Set network priority

[Mr. Pedantic]

I should preface this by saying my connection is essentially a dial-up one; I have ADSL2+ but the data cap is so low that I will usually go over easily, at which point it slows down to dial-up.

What I'm looking for is something that will toggle network priority. I Fold, and while my internet connection is slow I also take the opportunity to download stuff. However, the uploads and downloads associated with Folding@home are about 20MB up and 2MB down each time I need a work unit; this is quite a drag on my bandwidth, especially the upload. However, my experience is that this takes the lowest possible priority for bandwidth; that is, if there is anything else that needs internet access that something else gets precedence. What I'd like is an application that will be able to turn this round; so give Folding@home precedence for network use.

I've never even heard of such a piece of software, so I don't know if it's possible. But if it is, then that would be awesome.

 

[gsaldivar]

You could put a router with QOS between you and the modem, then set the router to assign traffic on a certain port number with the lowest priority. You might have to do a little research to find out what ports F@H is using to download and upload its work units.

Here is a way to do it in Vista:

http://www.biztechmagazine.com/print_friendly.asp?item_id=318

And here is a way to do a similar type of app/port specific throttling in Mac OS X:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080119112509736

Good luck!

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Does it work in XP? I don't think it matters, I don't have that kind of network knowledge...I was more hoping for a software solution.

 

[gsaldivar]

I'm not entirely sure about QOS in Vista or XP as haven't tried doing that myself. The link above may be just adding the QOS flag to traffic over specific ports and leaving the actual traffic management to another device (router, etc.).

Here is an app I used to use which doesn't do QOS per-se, but instead allows you to just specify a hard upload or download bandwidth limit to specific applications.

If you were to set F@H's hard upstream limit to say, 5kb/sec, I think it would meet your needs. They have a freeware version which might work for you.

http://www.netlimiter.com/

Good luck!