My ISP is throttling me..what can I do?

wallofiron

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running all sorts of programs on my home pc through a VPN but my ISP keeps throttling me.

I tried disconnecting from them and using an unsecured wireless network in range of the PC and the darn thing was 100x faster.


Anything I can do?
 
Are you being throttled on a schedule, or is it all the time?

What I'm wondering is, how do you know you're being throttled as opposed to another network related issue?

FD: I've been a network technician for years and until IM I was a voice/data engineer for a national broadband provider and I'm used to dealing with issues like this. :)
 
Most of these VPN issues are to do with your own equipment and not your ISP

My guess would be its your router
 
The VPN technology that most providers use( ppt is very secure, but takes some computing power to encapsulate it. As trancecommunity stated, it could definitely be your router. I've had a troubled past with VPN's and Belkin routers.

Also, I should note: No ISP I know of would throttle based on heavy VPN traffic, as they can't see what it is.
 
thanks... I will try bypassing the VPN and see what happens.


If it is indeed the router (Netgear) would it be wise to try another manufacturer?
 
Are you being throttled on a schedule, or is it all the time?

What I'm wondering is, how do you know you're being throttled as opposed to another network related issue?

FD: I've been a network technician for years and until IM I was a voice/data engineer for a national broadband provider and I'm used to dealing with issues like this. :)

Speed tests read 1.5mb/sec.
Actual world speed is a tenth that so I was assuming.

This all started when I started running Xrumer and Scrapebox 24/7
 
Speed tests read 1.5mb/sec.
Actual world speed is a tenth that so I was assuming.

This all started when I started running Xrumer and Scrapebox 24/7
well you got your answer, isp hate those 100% bandwidth taker.
 
Very strange that they throttle you regularly if you're on a VPN. Normally the load balancing ignores this because who knows what's going on inside the tunnel. Could be completely legit video conferencing.

What type of VPN service, PPTP or L2TP?

Also, can you try a night of normal use on the vpn?

It very well could be your pc choking. The higher the security model of your VPN connection, the more intensive it is. Normally this isn't much of a problem if you're browsing, chatting, mildly downloading, etc. Now, amplify that by an order of magnitude when you're moving as much data as you probably are. That's a workload and a half, you should check your CPU utilization when running those apps on a VPN.

Could always be you're getting throttled, but when our sandvine box kicked on, you didn't get anywhere near 1.5mb, we're talkin 320kb/s, and I think that's kind of universal.
 
Very strange that they throttle you regularly if you're on a VPN. Normally the load balancing ignores this because who knows what's going on inside the tunnel. Could be completely legit video conferencing.

What type of VPN service, PPTP or L2TP?

Also, can you try a night of normal use on the vpn?

It very well could be your pc choking. The higher the security model of your VPN connection, the more intensive it is. Normally this isn't much of a problem if you're browsing, chatting, mildly downloading, etc. Now, amplify that by an order of magnitude when you're moving as much data as you probably are. That's a workload and a half, you should check your CPU utilization when running those apps on a VPN.

Could always be you're getting throttled, but when our sandvine box kicked on, you didn't get anywhere near 1.5mb, we're talkin 320kb/s, and I think that's kind of universal.


thanks for the great information

VPN is PPTP


I bypassed the VPN but still no difference in performance. Xrumer will start out at 200links per min and then after about an hour its down to 5 links/min.


Also I am using an AMD Phenom II 6 core 2.8, w/ 8GB Ram...... barely can get this thing up to 20% cpu usage or over 3MB of mem
 
Hmm. PPTP wouldn't cause a bottleneck on any hardware in the last 4 years running full pipe, and your rig is beefy enough to handle even L2TP at those speeds.

Is this cable or dsl?
 
Google netgear + your model number VPN problems and see if anything comes up. Chances are your not the first if it is a problem with you Router, ISP and VPN setup
 
Your router may be going south. In my experience, they die a slow and painful (for me) death before finally kicking the bucket.

Can you temporarily run a CAT5 straight to the modem to bypass the router for a test?
 
thanks for all the suggestions....

I will try everything and report back in about 12 hours from now

(using Cable ISP btw)
 
ok bypassed the Router and hooked up right to the modem with no VPN running........ bare connection

Xrumer runs just as slow... 5-20links/min.


When I first started running programs 24/7 , Xrumer was posting 100-200 links/min and now down to 5-20 links/min.

--------------------

I tried various speed tests at the highest traffic time and keep coming up with different results.


most test I run now show the upload speed 2x as fast as the download speed.....



Im lost here :-(
 
You said they start out fast and slow down over time correct? Try 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS server for a test instead of your ISP's.


damn....

that fixed it 100%...



amazing...
thanks..


So now I just use Google's server?...lol
 
damn....

that fixed it 100%...



amazing...
thanks..


So now I just use Google's server?...lol

Great, i thought it would. Well lol technically you could leave it on Google's, i just suggested it to confirm/deny the problem. Personally i would be gathering a list of open DNS servers and benchmarking which can sustain the volume of queries best to give the highest links/minute.
 
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