Bandwidth limiting on home network

[traemyn]

I have 2 roomates (one that just moved in) and since he has moved in my download speed has taken a HUGE hit. I have cable that maxes around 3500 KBPS on bandwidth tests and its been going down to around 180 KBPS.

Its either him or the router thats messing things up b/c my speed is fine when just plugged in straight through the modem. I am going to talk to him and ask him about any p2p programs that he might be using as I assume they are the culprit.

Couple questions, if he doesn't quit it what can I do? I have already google'd the subject and it seems I either have to setup my own server/proxy to limit his bandwidth or setup some kind of software on HIS computer - both of which are probably not going to happen.
I will talk to him about it soon but I can't be sure he will stop and I really don't want to deal with 180 KBPS all the time. ugh.

I have a cheap d-link router (di-524 - with no bw limiting capabilities). I would like to find a solution to limit his bandwidth some how (other than blocking the ports of his p2p programs ).
So are there any solutions my googling didn't bring up?

thanks

 

[riser]

Disable the ports on your router that his p2p software uses..

try disabling:
Prior to version 3.2, BitTorrent by default uses ports in the range of 6881-6889. As of 3.2 and later, the range has been extended to 6881-6999. (These are all TCP ports, BitTorrent does not use UDP.)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by riser on 06/08/05 02:34 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[folken]

Get a Linksys WRT54G and put a 3rd party firmware on it that has bandwidth management functions. Then you can restrict bandwidth by port and/or ip address.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[HobbesJunior]

Does port blocking work for all / other p2p programs? ... is it that easy to catch/block all p2p traffic if you cant control the end-user? (in a 200+ shared internet installation)

 

[riser]

X program uses ports 10-20 let's say. You block those, everyone is blocked.. that program is blocked. If Y program uses port 5, it won't work because the port is blocked, or shut off in other words.

 

[HobbesJunior]

That much i fugured - i was asking to how easy it is in practice, to set up and block only the desired p2p programs, and not legit traffic.

 

[TC10284]

Something like IPCop or BrazilFW supports QoS bandwidth limiting. I haven't used it before but I know it supports this. These programs are both router operating systems that you install onto an older machine with two network cards. Of course there's the port blocking too for programs that use specific ports (of course those can change with new versions). But most of those P2P programs require you to get into the router to forward those ports so if you are running the default username/password on your router, change the password. DirectConnect and it's variants can run in passive mode too where it basically doesn't require you to forward a port(i'm guessing it uses a dynamic port) and still people can upload from your system and you can still download fairly fast.
I would definitely attempt to block this at all costs or atleast get him to cut back especially if the connection is registered in your name. The RIAA or MPAA could mail out a cease and desist if he is DL a lot of MP3's/movies.

It is also possible that he has a mass-mailing worm/virus on his system that's eating upload bandwidth.

I know on cable if you get any significant upload it can limit your download speeds (if the upload is maxed out on cable or any connection really, the acknowledment packets can't get through as quick because of all the other upload traffic. Therefore, your DL suffers)

 

[Mills]

This is an excellent question. I myself have been researching this for some time but have given up. I really don't think there is a cheap solution, you pretty much need to route your connection THROUGH your PC or get an expensive router.

My brother-in-law is an ass and ques up tons of downloads that run all day and night and kill my bandwidth. He has no clue when it comes to computers though, so I usually just block his IP when I want to use the internet for gaming and tell him that it went down

Completly blocking ports is harsh because they will instantly know that something is wrong and will complain to have it fixed... since they would no longer be able to run those p2p applications. I'd like to find a solution to limit them to a certain bandwidth so they can still download but it will be extremely slow.

Let me know if you find a solution!

 

[SiliconDragon]

I highly recommend using IPCop and any desired addons. You'll probably want to use QoS (Quality of Service) and possibly Copfilter (web proxy, especially handy in transparent mode so no browser proxy configuration is needed). Most importantly, use a "bandwidth management" app to restrict traffic.

If you prefer an app to manage your bandwidth, just google "bandwidth management", prepending "windows" in front if you prefer a Windows-only app. There are a lot of them out there with $50 being a good median price, so that should fit your budge nicely.

PS IPCop is easy to install and manage, even for a Windows-centric guy like me. Also, IPCop runs fine on an ancient P2-350 box with 256MB of RAM, and the box includes web proxy, filesharing, antivirus, and antispam filtering.


[edit] This wikipedia page might help you out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_traffic_measurement
It's a great list of bandwidth management tools, many of which are free, the rest being very cheap.

 

[Guest]

is there a posibility to allocate bandwith on adsl router that has no QoS? or i have to install some bandwith controlling software on both computers server by that router?

 

[Guest]

yes there is an software that can limit there p2p download speed if you need it just email me ill be happy to sent it to u contact me at shujie12@gmail.com

 

[siyar_ahmad]

oh i have also same problem ..........

 

[Guest]

Understand how youre feeling. My dumbass sisters sit and upload photos to facebook allways. It is a major *** up for my gaming. When i tell them to stop it, they say that my gaming takes up more bandwidth... ******* assholes.

But what you might can try is something called NetLimiter (http://www.netlimiter.com).
It allows you to monitor applications on your computer. To spread the bandwidth out. Sucks that its only local, or my sisters would be rockin 1 KB/hour

 

[bigmidgeman]

I realize the original post was years ago but in case some people find this page through searching bandwidth limiters as I did looking for a different solution this is another viable option.

In my opinion if they don't want to play nice with what you are paying for then they have no business using it, they can pay for their own separate line if they really want to have internet.

For a very cheap solution, cheap meaning free, if your room mate connects to the router via a wireless network card, or even directly to it, almost every router available has an option under advanced settings where you can Turn Access control on. Access Control lets you select which computers connecting to your router have access to it.

All you have to do is log on to your router's manager software and under access control have your computer's MAC Address on the list and the delete all the other devices from the list that you don't want to have access. As soon as your router applies those new settings anyone not on the list is automatically booted from your router and they usually will have no idea what happened.

I did this with my brother and sister, brother when he stayed up late playing games and would keep me up and my sister when she would stream video for hours on end and suck up all the bandwidth, as a result my brother actually ended up buying another network card because he thought that was the issue.

 

[dude70]

i pulled an all nighter trying to find router bandwith control sofware but i cant find any unless i buy a new router so i found this out while messing with my router, i got windows7 so idk if itll work on other OS's but this is what i did

open "Network and Sharing Center"

youll see your comp the router and the net at the top click on your router

on the next screen if you dont see your router goto control pannel and turn on "network Discovery" for atleast your home network than refresh the screen (also make sure your firewall isnt blocking network discovery if its not working)

assuming you can now see your router right click on it and choose "properties"

a new window comes up and in the "General" tab there is a button "settings" click it and wait for it to load

now assuming your internet hog is currently online and hogging you should see all the programs using the router atm in the form of a "service" in the list, choose the 1 he uses to hog bandwidth (probly Utorrent or frostwire) and UNCHECK it dont remove it from the list or itll reopen its self than click OK and enjoy the bandwidth

and on the hog's end his internet will work fine but the 1 program that hogs wont work so he wont know whats going on lol greatest solution i found so far without spending money lol

if the hog restarts his comp you may haveto go back in and block the program again idk havnt tested this for more than 1day so far, also when your done with the internet go back and unblock the hogs program cause if you shut down your comp the program will still be blocked til the router gets reset or somone figures it out and unblocks it and im sure if this trick works you dont want the hog to take the time to figure it out lol

 

[smile_pleazz]

hey guys, please help me. I have a silly friend who keeps chatting and video calling girls on skype when I am playing counter strike over the internet. His calls are fine but my game starts lagging, is there anyway I can limit his bandwidth or I myself let my game pull more bandwidth so that he gets crappy calls and my game runs fine. We are using the same wi-fi network. I am a noob when it comes to networking....so please keep it simple..

 

[The_Prophecy]

This topic has been closed by The_Prophecy