Nougat

Darn. Okay, I also made a mistake. Let me set the stage (all references to speeds are upload): Server machine runs uTorrent on 14555. Desktop machine was running it on 7999. Set QoS on 14555, all of a sudden uTorrent on the server started working. Set QoS on 7999, desktop was still goofy. Changed desktop port to 14556, it started working, too. Forgot to change QoS from 7999 to 14556. So the desktop has been working normally on 14556 for apparently no reason. Tonight I'm doing some more testing, speeds unrestricted. I'm finding that if I launch the desktop, and wait for it to update all the peers, it works fine - until I also launch the server app, and even though these are running on different ports. After I launch the server, the server upload is nil, and the desktop upload drops from about to 8Kbps (from about 150Kpbs at the time, but obviously upload speed is variable based on demand). As soon as I kill the server, the desktop jumps right back up to normal speed. Doing this the other way around: launch the server first, port 14555. I have good upload, but it took a while for the peers to find me and ask. Launch the desktop - upload speed tanks. Kill the desktop, upload speed returns. Here's the kicker though. That's with QoS off. I'm going to leave QoS off for a while, and see what happens. I'm still not convinced that QoS has nothing to do with it, at least for where I'm at (Chicago market). I imagine it's possible that there's some kind of ignore timer that hasn't run out on me yet.

Sorry, you're right. I was giddy with excitement. RTP300. It's the cheap free one I got from Vonage. More info: uTorrent on my basement server runs on port 14555 TCP and UDP. That's what I did this test on. It's still uploading fine, btw. I tried doing it with uTorrent on my upstairs machine, which was using port 7999 TCP only. It didn't work. I changed the upstairs machine to use port 14556 TCP and UDP, and now that one works too. My theory is this: Comcast uses QoS to prioritize its voice traffic. IIRC, VoIP traffic is on dynamic ports. I would expect that having Sandvine do deep packet inspection on VoIP traffic would destroy the quality and make their phone service stop working. So what they have to do is not have Sandvine inspect QoS packets; it (or whatever is redirecting away from Sandvine) doesn't need to do deep inspection to determine that they're QoS. Now, if they're using QoS for voice, that means their network must support QoS end-to-end. Which means that I can put QoS on my packets, and they will be handled by the Comcast network in the exact same way that their voice traffic is. I have no idea whether this cheapy router handles QoS tagging like you're saying it could - only at the gateway. All I know is that using high QoS on ports 14555 and 14556 TCP and UDP works. EDIT: 7:49 PM CDT 8/25/2007. Uploads are still working completely normally. I've been trying to disseminate this information around the internet, to no avail. Digg, /., Broadbandreports. I figured it would be well received, but nothing yet. Has anyone else tested this yet? Or does it only work for me?

Someone see if they can reproduce my iffy experiment. I'm on Comcast, been seeing the "no seeding" throttle for a few days now. Even when I am downloading the torrent, no seeding. Or it would jump for a couple seconds, then die. I've read about having your system or router drop RST packets. I decided to look at my crappy Linksys RST300 router, just for grins. I'm going through it, and I see - hey, this thing does QoS. Hey, I recall someone saying that Comcast prioritizes their voice traffic. Hey, I wonder ... if I put high QoS on my torrent port ... I wonder if Sandvine will ignore it? I'll be damned. As soon as I put high QoS on the port I was using for bittorrent, I started getting regular high upload speeds. I turned QoS off, to see if I could reproduce this. Oddly, my upload speed is still high. The only things I can think are: 1) Complete coincedence, and Comcast just happened to turn off Sandvine on my segment at the exact moment I turned on QoS. 2) There's some kind of ignore timer which I hadn't exceeded when I turned QoS off. I turned QoS back on. EDIT: I should also remark that the high upload speeds are to nodes outside of Comcast. Also, I have not completed a download that needs seeding. Soon, though, and I'll report on that. EDIT 2: I'm done downloading, seeding only. Still seeding at reasonable speeds.