Bandwidth Hog

I have two pc's connected to the Net one I use and the other my son uses. I find that when my son is downloading anything his pc hogs all my bandwidth to the extent my web browsing is very sloooow.

I have a 3 meg connection with blueyonder and my setup is

Win XP on both PC's and they access the net through a linksys router ( not wireless ).

If I block his access with the router then I get all of my bandwitdh back and its fine. Is there a way I can limit his draw on the bandwidth, can it be done inside the router with a setting .
Would it make any difference if I swap the port connections around on the router.
Is there a way I can tell the speed of my Nic's from within Windows, I was wondering if he has a faster nic in his PC.


thanks MJ.

 

Your question is pretty complex, although sounds easy on the surface.

The problem is that you need something to intercept the traffic and throttle him. Your current configuration will not allow you to do that. Traditionally, your router/switch/firewall thingy is what provides this service.

Its too bad you dont have wireless, since you can hard code the network speed on most cards down to a pretty low level.

There is software out there to do this, such as http://bandwidthcontroller.com/index.html (which i found by googling). See the network diagram? You'd have to change your network format to look like that for it to work.

Another popular software package is http://www.m0n0.ch/wall/ (eww unix)

Some of the fancy linksys routers will do it, see http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1343138&enterthread=y for more info

 

Hi.

You might be able to throttle your son's bandwidth from the program he is using to download.
If by downloading you mean using one of the many p2p file sharing programs then nearly all of these have settings that enable you to set a limit on bandwidth used.
Of course he could always turn it back up if he knew it was there, but it is another option

Spotta

 

I have 3 machines and a printer hooked to a Linksys BEFSR41 Router. The Router is hooked to a Cable Modem.

There have been times when all 4 units were being used. Kids were doing School Work and using both the Internet and the Printer.

My wife and/or the kids have been playing games on the Internet

I having been downloading things and have never noticed a bit of slowdown anywhere.

Unless I am 100% wrong. If both machines are connected DIRECTLY to the Router what one does should have NO EFFECT on the other.

Are you sure that Windows ICS ( Internet connection sharing ) is not involved somehow ?

BillyBob

 

Hi BB

My set up is exactly the same as yours, but If I am playing an online game or downloading a large file then all the other pc's suffer from slower internet speeds.

I thought it was normal for this to happen unless you had an 'intellegent' router that would assign a set amount of bandwidth to each connection.
My Linksys BEFW11S4 doesn't.

Spotta

 

I am confused now.

How can it be exactly the same ?

I did a web seach and I believe ( if I am reading correctly ) you have a Wireless Router.

Mine is Hardwired all the way.

BillyBob

 

Hi BB

My router network is all hardwired.

My router just happens to have a wifi connection as well which is sometimes used when friends come round.

Maybe I should have said 'nearly the same' I apologise.

I thought we were meant to be helping Flack rather than nit-picking.
I found it nice to answer a question instead of asking one for a change

Sorry to have confused you

Spotta

 

Thanks guys for the help and suggestions.. I have downloaded the 30 day trial of Bandwidth Controller and I must say after first impressions this looks like it has solved my problem.. thanks for tip JoeHobert.

The only downside to this is that you have to install it on my sons pc and its visible to all, it would be better if you could install it in stealth mode. but you can't have everything..
It has now even it out, I have set his d/l limit and I can surf with no lag now..

It would have been a lot easier to control if my pc was the gateway but I have a router in the loop and all access goes through this, thats why I had to install it on his pc.
When my router finally croaks it I will get one of the wireless ones and they have firmware to combat this situation ..

If it works ok then I will buy it..

Once again thanks for your help guys

Flack...

 

Well this seems to be something quite new to me that apparently I was not even aware of.

So it will be something that I need to keep an eye out for.

BillyBob