They really upped their Bittorrent traffic blocking game this time. I can't seed anything after it downloads so private trackers with ratios are pretty much a No Go until there's a reliable away around it.

I'm still trying everything I can find to get around it, but nothing works great yet. I'm also in an area where Comcast is the only high speed option I have.

um i had no problems with it recently

SBC/Yahoo recently started packet shaping me. they can go fuck themselves.

the funny thing is, they only slow DOWNLOAD

My cable tv/internet recently changed from Adelphia to Comcast, and if anything it seems better. My upload used to suck... maybe 20kbps. Now it's around 512kbps. Download speed seems the same as before. Sorry you're having problems :/

I lived in central Louisiana for 4+ years and the ONLY choice was 28.8k dialup (long distance).

um i had no problems with it recently
Same here.

you are the 2nd person to mention this to me. here is some info a friend forwarded to me the day before yesterday:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18323368-Comcast-is-using-Sandvine-to-manage-P2P-Connections

Comcast is using Sandvine to manage P2P Connections

WHO: Comcast and Sandvine, a peer-to-peer (P2P) management application,

WHAT: A device that monitors P2P activity and interferes with requests for the peer within Comcast to UPLOAD data (downloads appear to be not affected, uploads within Comcast are not affected, transfers already in progress are not affected, and a small percentage of the new transfer requests are still permitted),

WHERE: On the boundaries, at the point where Comcast connects to other points of the Internet,

WHEN: Earliest evidence is 6 months ago, but use appears to have increased or become more "clamped-down" recently,

WHY: To reduce costs associated with P2P bandwidth growth

HOW IT WORKS:

- The Sandvine application reads packets that are traversing the network boundary

- If the application senses that outbound P2P traffic is higher than a threshold determined by Comcast, Sandvine begins to interrupt P2P protocol sequences that would initiate a new transfer from within the Comcast network to a peer outside of the Comcast network

- The interruption is accomplished by sending a perfectly forged TCP packet (correct peer, port, and sequence numbering) with the RST (reset) flag set. This packet is obeyed by the network stack or operating system which drops the connection.

In eDonkey connections, for example, queued UPLOADS (to others) will not be honored to some percentage of non-Comcast P2P users. Immediately after the peer requests ranges to be transferred, the connection is dropped in the above manner. Gnutella transfers are similarly affected in the same manner.

In BitTorrent connections, the RST message is sent well after the handshake, and often after some data has been exchanged. The Sandvine filter interferes during lulls (NOOP and HAVE commands) as well as the moment of transition from the ending of sending one complete piece. When I am not using Comcast, BitTorrent disconnections due to peer resets (RST flag) are 3%. Using Comcast, 39% of connections are terminated using the RST flag.

In Summary: The Sandvine filter has taken steps to try to make the filtering experience innocuous (nearly invisible) to the user. Some transfers are allowed, the interruption seems to come from the distant peer, and it relies on the P2P protocol being used to either find another peer (hopefully a Comcast one) or retry that peer later.

WHY THIS MAY BE GOOD:

- There is reduced cost, and perhaps higher download and upload speeds for everyone (regardless of P2P use), if P2P data requests can be fulfilled entirely within the Comcast network.

- Because a peer will retry to get a file or a piece of a file, uploads are merely delayed. The peer may have to return to the back of a queue and go through the above cycle several times before the transfer request is honored.

WHY THIS MAY BE BAD:

- The decision whether to interrupt a transfer is without regard as to whether there are non-Comcast sources for a file. For example, an amateur band releasing their music on the P2P networks is at a disadvantage. The time it would take to get a complete copy of a music file to a point outside of the Comcast network is dramatically increased.

- Comcast is not the only customer for Sandvine and the like. Other ISPs will and have adopted this and similar technologies and tactics. As they do, the amount of outgoing P2P data that each allows on the wire becomes a competitive element.

- Some P2P networks punish non-sharers. Upon detecting that files offered for sharing cannot be transferred, the network can reduce access to the peer that cannot transfer.

however, i'm with gaddrow and syco -- no problems yet. still able to upload while downloading, as well as seed after download is finished. i'll have to double check if the upload speeds have slowed at all.

^^^
Yeah, I read that.

Changing my DNS servers from the Comcast ones kinda works a little better and I also tried using the QoS option on my router to up the priority of the BT traffic (Comcast prioritizes their voice traffic) but that hasn't worked so great either.

I've also created an SSH tunnel but I'm having a hard time finding good transfer speeds for cheap/free.

There's only one solution to this. Switch to another ISP. Now. That is the only answer these corporations understand.

There's only one solution to this. Switch to another ISP. Now. That is the only answer these corporations understand.


I don't have that luxury.

i am debating whether its worth the hassle of getting my dad to change ISP. does anyone know if Insight is running sandvine?

also: switching to port #43 (the whois port) helped a little bit for me

this might be of relevance to some: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43773

this might be of relevance to some: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43773

thanks for posting that, very informative. i already use a 60000+ port number but am definitely gonna mess with the encryption settings when i get home.

Haven't had trouble with comcast yet. Although the news of uTorrent 1.7 spying on you is highly disturbing.

There's no good reason to believe that story about uTorrent spying on you. It's just a rumor that got started when BitTorrent Inc. bought uTorrent, way before the new programmers even touched the code. It's just as likely that any other torrent software is on a secret payroll from "big brother". As far as trackers banning the newer versions, that's the first I've ever heard of it. To the contrary, most trackers I use suggest or recommend using uTorrent.

Anyway, changing from the default port(s) (if you haven't already) and turning encryption on should be your first steps when you suspect your ISP is shaping your packets. If that doesn't work, there's probably not a lot else you can do except look for another service provider.

ok check this out...

when i got home to check my torrents i was seeding the 07-20 santa cruz dvd just fine, at about 40 kb/s (piratebay). i was also seeding the 07-05 ebay dvd just fine, at about 26 kb/s (pirate bay).

however the 06-27 dvd on TTD said 9 peers but there was no upload going on. I logged on TTD.com and it said "possibly firewalled". So i enabled encryption, and now TTD.com no longer says "possibly firewalled" and the upload on 06-27 dvd started working at around 11 kb/s.

So you tell me, was comcast doing anything...and if so, why only impacting TTD? :think:

I still recommend not using utorrent 1.7 or above--some sites wont update your ratio correctly when using it

So you tell me, was comcast doing anything...and if so, why only impacting TTD? :think:tpb probably had more comcast people in the swarm
since the new protocols don't limit comcast to comcast traffic

as far as utorrent 1.7 "spying" on you
i call bullshit, there has been that rumour spread with each new release since bittorrent bought it out, and there has been no evidence to suggest it is even close to true
it's all scare tactics for people pushing for other clients to be the standard
i'm still using 1.6.1 since it hasn't failed me yet though

simple solution, everyone get on comcast.

I still recommend not using utorrent 1.7 or above--some sites wont update your ratio correctly when using it

I've used uTorrent for a pretty long time but I've never noticed sites getting my ratio wrong. An incorrect ratio is usually caused when you have DHT or Peer Exchange enabled on a (bad) tracker that doesn't properly enforce a torrent's private flag. You can disable both in uTorrent if you want, though you really shouldn't have to.

I've used uTorrent for a pretty long time but I've never noticed sites getting my ratio wrong. An incorrect ratio is usually caused when you have DHT or Peer Exchange enabled on a (bad) tracker that doesn't properly enforce a torrent's private flag. You can disable both in uTorrent if you want, though you really shouldn't have to.
Enforcing a torrent's private flag is the client's job, not the tracker's. There apparantly was an issue with uTorrent versions 1.7 and 1.7.1 where it didn't do this properly. That's why people were reporting stat errors with these versions, and it's also why some trackers have banned them. This was fixed with uTorrent 1.7.2.

Ah, looking over the changelog I see you're right. And yeah, clients need to enforce the private flag. I just meant that private trackers need to make sure that all the torrents on it have their private flag set. Apparently sometimes people try to take a shortcut by making the tracker send the private flag to the announce reply, which is unreliable.

Update:

Looks like things are back to normal. I really don't know what the deal is. I don't know if me bitching at Comcast did anything or if they decided to change their minds or what.