Sky Broadband throttled or Router issue?

[cookie_monster]

Hi all, I'm having an issue with my Sky BB at the moment, in that it becomes very slow when downloading using torrent software. If i'm downloading on one PC then my internet access becomes mega slow on my other one and my phone etc, Broadbandspeed check is slow to load and registers speeds of <1Mb/sec. Almost as soon as I turn off the torrent software on my other PC I'm back to 17Mb/sec.

 

This happens when I'm only downloading one item and am not sharing any files through the torrent software. I'm using Deluge on Xubuntu for the torrent app.

 

I had a new Sky router last week and Sky checked the line and said that it is all fine.

 

Router

Model SR102

Firmware Version 2.1r.3761.R

DSL Firmware VersionA2pv6F038m.d24j

 

Sky ''claim'' not to throttle speeds at all. Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

Cheers.

Edited February 18, 2015 by cookie_monster

[kmount]

I'm pretty sure you're just experiencing what happens when downloading torrents on typical home network kit.

 

Might be worth a read of - https://www.raymond.cc/blog/stop-bittorrent-from-killing-your-internet-connection/ to see if it helps rein your client in a bit.

[ZeroHour]

2 things, 1 ensure you limit your upload rate to around 50k as if you seed too fast ALL internet is broken.

2nd, if your local exchange is particularly oversubscribed things can be slow even though you are connected properly, eventually it gets fixed but it can take a bit.

[cpjitservices]

and it could be that most ISP's nowadays will throttle torrents.... however my mum is with SkyBB and she gets less than 1meg constant. Not too far away from the exchange but she does live in a flat so cable runs will be longer. Sky have offered her Fiber for a cut down price because of the problems shes had - so maybe ask them whether fiber is available to you.

[cookie_monster]

My general BB speed is 17Mb/sec, its only while using torrent software that its slow.

[cpjitservices]

I'm quite lucky, I get 200meg + and dont get throttled on torrents (not that I download them anyway)!

[JRowley]

Sky don't throttle you when downloading torrents or anything else for that matter. If you are downloading on one PC then access will be slow on the other, by virtue of the fact that you are downloading something. Torrents if well seeded will consume all of your bandwidth.

[difinity]

Sky do throttle some P2P, not all but some.

[ZeroHour]

Sky do throttle some P2P, not all but some.

 

Do they? when did that start?

[JRowley]

Sky do throttle some P2P, not all but some.

 

They don't throttle anything from my experience with them for the last 3 years, unless you have evidence to say otherwise? This would be against their terms and conditions which I am extremely doubtful they would do it as they would be open to legal action from consumers and Ofcom.

[difinity]

It depends if you are LLU which isn't throttled. Sky Unlimited isn't throttled but Sky Connect is.

https://torrentfreak.com/is-your-isp-messing-with-bittorrent-traffic-find-out-140123/

Whilst Sky say there is no shaping, in their terms and conditions they state they will take steps to maintain their level of service on their network.

[JRowley]

It must only effect the basic broadband package I guess, on fibre unlimited I can use my entire bandwidth for p2p downloads such as torrents. I've spoken to Sky directly about this as well and they confirmed that they don't do anything for their fibre unlimited package, I had to ring because their CDN had an issue and it felt like YouTube was being throttled, but it was resolved within a day.

[cookie_monster]

I'm pretty sure you're just experiencing what happens when downloading torrents on typical home network kit.

 

Might be worth a read of - https://www.raymond.cc/blog/stop-bittorrent-from-killing-your-internet-connection/ to see if it helps rein your client in a bit.

I've limited the available speeds and number of connections and it seems to have helped. I'll see how it goes over the next few days. Thanks.