ISP and Download FAQ - 19th Apr 2010 7:38pm
I guess i'm writing this to try and set the record straight with ISPs and broadband. Am I qualified to write this? Well I live and breathe internet as I run a team that manages the network for two large organisations.
Virgin/NTL contend and 20:1, most other providers are 50:1 especially those on ADSL. That means there are 20 people sharing the bandwidth that they advertise e.g. 10mbit/sec. So download speed isn’t everything.
ADSL is asynchronous which means that the download speeds are greater than the upload speed. Internet performance can be affected by a number of factors and what the ISPs advertise is often crap . Some of the things to consider:
1) if you're not downloading huge files or streaming media and just use your connection to browse the web, then you won't need massive download speeds. For normal web browsing you’d struggle to tell the difference between a 2mbit/sec link and a 10mbit/sec link
2) Torrents (Pirate Bay etc). ..Most of the time a torrent won’t max out your connection (as it depends a lot about who you’re downloading the torrent from), so entry level broadband would be sufficient.
3) There are other factors that dictate the speed of download of torrents, adjusting the number of half open connections your computer will support will help. There are a number of articles on the net you can follow to adjust your router’s settings to configure it for the behaviour of torrents. Search the net for “optimize torrent speed” for guides.
4) Traffic shaping. Isn’t particularly easy to do and torrent clients are quite clever at getting round it. I would recommend turning on “transport encryption”. This encrypts the data to make it far more difficult for your ISP to analyse (and restrict)
5) Proxies. ISPs like to cache pages on their servers (proxying) so they don’t have to pay the additional bandwidth charges; the internet is merely an agreement for ISPs to route each other’s traffic. NTL proxies used to be a big problem with rapidshare. ISP web proxies won’t work for torrents.
6) Reliability & Customer service. All that I need to do is know my internet connection works; I don’t want support from the ISP under normal circumstances. If you’re an advanced user, you might not be too concerned about an ISP that is deemed to have poorer support if your connection is reliable. I know how routers work, so I don’t need anyone else to tell me.
7) Monthly limits (caps) – I’d stay well away from these if you’re downloading large files/torrent or watching streaming media (iPlayer etc)
Being Watched .....
Can the ISP know what I’m downloading? Well this depends, if the traffic is strongly encrypted, then no. But they will know the destination of the data.
Does the ISP know i’m downloading torrents? By the behaviour of your connections, then yes.
VPNs – Virtual Private network is a way of tunnelling data across a network so it can’t be snopped on. If ISPs block torrents then users can establish VPNs to countries where torrents are legal, so in effect your computer would make a connection to a server that would download the torrents for you (a proxy).
Torrents typically work on trackers – This tells your computer who else has the data for your torrent. DHT (Distributed Hash table) is a way of avoiding central trackers. Trackers can be either public or private. To download from a private tracker you may need to become a member either by fee or recommendation.
What about PeerGuardian? All peer guardian does is block connections from a list of KNOWN addresses (MPAA, record companies etc). All they would need to do it trace downloads from an UNKNOWN connection (like EMI just ordering a standalone ADSL line). I would recommend using some kind of filtering to give you basic protection. These feature is now included in uTorrent (ipfilter.dat), so you could do away with PeerGuardian altogether.
Streaming media....Consider the days of dial-up ten years ago, streaming media wasn’t really an option, but the likes of the BBC and SKY won’t offer super high quality streaming if most people don’t have the broadband to support it.
Hidden charges....Always watch out for the length of your contract and read the small print. A lot can happen in 18 months!
I find it an insult for someone to charge me for something I don’t want or need. Consider the requirement to have a phone line to use ADSL. I get calls on my mobile and someone placed a telephone on my desk in work that doesn’t cost me line rental. NTL/Virgin may be a little more expensive than some others, but you don’t need a phone line to use it if in a cable area.
If there is an option of going with entry level broadband, then I would suggest taking it, you should be able to upgrade later if the speed isn’t good enough. Do it quick though as changing your package will often reset contract periods.
Why don’t ISPs block more? File sharing accounts for large amounts of internet traffic. Users would simply leave and go to other ISPs who didn’t block.
What about cheap offers? such is life, you get what you pay for.
Virgin/NTL contend and 20:1, most other providers are 50:1 especially those on ADSL. That means there are 20 people sharing the bandwidth that they advertise e.g. 10mbit/sec. So download speed isn’t everything.
ADSL is asynchronous which means that the download speeds are greater than the upload speed. Internet performance can be affected by a number of factors and what the ISPs advertise is often crap . Some of the things to consider:
1) if you're not downloading huge files or streaming media and just use your connection to browse the web, then you won't need massive download speeds. For normal web browsing you’d struggle to tell the difference between a 2mbit/sec link and a 10mbit/sec link
2) Torrents (Pirate Bay etc). ..Most of the time a torrent won’t max out your connection (as it depends a lot about who you’re downloading the torrent from), so entry level broadband would be sufficient.
3) There are other factors that dictate the speed of download of torrents, adjusting the number of half open connections your computer will support will help. There are a number of articles on the net you can follow to adjust your router’s settings to configure it for the behaviour of torrents. Search the net for “optimize torrent speed” for guides.
4) Traffic shaping. Isn’t particularly easy to do and torrent clients are quite clever at getting round it. I would recommend turning on “transport encryption”. This encrypts the data to make it far more difficult for your ISP to analyse (and restrict)
5) Proxies. ISPs like to cache pages on their servers (proxying) so they don’t have to pay the additional bandwidth charges; the internet is merely an agreement for ISPs to route each other’s traffic. NTL proxies used to be a big problem with rapidshare. ISP web proxies won’t work for torrents.
6) Reliability & Customer service. All that I need to do is know my internet connection works; I don’t want support from the ISP under normal circumstances. If you’re an advanced user, you might not be too concerned about an ISP that is deemed to have poorer support if your connection is reliable. I know how routers work, so I don’t need anyone else to tell me.
7) Monthly limits (caps) – I’d stay well away from these if you’re downloading large files/torrent or watching streaming media (iPlayer etc)
Being Watched .....
Can the ISP know what I’m downloading? Well this depends, if the traffic is strongly encrypted, then no. But they will know the destination of the data.
Does the ISP know i’m downloading torrents? By the behaviour of your connections, then yes.
VPNs – Virtual Private network is a way of tunnelling data across a network so it can’t be snopped on. If ISPs block torrents then users can establish VPNs to countries where torrents are legal, so in effect your computer would make a connection to a server that would download the torrents for you (a proxy).
Torrents typically work on trackers – This tells your computer who else has the data for your torrent. DHT (Distributed Hash table) is a way of avoiding central trackers. Trackers can be either public or private. To download from a private tracker you may need to become a member either by fee or recommendation.
What about PeerGuardian? All peer guardian does is block connections from a list of KNOWN addresses (MPAA, record companies etc). All they would need to do it trace downloads from an UNKNOWN connection (like EMI just ordering a standalone ADSL line). I would recommend using some kind of filtering to give you basic protection. These feature is now included in uTorrent (ipfilter.dat), so you could do away with PeerGuardian altogether.
Streaming media....Consider the days of dial-up ten years ago, streaming media wasn’t really an option, but the likes of the BBC and SKY won’t offer super high quality streaming if most people don’t have the broadband to support it.
Hidden charges....Always watch out for the length of your contract and read the small print. A lot can happen in 18 months!
I find it an insult for someone to charge me for something I don’t want or need. Consider the requirement to have a phone line to use ADSL. I get calls on my mobile and someone placed a telephone on my desk in work that doesn’t cost me line rental. NTL/Virgin may be a little more expensive than some others, but you don’t need a phone line to use it if in a cable area.
If there is an option of going with entry level broadband, then I would suggest taking it, you should be able to upgrade later if the speed isn’t good enough. Do it quick though as changing your package will often reset contract periods.
Why don’t ISPs block more? File sharing accounts for large amounts of internet traffic. Users would simply leave and go to other ISPs who didn’t block.
What about cheap offers? such is life, you get what you pay for.