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Blocking BitTorrent & Which devices are using the most bandwidth?
AdamK3
Enthusiast - Level 2
‎03-15-2011 05:10 PM

Hi Everyone: I'm trying to figure out why my speeds have been so poor lately. I have the Fios optimizer, use OpenDNS, reset the router, all the usual stuff. I suspect my roommate is using BitTorrent, and I wanted to block all access to that service. After doing some reading, I see blocking/forwarding and those kinds of methods are easily skirted.

Now I wish to give BitTorrent the lowest traffic priority. I'm not exactly sure how to do this. I can see the QOS and filtering rules panes. But I don't know what to do from there. Right now I gave his two devices static IPs and enabled parental controls which block the major tracker sites and also the keyword "torrent."  Finally, can I see just how much traffic each device has used? I can easily get those stats for the Coax, Ethernet, and Wireless interfaces themselves, but I can't find it for specific devices. I don't want to throttle his bandwidth to all sites, just BT protocols. I would like to investigate his traffic use as he may be using Rapidshare, Fileserve, or some other HTTP-based file sharing site.

So, I guess my main questions are: #1 How can I tell how much bandwidth he's using? And #2: How can I throttle (I've given up on blocking) BT traffic to 0.01K/sec? If this seems barbaric, I will grant you that software is overpriced. But the Fios account is in my name, and I will not be served papers by the RIAA. This isn't a moral issue for me: the account is mine and I would like to administer it how I see fit. 

Thanks everyone! Smiley Happy

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Re: Blocking BitTorrent & Which devices are using the most bandwidth?
Hubrisnxs
Legend
‎03-15-2011 05:51 PM

I think you may find it easier to block that stuff using OPEN DNS 

With OpenDNS you can block the torrent websites used by other users on your network and you can block the trackers that assist in torrents connecting to peers
...
You can block the torrent domains by blocking their domain names
...
You can select/block the P2P/File Sharing category or add specific domains to your Always Block list; this works very well. Flush the web browser caches and DNS resolver caches of the computers on your network after making this settings change.

If you come across any torrent sites that you need tagged and blocked, feel free to add them to domain tagging here: http://www.opendns.com/community/domaintagging/submit/ or submit them in a support ticket.

QOS in the actiontec router can be difficult to set up, one person wrote a how to and I Couldn't make heads or tails of it. 

I'll link it and let you decide for yourself. Get Verizon MI424WR QOS setup guide here

And also from actiontec "Top 10 Ways to Make Your Wireless Broadband Router Even More Useful"

You would want to look at the sections entitled 

  • Advanced Filtering 
  • Access Controls
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