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Bad D/L speed (20kB/S) in evening with BT broadband (brit telecom)


Thetechnogeek

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My uploads are throttled in the evening too. I upload at about 5 KBytes/s. So i can't even use it to do some sneaky seeding. The cap comes off after midnight so i leave the PC on and let it go. I think but i'm not certain that light torrent users aren't capped because there was a time when i could get decent speeds in the evening too, or else they only recently started throttling.

I'd switch ISP but nobody really wants heavy users like myself so i'll put up with the annoyance. I don't think BT will go down the route of killing torrents completely, its not in their interest because they'd lose too many customers.

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OK "Quaternions", don't take any note of my post.

BT of course throttle during peak hours (from 6PM to 12PM). To make your torrents faster, just encrypt the torrent connection - most BitTorrent applications have this feature now so use it and see if it makes a difference. The same applies for PlusNet seeing as BT have bought them.

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same here strontium, I started having the same problem 10 days ago, I used to download at 670kbyte and upload at 50kbyte........24/7

now I am downloading at 10kbyte max and upload at 15kbyte max during 12pm-1am then the speed goes up steadily till after 3am i have a full speed of 670kbyte.

there is no official word about this from BT, but its really clear that they are blocking any encrypted traffic /non encrypted p2p......

I found two ISPs Which do not throttle p2p traffic: AOL & bethere

I live in north London and my local exchange is going to go live with bethere in July this year.... its either I'm going with be or switch to AOL.

My next door friend got AOL 2mbit and his speed is 233kbyte......24/7.......

I hate you BT.

edit: I called up BT 6 times during the last 10days and non of the workers there could speak pro English language.... useless people.

Muzy

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Muzy: "I hate you BT"

Agreed Mate, it's well sh1te!

I just tested my connection speeds again and they came out as 448 kbps (UP-STREAM) and 8128 kbps (DOWN-STREAM).

I've been playing with my firewall, router and application settings for a couple of days. No joy.

BT could have at least let their customers know about this; I've just emailed them about it.

Maybe if enough people complain and tell BT to stick it they might take the restriction off. If they don't, I'll certainly be looking for another ISP when my current contract expires!

Strontium

Update: 23:05

I just got an email back from BT stating the following:

-------------------------------------

"Please note that the BT will not throttle the speed of your broadband. However, this issue might occur due to the following reasons:

1. Old temporary files and cookies.

2. High usage of system resources.

3. Firewall software on your computer.

4. You have not power cycled your modem/router for a long time.

5. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI).

6. Spyware on your computer."

--------------------------------------

I've emailed them back saying I've checked all these items. I told them I still think it's them throttling my connection. I'll report back here on what happens next!

Strontium

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They have begun throttling recently for certain. I've just been across to Azureus wikipedia, i was going to add BT to the list of Bad ISPs. But registering an account is a pain so i left it.

Earlier in this thread someone said they phoned BT and it was admitted to him that they have begun to throttle. It seems they have their lies straight now.

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Calling bethere tomorrow to find out if they are enabling my exchange next July.....if they can't I am going AOL...

This is a big problem for BT now, 10 millions customer now with BT, I believe they will lose at least half that number by 2008...

edit: Strontium, please post any info you receive. and this goes to everybody. cheers and good night

Muzy

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From the BT website. Seems to say it all.

******************************************************

Things you need to know about BT Broadband

3. All BT Total Broadband options (including any unlimited options) are subject to BT's Fair Usage Policy as set out at the Support and Advice section at www.bt.com/broadband.

5. We may also take action to manage network performance during periods where there is a high demand. Please refer to the Support and Advice section at www.bt.com/broadband for more details.

6. Some features of the Service may be withdrawn or modified from time to time. They may also not be compatible with certain operating systems or other software. Please look on www.bt.com/broadband regularly for more details.

****************************************************

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Hi quaternions,

You're right about the T&Cs, but they're still denying throttling torrents.

After I asked them again specifically about torrent traffic during peak hours, this was the reply...

Reply from BT

---------------------

I understand from your e-mail that you would like to know whether BT restricts the speed during peak hours. I am sorry for the inconvenience caused and am here to assist you with your query.

Please be informed that when there is no Internet traffic, the speed might be excellent. If many users try to access the Internet at the same time, the speed would get reduced. 8Mb is the maximum speed achievable over a line of average length from the exchange - for longer lines, the maximum speed achievable will be less. Speed will also vary throughout the day depending on how busy the Internet is, often decreasing significantly during the daily peak period (6-9pm).

There are other factors which affect the broadband speed and they are listed below:

1. Internet traffic in your area.

2. System resources (having too many applications open).

3. Noise Margin on your line.

4. Quality of Copper cables used.

5. Distance from the exchange.

Thank you for using BT Total Broadband.

------------------------

They just wont address the issue that all other traffic is fine 24/7 and it's just torrents that are slow. If anybody else wants to email them, here's the page I did it from:

http://btybb.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/btybb.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bty_ask.php?p_sid=r-5UxKyi&p_li=&p_lva=&p_sp=

Cheers,

Strontium

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I never said they had lied, they're just being economical with the truth :-)

If they'd admit it and work with their customers I'd happily adjust my DL'ing times to when demand is lowest. I know what you mean about electricity bills, I've noticed a distinct rise in mine since I got broadband, Must be the 650W PSU!

Strontium

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They recently changed their T&C's for option 3 from 40 GB to unlimited with fair usuage. I can download more than 40 GB just not when i want. Not sure which is better really. I've got another 7 months on my BT contract so i'm stuck with it anyway. I've just ordered a 500GB internal hard drive from Dabs. It was £80, fab value that is.

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I used to be an "Option 4" customer on a 50GB a month limit. I changed over to "Option 3" with no limits after asking BT lots of questions to make sure it really was a "no limits" service. Bad form on the part of BT I think!

It would help if BT would publish their torrent throttle times, but as they won't even admit to doing it in the first place, I doubt they will.

Cheers,

Strontium

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BT's "unlimited" package is a sales gimmick, they want to say it's unlimited to con a few customers into taking it, but its no such thing because the (un)fair usage condition means they can throttle torrents.

Anecdotally the throttle times are: 1am - 1pm full speed, 1pm - 4pm 40 KBytes/s, 4pm -1am a juicy 6KBytes/s. It varies a bit every day tho.

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sy2005, i FEEL you man. The best option for now is either switch to AOL or bethere (bethere using the same fair usage policy so i am not sure about this). second option is to download at night, set your torrents to download between 12midnight-12afternoon.

to solve the electricity bill is to buy a laptop, use the laptop to download and transfer the files over the network to the bigger driver. make sure you set the monitor to switch off after one minute it saves more power.

please keep posting any new info regarding BT throttling the connection.

thanks

Muzy

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nice1 i like it, got a lappy so will set it up 2ngt :)

"Anecdotally the throttle times are: 1am - 1pm full speed, 1pm - 4pm 40 KBytes/s, 4pm -1am a juicy 6KBytes/s. It varies a bit every day tho"

ye thats bout rite , from what ive downloaded 2day, cheers

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Yeah the times are my own observations. You can do so yourself, go to the utorrent speed tab and set it to record up and down speeds in 5 minute intervals. The full length of the graph is 10 hours so just leave the PC on 24 hours and check it every 10 hours, then you can see how it progresses thru the day. After a few days the pattern becomes predictable.

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This article on the Azureus Wiki is interesting:

http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Avoid_traffic_shaping

I've just enabled "Transport Encryption" on Azureus and I'm currently downloading at 15kB/s, uploading at 30kB/s. The improvement was immediate, could be just a coincidence though.

A similar feature is available for utorrnet, more details here:

http://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#Does_.C2B5Torrent_support_Protocol_Encryption.3F

Strontium

PS - I've just emailed BT in India again, maybe they'll come up with another 6 excuses this time to avoid admitting they throttle torrents! :-)

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