torrents cause 50+% packet loss to router

[jteef]

having trouble figuring this one out.

I have a Linksys 310N router running DD-WRT with Cox cable connected to the WAN.
on the LAN side, I've got a desktop connected via RJ45 & a laptop connected via wifi/N.

The laptop specs are: Dell vostro 1320, 3gb ram, win7-32, intel 5300 agn wifi

When I download torrents on my laptop, initially, I get around my full expected bandwidth (900KB/s-1.5MB/s) for perhaps a GB worth of data, then the network performance plummets for unknown reasons.

packet loss skyrockets, all websites basically cease to function, torrent speeds drop to about 0.2K/s and flash videos are in infinite buffer mode.
ping results to the router (when degraded) are:
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.121:
Packets: Sent = 100, Received = 53, Lost = 47 (47% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 3075ms, Average = 434ms

I suspect it's an issue within Windows 7 on the laptop, but don't know what to do next. The problem goes away completely when i restart. It does not go away when I disable the wifi radio and re-enable it. The other computers on my network function completely normally, even when the laptop network is degraded. DD-WRT shows 61% memory free (16.5MB) and everything else works normally, except the laptop after about 1-2GB of downloaded torrents.

some recent changes are that I installed PeerBlock, but I don't know how much this may or may not affect my problem. i get the same results whether i enable blocking or not.

any thoughts?

 

[MrMatt]

I actually get this issue after I stop my torrents.

I'll be DL'ing fine, and if I throttle back the DL speed, I can surf the web or whatever without problem. But if I just close out my torrent program, no matter what torrent program, I get the same thing you do. Packet loss all over the place, sites don't load, flash videos just sit in buffer mode. I have to reboot my router to fix the issue, although waiting for like a half hour or so will fix the issue as well. I'm just not that patient usually

 

[Athadeus]

Your ISP is probably intentionally interfering with your connection, because they automatically assume that P2P = illegal. Last time I used a torrent for ~1Gb of legal content, it finished downloading in about 13 minutes but my connection was really slow for about an hour starting about 1 minute after the download started. Thanks Comcast.

edit: I didn't read every sentence in your OP, but perhaps it is still the ISP just targeting the laptop by MAC or ports?

 

[morkman100]

I have the same issue when I download torrents, except that all clients on the network have the same issue after. Restarting the modem and router seems to fix it. I assume that the ISP (Time Warner in my case) are borking my connection while I use Torrent software.

 

[jteef]

i don't think it would be my isp doing anything, unless anybody knows for sure that cox just started something? I haven't had this problem before and it only affects the one computer that was using utorrent. i think all computers would experience problems if the isp was doing something

 

[ImDonly1]

Try limiting the number of concurrent connections in utorrent advanced options. Google or look at the utorrent website to help you figure out where it is and what to change it to. Also change the max connections on the laptop, and the upload speed etc.

Some applications also may cause your connection to stop working. Nod32 used to make my internet unusable because it would scan all packets coming in when running torrents and this would cause the internet to slow down. You had to change some option in nod32 to fix it. I am not sure what version this was, but future versions worked fine.

There are other programs that interfere also. Check the utorrent forums for a list.

Try updating wireless card drivers, either from dell or from the intel website if possible.

Use WPA2 instead of WEP.

Edit: After some google'ing it seems as Cox did throttle torrents. The articles were about 1 year old. It seems as though they were only trials and they no longer throttle torrents. If you abuse downloading, or upload/download a lot then I think they throttle you.

Try running torrents on the desktop and see if you get the same thing?

Does your modem reboot, or the lights turn off? Maybe the modem is running out of memory? What modem do you use?

 

[Geofram]

Assuming everything, including torrents, work fine on the desktop -

You should get another wireless device (borrow a laptop from a friend) and find out if the connection goes bad for them as well. If both laptops have the connection go bad, I'd say it's a problem with the wireless on your router.

If the other laptop works fine, I'd say it's a problem with your laptop.

If it's a router problem, you might just need to use a different one if you plan on downloading torrents over wireless. Most home routers are not designed for that kind of continuous use.