Bandwidth Allocation Question...

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Ok, so here at my house, we all share a fairly slow 256K DSL line. It's usable when no one else has there computer on. But ever since I moved back home, my dad has been obsessed with this stupid online solitaire game from pogo.com. I'm pretty sure the game is flash based, and it sucks up all the bandwidth over the DSL line. So I did a test.

I started downloading 4 different files using µTorrent. Before he turned his computer on, the average download speed was 12.22kbps (to find the average speed, I wrote down the current speed to each file one every minute for 10 minutes. The lowest speed was 8.1kbps while the highest was 19.7kbps.)

I then turned his computer on and opened up IE and left it for about 5 minutes before recording my download speed for yet another 10 minutes. My average speed dropped to 9.41kbps.

Then I logged on to pogo.com (using his username and password) and started a game of solitaire. I moved a few cards around and uncovered an ace...just to get the game's animation going. As I expected, when I got back to my computer, the speeds of all 4 downloads had dropped steeply. Using the same Recording technique, the average download speed had dropped to just 1.4kbps.

Now I know that since I was using µTorrent, the speed can be dependant on the seeds, leeches, and peers connected to the file, but I was one step ahead of that. I chose popular files that were recently added that had no less than 20 seeds, and less leeches than seeders.


So with that boring and useless test out of the way, here's my question:
Is there a way to limit the total bandwidth that any one computer may use while sharing a DSL line? Now that he's retired, he's on that stupid website almost as much I used to play BG2!

There's got to be a little program that I could install on his computer to limit his bandwidth usage...right?

 

That is strange for an online solitaire game to eat that much bandwidth. Are you sure there is not anything other that could possibly eat the bandwidth?

As for limiting the traffic, depending on your DSL hardware you might be able to limit the traffic from there. Another solution could be to install a program like NetLimiter on his computer.

 

You haven't seen this stupid game have you? There are so many stupid animations and sounds for doing something as simple as turning over a card that it makes me sick. Plus, for the game to run, it opens up in it's own pop up windows, leaving the main pogo.com window open in the background that riddled with ads and other animations. I told him to close the background window, but apparently if he does, it logs him out...so he won't get his precious tokens.

As for hardware, our DSL gateway is a Qwest provided Actionteck piece of junk that is then fed to a Linksys WiFi (WRT54G) router/switch. He's got the only hard wire connection since the gateway and router are located next to his computer.

I'll have to check out that NetLimiter program. Both my brother and I feel it's unfair for him to suck up so much bandwidth when all he's doing is playing a spiced up version of solitaire, when we're trying to download files, watch streaming video, or play online multiplayer games.

 

I have a hard time believing that it's the site as well. Flash games generally totally download, then drop the communication. Even if it is commmunicating, it still shouldn't sap that. The ads certainly are not sapping bandwidth because they totally download then close the connection as well.

256k DSL is very slow. There's got to be better options that cost about the same. Have you looked into them?

You should all have hard wire connections. Trust me, that really helps your speed.

 

Well...I'm currently live back home with my folks at the moment...so no. I know that my dad could get 1.5Mbps DSL for only an extra $10 a month. Besides that, there's about a $20 price jump to the next type of service. For $49 a month you can get something like 3Mbps Cable...but to get that "low" price, you also have to have a $49 a month Cable TV package. Cable TV sucks almost as much as the sh** company here that provides it.

Once we move out again, I'll be getting my own 1.5Mbps dedicated DSL line all to myself!

I wish I could afford a T3 line.

 

As Rastor said: most flash games, no matter how graphic intensive they are, get downloaded in one go and then all flash-related communication between the client and the webserver is dropped.

However, some flash games are written by bluudy morons who shouldn't touch a keyboard with a 20-foot long rusty halberd.
So what I would do is get Ethereal which is an open source application that captures every byte on your network, filters it, and then dumps it on the screen or in a file. You can use that to investigate what exactly is causing the drop in bandwith.

 

You can also use your Linksys to limit the traffic. Check the User Guide's page 52 (The Applications and Gaming Tab - QoS) for instructions, available here.

 

Thanks Erod! I was *not* likening the idea of having to paying for the NetLimiter. I'd rather pay money for a faster connection.

But if the hardware can do it for free, then that's what I'll do! Can we say 50% for me and 25% for my dad and my brother?

 

No problem, but do not expect wonders from underpowered hardware sold to home users. Although it may work decently because your connection is quite slow.