Why does my internet spike when using torrents?

pixelharmony

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Aug 11, 2006
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I set up the port correctly, removed firewall, I had no problems before on campus with Torrents.

Now I'm in Chicago using SBC Yahoo DSL and I find that every so often my internet spikes only when using torrents.

internet.jpg
 

Corksil

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Aug 19, 2006
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The spikes could be attributed to running into a bandwidth cap, like alpine said. As you see, it builds up to a peak, then the cap kicks in and kills it down, then it rises again and the process repeats. I've had downloads look like that myself at times.
 

pixelharmony

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I don't think SBC Yahoo can put a cap on my DSL line? This is not on campus.

I can download files direct from Microsoft (ie Vista RC1) with no problems at all DLing a 3.59GB file.

Only when I use torrents does this happen... I'm using port 13xxx and have it open on my firewall and router. So all system are okay.
 

fredweston

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Jul 21, 2006
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BitTorrent is overloading your connection. Downloading from Microsoft is a connection between you and one server, downloading from BT means dozens of connections from you to other people also downloading the same file.

At your school, they undoubtedly had a much faster connection than you do at home. Also, BT is also uploading traffic back to other users. If you run a constant ping while downloading some random file, it might go up a bit but not too much, now if you upload a file to a FTP server or a website, your latency will skyrocket. This is because your downstream bandwidth is a lot higher than your upstream, so when you upload something, all your bandwidth is used up and your latency climbs.
 

queuetrip

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your internet provider is detecting torrents and limiting bandwidth!.

Check out what SandVine is doing... (i.e they have box that detects protocols, acts in a way that your ip wants.(i.e. restrict bandwidth) (they can also degrade Voip but they dont know if that is right...)
 

fredweston

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your internet provider is detecting torrents and limiting bandwidth!.

Check out what SandVine is doing... (i.e they have box that detects protocols, acts in a way that your ip wants.(i.e. restrict bandwidth) (they can also degrade Voip but they dont know if that is right...)

That must explain why everybody has this same exact problem. :?