Comcast/Sandvine's new traffic-shaping method

[jizam]

it appears they are no longer rst reset route and instead are able to severely hinder up and d/l speeds. each connection with a new peer will initially max out, then after 15-30 seconds speeds will drop significantly.. usually maxing out between 5-10 kb/s. if i click on the torrent's properties and do 'initial seeding' for a split second and then undo it, the speeds again max out for another 15-30 seconds. instead of repeating this process, is there any way to set utorrent up to do it for me? also, just curious if anyone else has had any success with isp's deploying sandvine's new method.

[GTHK]

Assuming what you say is accurate, can you test HTTP/FTP transactions? They're supposed to switch to a protocol agnostic system, after the lies told at the FCC though I don't trust them. While listening to the man speak the urge to punch him was quite strong.

[jewelisheaven]

You don't initial seed while downloading. This spiking has been reported for a while, it sounds like they implemented it in your area. Have you already tried post #2 in How-To for Troubleshooting ? Encryption... lessen encrypted outbound packets to see if you can get it to go away?? What about testing 1.8 beta from the Announcements forum?

[jizam]

gthk - i haven't tested how this affects http/ftp but i've noticed others having problems with them.

jewel - i've tried those but i'm not sure what you mean by 'lessen encrypted outbound packets'. it's definitely something new they're trying with some isp's. prior to this month (and the fcc hearings) they were just resetting rst's. i guess said hearings have forced them to try alternatives. it's been discussed on the comcast and optimum online forums @ dslforums.com with this, they're able to limit the speed of each connected peer on any given torrent. the only reason i initial seed is to drop all connections and then re-obtain them, making my speeds peek again for 15-30 seconds. this works even when i'm downloading. i'm using the most recent beta with encryption enabled.

[GTHK]

So have you tried looking for RST's yourself? You can use Wireshark. And jewelisheaven is suggesting you minimize your presence so as to try and fool them.

[jewelisheaven]

Indeed. I didn't know initial seeding drop-connections trick worked while downloading >< Nice.

As far as my suggestion indeed. Sometimes these automated methods can be worked around by making their hardware forget you're there by not putting out > 50 total connections, no DHT announces, no LPD advertisements, and a low halfopen rate.

[Switeck]

"and a low halfopen rate."

Sometimes I set mine to 0.

NOTE: This only works with already-started torrents and your uTorrent unfirewalled...and other peers/seeds already know of your ip on the torrent!

[hermanm]

http://redhatcat.blogspot.com/2007/09/beating-sandvine-on-windows-with-wipfw.html

[Ultima]

Uh, intentions understood and all, but I don't think spamming multiple threads is really necessary. Especially when it isn't a guaranteed fix (if it really works at all). If it turns out that there is a perfect solution, people will know about it, and a single thread will be enough (we can simply redirect users to the location of the discussion/information if/when they ask).