Question on applications that eat bandwidth

[riding moon]

I am on a lan with 22 other people and I know for a fact some are using torrents but only three at most, I would say they haven't changed the standard connections per torrent or the global ones from 50 per torrent to anything lower as they are not that savvy with computers. So can this slow a network down as it does go into a crawl for some days at a time.

Only one plays XBOX games online and the rest are really only checking for emails and general surfing.

What might the reasons be for the slow down?

[Betty_Swallocks]

I can always tell when my son starts up a torrent because my network response turns to pooh. Downloads and web response slows right down and online gaming is next to impossible. I just assumed it was normal for torrents to do that.
That's one of the reasons I pay for a premium usenet provider and get all my downloads that way.

[jim]

I am on a lan with 22 other people and I know for a fact some are using torrents but only three at most, I would say they haven't changed the standard connections per torrent or the global ones from 50 per torrent to anything lower as they are not that savvy with computers. So can this slow a network down as it does go into a crawl for some days at a time.

Only one plays XBOX games online and the rest are really only checking for emails and general surfing.

What might the reasons be for the slow down?

If they've not limited the connection, then they're probably saturating the upload or the download capacity of your pipe... either will wreck the quality of your internet connection.

I'm guessing you already knew that though, so what is exactly you're trying to work out?

[Funkstar]

Another effect of P2P software is the large number of connections it makes, so even if the download is slow and it isn't saturating the bandwidth, it can kill your connection. This is especially true if you are using a basic consumer grade router. They tend to be massively underpowered and really struggle to cope with high volumes of connections and requests. It's like having a DoS attack from the inside. I've even heard of some really cheap equipment shutting down and needing a restart to work properly when heavy P2P is used (this is rare though).

[riding moon]

Thanks for the responces, as its lead me to believe I was right and now I understand why.

it picked up on this also:

I've even heard of some really cheap equipment shutting down and needing a restart to work properly when heavy P2P is used (this is rare though).

We have a neighbour on the same broadband equipment as us, which he leave's open but it's on the lowest package and slower than ours.

Our equipment does shut down and does need to be reset periodically. Also considering the one's that torrent are also closest and able to connect to the neighbours equipment, his shut's down also.

So that can explain that also, which I can have a go at them at too.

Thank you.

[TheAnimus]

Torrents are really bad for networks!

They are also bad for piracy, as legally its often worse to be uploading than downloading....

[Zak33]

kill them...

not the torrents... the users

[riding moon]

Most of us would like to kill em but it's more illegal than what they are doing so I can't justify it.

[DrATty]

I use torrents and other P2P software for purposes that are in no way illegal.

[riding moon]

Your right they are not using torrents for anything illegal I got that wrong, so there just clogging the network up.

[DrATty]

Your right they are not using torrents for anything illegal I got that wrong, so there just clogging the network up.

Actually, I got you wrong. I saw a post above and misunderstood.