ISP Throttling

[Nyeph]

The recent hype of internet throttling for Bittorrent users by ISPs globally has definitely alarmed me and my recent downgrade of speed with my extremely lame provider Sky. I'm currently living in the U.K for work reasons, and I'll be here for the foreseeable future so my question is:

What is the best service provider for the greatest download/upload speed, that doesn't throttle it's users 80% of the speed they advertise?

This question comes with other clauses:

- It has to be using fibre optic cabling, if not then it will have to be decent.
- No bandwidth limit (I've always had providers that advertise infinite b/w).
- Preferably no contract, or a small one that locks me in to use their service for x amount of centuries.

I've done my research and the only one that has come out tops is Virgin's 50mb package. They throttle bittorrent bandwidth hardcore, huge encryption levels, limits speed during certain times of day, and generally spam your mailbox with rubbish. So I'm not in a rush to decide soon, but currently I'm downloading at 180Kb/s, whereas 4 months ago it was 320Kb/s, my upload was raped so hard it's down to 5-10Kb/s (I'm the seeding type).

Any foreign providers would also be nice to know about, I've heard Sweden is the best for Bittorrent due to its internet laws. Then again, I could be wrong.

Any advice, comments, answers will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Glitchfinder]

You might want to check out speedtest.net. Not only do they test your download and upload speed (To any of their servers worldwide, no less), they also give stats for almost anywhere in the (tech friendly) world, down to a city level. You could easily look up the ISP with the best speed in your city. Just be warned, they also list private ISPs. (Universities being the most common, and often some of the fastest) Also, NEVER go with a foreign ISP. Assuming that they actually let you sign up, and that you can conne3ct with them, you've got to remember that the further your data has to travel, the slower it loads. An ISP uses their servers to route and control your computer does on the internet, and the farther away from you they are, the farther your data has to go before it reaches you. (And thus, the slower your speed) Want a demonstration? Try different servers on the site I mentioned. As a general rule, the farther away from you the server is, the worse your results. (Although the quality of the server and the cables that your data has to travel through to get to it also have an effect)

 

[SolstICE]

change port program uses so it doesnt look like torrents? or do they watch to throttle them in other way?

 

[Glitchfinder]

change port program uses so it doesnt look like torrents? or do they watch to throttle them in other way?

From what I gathered, several ISPs have recently decided to impose "global" bandwidth limits. In other words, it doesn't matter which port you use, you still get throttled. (In fact, an ISP has even started a test in Texas where subscripers also have a monthly bandwidth maximum, and they get hit with extra charges as soon as they start exceeding it. As I understand it, it was actually low enough that it would even have effects on people who watch too many videos on YouTube)

 

[Nyeph]

You might want to check out speedtest.net. Not only do they test your download and upload speed (To any of their servers worldwide, no less), they also give stats for almost anywhere in the (tech friendly) world, down to a city level. You could easily look up the ISP with the best speed in your city. Just be warned, they also list private ISPs. (Universities being the most common, and often some of the fastest) Also, NEVER go with a foreign ISP. Assuming that they actually let you sign up, and that you can conne3ct with them, you've got to remember that the further your data has to travel, the slower it loads. An ISP uses their servers to route and control your computer does on the internet, and the farther away from you they are, the farther your data has to go before it reaches you. (And thus, the slower your speed) Want a demonstration? Try different servers on the site I mentioned. As a general rule, the farther away from you the server is, the worse your results. (Although the quality of the server and the cables that your data has to travel through to get to it also have an effect)

Very interesting, however about the foreign ISP; I was intrigued about what kind of services there are out there incase I moved country (I should of stated that in the first place). Here is my Speedtest:

From what I gathered, several ISPs have recently decided to impose "global" bandwidth limits. In other words, it doesn't matter which port you use, you still get throttled. (In fact, an ISP has even started a test in Texas where subscripers also have a monthly bandwidth maximum, and they get hit with extra charges as soon as they start exceeding it. As I understand it, it was actually low enough that it would even have effects on people who watch too many videos on YouTube)

Indeed, anything for ISPs to make an extra buck.

 

[e]

I think Google has recently released a tool/utility which can sniff BitTorrent throttling from ISPs.

Slightly Biased Source

 

[Jason]

Lol I feel your pain, I'm with Sky too, they do good TV, shit broadband, I'm supposed to be getting 8MB right now, we're on 2MB and my dad uses most of it torrenting like 5+ films a day.

 

[Tohsaka]

I'm running with AT&T, ever since it was SBC Global Telecommunications in my area. They might monitor traffic, but I haven't had any filtering issues as of yet.