear it proudly, as a badge of honor. You know you've hit the mark when you start getting fans like you. :)

"We are a laughingstock because we have let liberalism such as yours run rampant in this country for far too long."

Aw man, come on. I've been on your side before, but this is too simplistic and you know it.

The truth here is we have a big government and big media paid for by big business, and they protect and cannot exist without each other. This situation was not brought about by liberalism. It's the love of the dollar, the fact that we measure our worth by the stuff we own, envy people who own more than us, and accept the false choice between prosperity and government regulation of business. The system of checks and balances extends beyond the government itself. Much the same way the three branches are supposed to keep each other in check, the government, the media, and the business community are supposed to do the same thing. Instead, they are working together. This is not liberalism. This is hegemony.

Every bit of credibility this country built up in the 20th century has been thrown into the s***ter because our government wants us to believe anything we do to other people in other nations to ensure our safety is perfectly okay. Most people in the world (not you, I'm pretty sure) are too young to remember how we used to tout our own compassion and humanity in contrast to the Soviet Union. We just threw it in their face and they had no response but to continue their oppressive tactics. The free world lined up behind us and the Soviet empire crumbled. We saved the world (again), and it wasn't by force, although we obviously invested in an unrivaled military machine, but it was our commitment to making sure the world knew we believed in treating people fairly that carried us to victory.

If I were born and living in Europe right now, I wouldn't be laughing at the U.S. - I would be longing for the past, fearing the future, and wishing for someone to stand for freedom and justice even though it means being more vulnerable to attack.

P.S. You need to stop responding to trolls. It only makes it worse.

This situation was not brought about by liberalism. It's the love of the dollar,

Uhh, dude?

Big Government "love of the dollar" *is* liberalism. :)

Too simplistic? Can't really make 1+1=2 any more complex than that...