I finally pay my internet bill. Lose all connection for an hour.

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Good job, Comcast.

Its not like my TV and home phone go thru the same connection too.

Oh wait........
 
Nov 20, 2009
10,043
2,573
136
This evening AT&T pushed a software update to my Uverse residential gateway. Only problem it is wouldn't see the WAN link as being up. Since my ONT is on the inside of my basement, I go verify it is up. I tried to soft reset it from within the sw, but that did nothing. Then I remembered what someone told me a couple of years ago about this Pace 5268AC, power cycle it. Bam, back up. So, I think the software update should have included a power cycle, but they just wait for the customer to ... wait for it ... power it off and back on again.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,729
559
126
I have meh DSL now. If comcast came out here I'd stay on the DSL. I won't say I'd go to dial up but I'll take any other passable option rather than deal with their billing department ever again.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,364
7,516
126
I use a prepaid hotspot just so I don't have to use comcast. I bought a modem and everything, but couldn't bring myself to sign up for service with them.
 

Muadib

Lifer
May 30, 2000
17,914
838
126
I must admit, when I had Comcast, they treated me well. They couldn't compete with Fios though, so I switched. Now Comcast has a 2Gbps plan, but the price for it is nuts.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
I must admit, when I had Comcast, they treated me well. They couldn't compete with Fios though, so I switched. Now Comcast has a 2Gbps plan, but the price for it is nuts.

It doesnt matter. They throttle when I'm torrenting. They won't admit it, but they do.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Did you try using a VPN?
Both with and without a VPN. Throttled.
And a VPN doesnt matter. It wont hide your activity from your ISP. They're the ones feeding YOU the data, they know what you're doing. They just dont care.
Its the other guy who cares and he cant see you because of the VPN, so he doesnt know which ISP to contact.

Encrypting your torrents would hide what files you are getting and sending, but torrent traffic is easy to identify. They still know what you are doing but not what the files are. Also, you'd need people on both ends to agree to the encryption and not enough people do that.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146
Both with and without a VPN. Throttled.
And a VPN doesnt matter. It wont hide your activity from your ISP. They're the ones feeding YOU the data, they know what you're doing. They just dont care.
Its the other guy who cares and he cant see you because of the VPN, so he doesnt know which ISP to contact.

Encrypting your torrents would hide what files you are getting and sending, but torrent traffic is easy to identify. They still know what you are doing but not what the files are. Also, you'd need people on both ends to agree to the encryption and not enough people do that.
Wait, your isp can see what you're doing behind a VPN?

Thought the premise of a VPN is essentially they forward your connection on to the intended destination.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Wait, your isp can see what you're doing behind a VPN?

Thought the premise of a VPN is essentially they forward your connection on to the intended destination.

OK I dont think enough people know how this works. Your computer, your router, your modem, your home, ONLY talks to your internet service provider. No one else.
Anything you get in the Information Super Highway comes to you thru your ISP.
As a general rule, they dont track what you are doing, they dont even care. The only time they'll even contact you about something is if a copyright holder gets your IP address and sends a complaint to your ISP. As a rule your ISP does not give up your personal information without a warrant or court order, which rarely happens.
A VPN is just another step between you and the rest of the world, AFTER you get thru your ISP. It offers one additional layer of protection.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,729
559
126
The point of the VPN really is that all the ISP sees is you have connected to the VPN servers, and the amount of bandwidth between them. The connection is encrypted so they can't analyze the traffic further than that. But the ISP doesn't really know what you're doing beyond that you've connected to another server (which they may know is a VPN service). There are DNS leak concerns but that is a configuration issue.
 

WharffRat

Member
Nov 28, 2020
47
31
61
You are new a new junior member, so I don't think you can.

Sorry to hijack the thread...

I am kinda new here too, as my email has changed and I haven't signed on in 8 years.
@Muadib I cannot PM you until I move up as well.

Your DK friend whom retired in April with the X-Ray wife :)
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,029
126
www.anyf.ca
American ISPs have to be some of the most hatable companies ever. I think Comcast even got an "award" for that once lol. I heard they added caps to home internet recently, despite more people working from home, even after stating that removing caps did not affect the network negativly. That is such an asshole move to do.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
30,160
3,300
126
I use a prepaid hotspot just so I don't have to use comcast. I bought a modem and everything, but couldn't bring myself to sign up for service with them.
im currently using my phone service as my home internet with hotspot.
it expires next month.

what hotspot do you use?
how much does it cost?
how many gigs/month?
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,364
7,516
126
im currently using my phone service as my home internet with hotspot.
it expires next month.

what hotspot do you use?
how much does it cost?
how many gigs/month?
I'm using boost mobile, and for $50/month I get 12GB hotspot. It's sufficient, but I don't do much streaming. If I have a big download I want, I'll grab it from work. Sometimes I'll blow through the data I have left the day before the service renews. Make some big downloads or whatever.

edit:
I'm using an old ass Kyocera phone I got once as a fill in til my real phone arrived. I like using a phone cause it gives me a backup to my work phone.
 

Muadib

Lifer
May 30, 2000
17,914
838
126
Sorry to hijack the thread...

I am kinda new here too, as my email has changed and I haven't signed on in 8 years.
@Muadib I cannot PM you until I move up as well.

Your DK friend whom retired in April with the X-Ray wife :)

Cw what’s up!! If your number the same I will call you later.
 
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cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,049
12,719
136
Both with and without a VPN. Throttled.
And a VPN doesnt matter. It wont hide your activity from your ISP. They're the ones feeding YOU the data, they know what you're doing. They just dont care.
Its the other guy who cares and he cant see you because of the VPN, so he doesnt know which ISP to contact.

Encrypting your torrents would hide what files you are getting and sending, but torrent traffic is easy to identify. They still know what you are doing but not what the files are. Also, you'd need people on both ends to agree to the encryption and not enough people do that.
No they cant.
Everything between you and the VPN is encrypted and unless some moron has leaked the keys, not even you ISP can snoop on that. They just see random bytes being transferred.
But you may have 200-300(!) connections going out to wherever the vpn box is located, maybe they throttle based on that.
Try torrent an ubuntu image and limit connections to 1. See what happens.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
7,988
136
Wait, your isp can see what you're doing behind a VPN?

Thought the premise of a VPN is essentially they forward your connection on to the intended destination.
They can't see what you are doing in that they can't see the data.

What they can see is how much bandwidth you are using at any time and that traffic is going to a VPN server.
Not a lot of general Internet traffic looks like torrents maxing out your upload and download for extended periods.
 
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