Limit or disable a router from using Torrents?

By Shaun N.
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Grand Master

Shaun N.

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys,

I'm spending some time round the In-laws house on Saturday rebuilding their PC, Replacing the MB, Etc, This however isn't the issue.

They have a daughter who's boyfriend likes to spank the connection with torrents whenever he is there (Which is most of the time) so when ever I go round there I turn the wireless off to annoy him.

While I am round there on Saturday I want to disable or at least limit the download limit for torrents, configuring his laptop is out of the question as he wont let me near it :p.

Hey Bud, help me out! lol

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

What router are you using? A simple method of putting p2p in is place is just to disable UPnP -- if he does not have access to the router, he would not be able to forward whatever ports he is using if UPnP is not enabled on the router.

Most users, surfing, email, etc. has no need of forwarded port and therefore UPnP does not need to be enabled -- if you do need some special ports forwarded -- then manually set those for the legit uses the owners of the connection might have.

If you want to have some fun to prevent his total access -- just setup mac filtering, and only setup the owners machines to work with it.. This way they can tell him all day long the psk to access the wireless, etc. Or even if he plugs in -- since his mac address is not on the OK list, he will not get access.

Then again depending on the router, you could always setup QOS based on his mac to limit the **** out of his connection, etc. etc.. There are all kinds of fun things you can do -- opendns does have some filtering, and might be able to block access to torrent sites, etc. but this would in no way prevent the protocol from working, etc.

If his torrents are working -- I would have to assume you have UPnP open on the router -- turn it off, since with the port not forwarded his p2p speeds will be in the dirt!

Grand Master

Shaun N.

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Its a Belink Wireless G+ MIMO Router, I'll have a look into the UPnP. I don't mind him using the wireless if he is just going to browse and do normal things but his downloading slows the connection for everyone in the house so much when ever he is there that google times out trying to load.

Noone in the house needs to use any kind of port forwarding so I think I'll disable the UPnP and let him ask me to see if I can see why "The Internet" is broken :D

Grand Master

primexx

Posted
Posted
  BudMan said:
What router are you using? A simple method of putting p2p in is place is just to disable UPnP -- if he does not have access to the router, he would not be able to forward whatever ports he is using if UPnP is not enabled on the router.

Most users, surfing, email, etc. has no need of forwarded port and therefore UPnP does not need to be enabled -- if you do need some special ports forwarded -- then manually set those for the legit uses the owners of the connection might have.

If you want to have some fun to prevent his total access -- just setup mac filtering, and only setup the owners machines to work with it.. This way they can tell him all day long the psk to access the wireless, etc. Or even if he plugs in -- since his mac address is not on the OK list, he will not get access.

Then again depending on the router, you could always setup QOS based on his mac to limit the **** out of his connection, etc. etc.. There are all kinds of fun things you can do -- opendns does have some filtering, and might be able to block access to torrent sites, etc. but this would in no way prevent the protocol from working, etc.

If his torrents are working -- I would have to assume you have UPnP open on the router -- turn it off, since with the port not forwarded his p2p speeds will be in the dirt!

torrents work fine here and i don't have UPnP enabled...

Experienced

Litespeed

Posted
Posted

OpenDNS will only go as far as blocking his attempts to access tracker sites. If he has no legitimate reason to be using their broadband connection, then go for a "belt and braces" approach and set up WPA2-PSK encryption on the router and enable MAC filtering. Change the WPA2-PSK password to something strong and give it to the parents only.

Grand Master

Subject Delta

Posted
Posted
  primexx said:
torrents work fine here and i don't have UPnP enabled...

Did you forward the ports? Some clients limit your download rate, based on your share rate, the ports only really need to be forwarded for outbound connections, either you forwarded the ports or you don't have a client that demands a certain share rate

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

"torrents work fine here and i don't have UPnP enabled..."

My guess would be you have no idea what good speeds are then ;) Or you have manually forwarded the ports, or you have UPnP enabled and don't even know, or your on a public IP, or in the DMZ.. These are the options.

If you do not have the port forwarded, your speed will be in the dirt compared to having the port open. Sure you can download without it -- but its going to be pure crap speeds.

I am curious what you think "working fine is"? I see 1.5MB/sec all the time with a decent seeded torrent. On normal torrents seeing 300-400KBytes is quite common with very few seeds, etc.

download.php?file=post-14624-1240974438.jpg&name=vista_utorrent.jpg

I can assure you anyone that is use to the speeds while the port has been open will right away notice the port being closed.

Sure if your downloading torrents with lots and lots of seeds you might be fine with the port not open, but I assure you its not "working fine" if the port is not forwarded -- its no where near fine, but sure you can download ;)

Grand Master

Shaun N.

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  Litespeed said:
Change the WPA2-PSK password to something strong and give it to the parents only.

That would be more hastle than good, They will get whined at so much they will tell me to let him have access. They/I don't mind him generally having access just to restrict any kind of torrents on the network.

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted (edited)

Well if he is running fine without the ports open? You would have to limit his bandwidth, or shape his traffic (QoS) - not sure if your router supports doing that or not, need the model number.

Other than that your pretty much out of luck without changing the router to something that could limit or shape his traffic. P2P can be tough to control.. But if his client was setup correctly you would not notice it working.

The problem is a misconfigured client will suck up the whole upload pipe, which now you can not do dns lookups, you can not request the page you want from your site, etc. Its almost never a download issue -- I run torrents all the time and never even notice when they are running since its not sucking up my upload piple.

You could always show him how to setup his client to play nice with outhers, ie only use say 60 to 80% of the upload pipe. Every p2p guide out there will tell you this.

But if the port is not open, people can not really ask him for parts of the torrent so his upload should be very low anyway. Which is why I think the port must be open with UPnP, and turning it off should restrict his uploads and make his use of the bandwidth less bothersome.

DOH!! ahh you might be pretty much screwed no matter how you try to control it, if he is wireless, yeah does not matter if your upload pipe is ok or not, other wireless clients will have issues since its shared bandwidth.. Really only one client can really talk at any one time, so if he is keeping the airwaves full of torrents, then yeah every other wireless client will suffer no matter if he is not uploading at all. Wireless is like a hub, bandwidth is shared between all clients, and its really limited bandwidth to start with. Especially the transmit side which is normally way lower than that its reporting as your connection speed. P2P over wireless is really really bad idea no matter how you have it configured. You wouldn't want to run p2p over a shared bandwidth, half duplex connection would you?? Well that's a wireless network.

So yeah P2P over wireless will bring a wireless network to knees in a heartbeat -- you would have to be a TOTAL ASS to run p2p over wireless with other wireless clients on the network.

Edited by BudMan
Grand Master

primexx

Posted
Posted
  BudMan said:
"torrents work fine here and i don't have UPnP enabled..."

My guess would be you have no idea what good speeds are then ;) Or you have manually forwarded the ports, or you have UPnP enabled and don't even know, or your on a public IP, or in the DMZ.. These are the options.

If you do not have the port forwarded, your speed will be in the dirt compared to having the port open. Sure you can download without it -- but its going to be pure crap speeds.

I am curious what you think "working fine is"? I see 1.5MB/sec all the time with a decent seeded torrent. On normal torrents seeing 300-400KBytes is quite common with very few seeds, etc.

download.php?file=post-14624-1240974438.jpg&name=vista_utorrent.jpg

I can assure you anyone that is use to the speeds while the port has been open will right away notice the port being closed.

Sure if your downloading torrents with lots and lots of seeds you might be fine with the port not open, but I assure you its not "working fine" if the port is not forwarded -- its no where near fine, but sure you can download ;)

UPnP is definitely disabled, so is DMZ, and I didn't manually forward any ports...I get stable > 1mbyte/s on linux torrents on a 15mbit connection (doesn't exactly go completely up to 15mbits, unfortunately)...is it something that's client dependent?

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Your not going to have any issues, let see how I can put this "WELL SEEDED" torrents.. Where your going to run into speed issue is those "not so well seeded" torrents ;)

I prob have the same speed internet connection as you

post-14624-1244306806.jpg

This is the middle of a torrent download as well, I see 1.5 to 1.8MB/sec on the "linux" torrents.. With the port not forwarded your not going to see the speeds you should be seeing -- plain and simple.. Yes as I already stated it can work. The speed would depend on the torrents being download, and sure the client being used.. With the ports closed -- nobody can talk to you and request files.. So your upload is going to be very very low.. Since nobody can ask you for anything, since your port is closed..

If your not uploading, clients will not send to you very fast! Read how the protocol works.

Since most of the time p2p brings the internet to a crawl for people is when their UPLOAD pipe is full, so they can not do dns queries, they can not ask the webservers for the pages, they want, etc. etc..

Turning off UPnP will prevent people from asking for pieces of the torrent, therefore the upload pipe will not be used, And everyones internet should be better.

The problem is if this unwanted p2p user is on wireless -- does not matter if you correctly configure his client to only use 60-80 of the upload pipe or not, etc.. Or block the port by turning off UPnP or not forwarding it, etc. Wireless is shared bandwidth -- so him just downloading -- even if slow than he could get with the ports open, its going to bring the wireless network to its KNEES!!

Wireless is shared half-duplex bandwidth.. And no dont have 54Mbits to work with.. You have at best say around 23Mbits with all the overheard, now lets take into account the "transmit" speed which could be as low as 1 or 2Mbits depending on the connections... So you share 2Mbits between a few clients -- and yeah downloading a torrent at crap speeds will saturate that network plain and simple.

P2P over wireless is asinine to try and use!! Any other clients on that wireless network are going to feel the pain! You would have to be a total ass to run p2p over wireless network that other users are on.. And to be honest trying to run it even if you were the only wireless client --- lets see, you most likely ride the short bus ;)

Wireless networks are not the proper connection for p2p, its going to saturate the network and not going to get the speeds you should be seeing on a correctly configured p2p client for the internet connection speed you have.. Unless of course your on some crap internet connection anyway ;)

  • 1 month later...
Neowinian

gonwk

Posted
Posted

Hi folks,

I happen to be searching the net for exactly opposite problem ... my Speed went from 300 down to 30kb ... then I keep getting the message that my Port is not working or forwarded.

So, I suppose my Buddy has closed the port for me ... we are sharing a 6MB service and he is hard wired and I am on my laptop via wireless and he has authorized me via my MAC address.

Q1: So, am I guessing right ... that he has basically closed my port to almost nothing?

Q2: Or how can I be sure that Router Port has been closed? Is there a TEST besides PFPortChecker I can do?

Thanks,

G! :)

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

If the port checker says its closed, then its closed..

You can use http://www.canyouseeme.org/ as well to check for the port your listening on.

Remember you have to LISTENING for ports to be open.. so your p2p client would have to be running, etc. But if the port checker in utorrent says ports closed, and you have seen a huge speed drop -- whats your upload showing? Then yeah your ports prob closed.

Exactly like I was stating.. But if your on wireless -- you should not be doing P2P anyway, unless there are NO other people on the wireless network.

Also if your wireless -- make sure you connected to his network, I see it all the time.. I can not print, this port is not open, etc. etc.. Well thats because your now connected to wireless network next door ;)

Neowinian

gonwk

Posted
Posted

Hi Budman,

Thanks for your reply.

Actually you gave me a Great advice ... that is if I am on Wireless then I shouldn't be P2P'ing.

But the other day I was flying on my wireless ... 350 to 400Kbps download and 100+ upload ... I have a feeling my buddy must have put the kabash on me ... so!

BTW, I like the URL that you gave me.

THANKS!

G! :)

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Yeah if your the only one on wireless it will work -- but your going to be killing everyone else trying to use the wireless for sure. BTW 350 to 400Kbps is not flying at all.. Its like a min acceptable level ;)

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