bittorrent slow

[Robert Nichols]

Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Wednesday 22 March 2006 03:59, Mike McCarty wrote:
> 
>>Florin Andrei wrote:
>>
>>[snip]
>>
>>
>>>2. Some ISPs, especially in the US, _do_ restrict BitTorrent
>>>In some cases, it's a layer 3 limiter which can be evaded by
>>>shifting ports. In other cases it's a layer 4 limiter which usually
>>>cannot be evaded by shifting ports, and may or may not be evaded by
>>>encrypted clients.
>>>If that's the case, take your business elsewhere and make sure to
>>>let the former ISP know why you're leaving them.
>>
>>If I were your ISP, I'd be glad to see your backside.
>>
>>This attitude is part of why I said I'm philosophicaly opposed to
>>BitTorrent.
>>
> 
> Why?  Properly done, it doesn't make their data traffic any worse, in 
> fact less "peaky".  I'm seeding both the cd's and the dvd of FC5 right 
> now, with my upload rate set to around 60% of my up pipes width, and 
> all other services are functioning normally.  Because torrent gets its 
> data from closer peers rather than farther if it can determine that 
> correctly, the worldwide amount of traffic should actually go down.  By 
> quite measurable amounts.  This is offset to a large degree by the fact 
> that more folks will make use of it when it works, as opposed to going 
> after a 700 meg download from halfway around the planet because thats 
> the only server for that file.

In most cable HSI systems, the number of available upload channels
is only a small fraction of the number of available download
channels.  The systems were engineered for an environment where
users mostly download, and only occasionally upload.  With
BitTorrent, the total upload volume is equal to the download
volume (if you are ultimately giving back less than you receive,
then someone else is uploading more than they received), and the
cable system is not designed to support that.  I understand that
one of the features of DOCSIS 2.0 is an increase in the available
upload bandwidth, but I don't know of any cable HSI providers who
have yet done the major upgrade of their systems needed to support
that.

As for downloading from halfway around the world, your local ISP
couldn't care less how far data might have travelled to reach their
gateway routers.

-- 
Bob Nichols         Yes, "NOSPAM" is really part of my email address.