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albymangles

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Hi, hope someone can help with this problem i'm having.

2 and a bit people share one internet connection at home, 1 downloads heavily, i just play net-games sometimes (ok a lot heh). There is one other on the network but as far as i know he just browses internet and msn that sort of thing.

Now my friend downloads just from websites with a download manager, Fender, he assures me he always limits the speed (we get about 50kb/sec, he limits to 20) but something is not right. Any netgame i play while he is downloading is unplayable, with latency around 800ms and frequently spikes up to 3000+, where i might get disconnected. Even tho the program doesnt mention it i suspect it uploads as well as downloads, i havent used that one (Fender, as its from China) but i have seen similar and they make hundreds of connections similar to a file-share program. If it was uploading it is likely it is taking all our upstream bandwidth, as it is not much.

So, is it possible that this program is uploading, and if so, any way to stop it?

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If it was uploading it is likely it is taking all our upstream bandwidth' date=' as it is not much.

So, is it possible that this program is uploading, and if so, any way to stop it?[/quote']

 

 

Most games that use the internet do, they need to send information to the server so it can adjust the same and such so no its not possible to stop the uploading and even if you couldf it would probably run your game anyway :-(

 

The problem could be that the connection has efectlvley been split. When each is working on its own then they each get the full support and so no problems but when both are in use all hell breaks out as both try to control the full bandwidth but can't.

 

Has the same problem on my home wireless connection, eventually solved it by buying a second modem for the downstairs computer :)

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

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Thanks for the response, sorry i might have been unclear, i know the game needs to use uploads which is why it is important. Is it possible that the download manager is uploading, strictly speaking it shouldnt be, cause it is just managing your downloads from web-sites and makes no mention of it. BUT obviously something is slowing our connection right down (from a gaming pov, websites load fine) and it does operate in some ways similar to a file share program, making hundreds of connections etc.

The comment about splitting the connection is interesting, can someone elaborate on this?

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strictly speaking it shouldnt be' date=' cause it is just managing your downloads from web-sites and makes no mention of it. BUT obviously something is slowing our connection right down (from a gaming pov, websites load fine) and it does operate in some ways similar to a file share program, making hundreds of connections etc.

The comment about splitting the connection is interesting, can someone elaborate on this?[/quote']

 

Not nessisarily, again information has to be sent to the server to request the parts of the file you have yet to download. Also file share programs have an advantage because they give you the ability to control the upload or download rates, most download managers do not have this ability.

 

When two computers connected to a network try to use the same internet connection the OS has to preform a juggeling act of sorts. It analyses the packets being sent and allocates a priority, based on this allocates the most badwidth to the highest priority connection. This is all find and good but the problem comes when it meets two that are almost the same, what does it do? It tries to allocate more badwidth to both connections effectvley overloading the connection by giving each seperate connection too much bandwidth.

 

If you are playing a game say and your friend is trying to download, upload, play a game etc. it will raise the priority to high - 2 high settings confuse the os and band you have a problem. There is no real solution to this problem without getting 2 seperate connections unfortunatly.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

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Well, either that or buy yourself a big fat pipe with lots of upstream capacity :)

 

Generally a lot of error checking is done as a part of the TCP/IP protocol, and acknowledging that a packet has been received, etc. I suspect that your download manager may be using multiple streams as a speed booster, perhaps. In this case, each stream would be sending back quite a lot of data to the host, which may be slowing your ping down quite a lot.

 

There's no other solution than to pull the plug on your friend really :P

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Ah ok, i think i understand thanks. I really dont mind if the game runs slow, i would expect it if i have to share my connection with another heavy user, but it is the spikes and disconnections that really make it unplayable.

Regarding the uploading, I am talking about continuous uploading, obviously it has to communicate with the server, but am wondering if it is possible that it is uploading in the background without my friends knowledge.

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Thanks Dave, I was afraid of that. I checked my usage and we have a 512/128kps connection and for every gig downloaded we have a quarter of a gig uploaded almost. Very unusual to me, i have just started sharing the connection and the uploading has typically been very small compared to downloading in the past.

Is this really the only solution? I was on the phone to tech support guy and he mentioned i might try setting firewall rules to stop the uploading. This sounds like dodgy advice to me, so i havent tried it yet.

I really dont want to ask my friend to stop using this program as its what he enjoys doing.

Thanks for all the replies tho :)

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That is really the only option. Although you share the connection it he demands a lot of bandwidth your connection will not be shared evenly, there's nothing you can do about it.

 

The firewall option is an idea. The tech guy was (I assume) basically saying that you should set up the firewall so that your friend can't upload anything.

 

I think you should talk to your friend. Tell him you don't mind him downloading and it's nice that he limits his download speed but you're still can't play games and maybe the prog is uploading... see what he says, you can both check it out.

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I don't think that stopping him "uploading" is a particularly good idea; doing so would just entail cutting his internet connection off. You might want to consider throttling the upload bandwidth that comes from his machine if you have an advanced enough router, or limiting the number of simultaneous connections to something small.

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