Cable internet @10.2kb

E

enclave2

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 5, 2002
Messages
312
I recently moved into an apartment and am now sharing a Comcast cable internet connection with my roommate. To connect both of our computers, I've set up a linksys cable router and got everything on the home network moving smoothly. The problem is that I am getting terrible speeds while surfing the web.
I'm not an idiot. first thing I did was run spybots&d on both computers. Then I ran a virus scan on both. My machine came out fine but his had 130 different pieces of spyware. I removed them all, re-scanned, everything was clean.
Went back and tried to use the internet again, but it was still screwed up.
So now I'm stuck. My networking knowledge is non-existant beyond what I've already done, so I would really appreciate some help.

Some extra information:
I'm on XP Pro/Roomate is on XP Home
He downloads using Azureus but his download speed are averaging 19kb/s with 63 peers. Upload is configured to be <20kb/s
 
Azureus is a bandwidth hog. Run your bandwidth test after you turn it off. Depending on the spyware, some spyware/trojans can suck up bandwidth big time......
 
Did you enable port forwarding for azureus? Go to your router config and under "applications and gaming" -> "Port Range Forwarding" add these settings: Azureus, 6881, 6881, TCP, IP of your computer, and check "enabled". This might help your roomates speed in azureus, as for http, I don't know, but you should definately be faster than that. I just finished dowloading Americas Army at a sustained 2900kb/s
 
This is the second BT client he's used though. Before he was using Bittorrent Tornado (I think thats right).
But you're absolutly right, if I un-plug his computer the speeds shoot straight up. But even so, when he is connected to the network, he's doing nothing but downloading and it's still at only 19kb/s.
Another note: He also leaves aim on but I don't think that would really effect it.

edit:
Yes port forwarding is enabled
 
sounds like the problem is the torrent upload then, even with it being restricted. Try cutting it to 5Kbps or so for comparison.
 
Yes most likely his uploading. If you are uploading at your cap, then your download speeds will suffer tremendously, exactly like you say. Tell him to stop uploading stuff for a day (read:using azureus).
 
Using Azureus, limit the global max number of connections to say less than 150. I think most home use routers can support to around 200 connections give or take between variations of brands of routers. If all else fails, I've had good luck with netgear's RP614 router. It was really cheap and I used to find them at Fry's in the refurb pile for $20 until they jacked prices up and sold out. They were a steal at that price. Before that, I had tried a Dlink one with wireless G, but the router was crap and would eventually slowdown and finally lock up given enough time while using BT. The netgear I mentioned before also did that, but it took it days to do so. I finally traced it to a software incompatibility of zonealarm 5.xx and BT.

I've checked some benches on linksys routers on tomsnetworking.com and looking at the routing performance, I think some of the linksys might be worse than the netgear I mentioned and some might be better.
 
I don't think it's a networking problem. When ever I disconnect his computer from the network , my internet speeds return to normal. But if I disconnect my machine from the network, his speeds still sucks. So I've pretty well isolate the problem to his computer.
I'll change the maxium connections setting.
 
Try just turning off Azureus, and leave him connected to the network, test your speeds.
Also download a trial of DUMeter from Hagel Tech (Shareware> http://www.dumeter.com ) and install it on his box, you'll be able to see what his machine is truely uploading/downloading on a hardware level instead of what Azureus is reporting.

If DU Meter reports much more than Azureus says, then check for some "other" p2p app he might be running... roomates can be shady when it comes to downloading, and if he knows anything about hiding processes from you, he'll do it if it means you can't find it.

By no means am I accusing anyone of anything, but I've seen it firsthand and 3 of 4 people in the house aren't downloading anything and it's slow, and the other guy was saturating the entire pipe both ways. He wasn't in a happy sitsuation when we found what was running 24/7 on his computer for a few weeks while we were trying to isolate it... we didn't have alot of time to spend figuring it out, but one day he was burning CDs (just like every day, always burning CDs) and one guy saw him loading up more files into his gigantic que... flipping amazing, some folks have no regard for others.

Sorry for the tangent, definitely try out DU Meter at the least. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top