Can my ISP bust me?

[natedagw821]

Hey guys,
I have been using newsgroups for the past few months. I download A LOT of material. Say 500-700GBs of data. Whats the worst thing my ISP could do to me? Disconnect service?Can they monitor how much I d/l?

Thanks!

[gamer4eva]

Your ISP don't care about what you do aslong as they get paid....some ISP may do that speed throttle thing if you go overboard and i personally think 500-700GB is overboard. Others may disagree.

[Skiz]

Hey guys,
I have been using newsgroups for the past few months. I download A LOT of material. Say 500-700GBs of data. Whats the worst thing my ISP could do to me? Disconnect service?Can they monitor how much I d/l?

Thanks!


They do monitor how much you download. Well, monitor is probably a bad term, but when you are using that much bandwidth it will typically raise a flag so to speak.

Most users will get a letter in the mail or stating to tone it down. I've seen plenty of posts stating such action on this board. I seriously doubt they would just disconnect you without warning. :unsure:

[natedagw821]

Thanks for the replies guys!

[Damnatory]

Of course they can bust you, huge amounts of encrypted data sticks out like a sore thumb.

However, why would they bother? They wouldn't get your $40 a month if they busted you. The catch-22 is, they won't give you up to the authorities unless they are being pressured with law-suits that will cost them money. They would much rather make money off you until the time comes that they may lose money to protect you.

[asmithz]

LOL I download from ftp over 400gigs a month, been doing that for years now. Now I newsgroups and the FTP so it's only gonna increase. It is a Catch-22 like Damnatory said, but all the files are encrypted. If they see the bw usage, to them they have no clue what it is being transfered. Innocent till proven guilty, and without damning evidence nothing will happen.

[natedagw821]

Hm IC....well how about this then: Would it be better for me to switch to DSL? Im currently on cable(Wide Open West is my current provider). Do all ISPs monitor downloads?

Thanks again!

[ram82082]

I really wouldnt worry too much. They'll most likely suspend your service 1st, IF they do anything at all.

[archy121]

Anyone have a guide/tips to best anonymous practices for P2P against ISP's ?


:D

[natedagw821]

One more thing....Because my ISP monitors what I download. They must also monitor the amount of bandwidth that im using ie how many kbps Im using up...would it be a wise decision to put a "speed limit" on my downloads? that way I wont be using up a lot of bandwidth..technically..

I actually talked to my ISP today and the guy told me this: All they really care about is how much bandwidth ur using and for how long.

Im just lookin for advice!

Thanks again for all your help!

[asmithz]

I don't think you should worry at all, download as mich as you want. If they cap you or what ever, then its time to get a new isp, cuase its not worth it.

[Athlon64]

Hm IC....well how about this then: Would it be better for me to switch to DSL? Im currently on cable(Wide Open West is my current provider). Do all ISPs monitor downloads?

Thanks again!
ISP's don't monitor your downloads they monitor how much bandwidth you use a month, at least when it comes to Newsgroups. Since you've downloaded that much and you haven't got any type of warning your ok so far. :D


The most I have ever downloaded was 2 terabytes via FTP but that was a long time ago and I have since lost my access to such a wonderful thing. :dabs: I didn't get any warning, letters, or phones calls so I know my ISP doesn't care as far as I know.

[natedagw821]

I don't think you should worry at all, download as mich as you want. If they cap you or what ever, then its time to get a new isp, cuase its not worth it.

AMEN brother!!!

[gamer4eva]

I think that you should not worry after all the most they can do is close your account. I would advise you to change ISP if they keep pestering you about these small issues.

[Lynyrd]

My max throughput was 200 GB in a month and I never heard a thing about it. My normal was about 60-80 GB.
Although I did get warned once a couple of years ago, mostly they won't bother you if you keep it at a real figure for most of the time.

A little paranoid are we? What would life be like without your ISP? LOL
It would suck at first but then you'd find another way to feed your "habit".

My advice is to get the best connection you can afford, get a quality premium NG server and try to only grab what you really NEED, not everything because it's there.
How many times you have d/l something and soon realized you didn't need it?
Just sharing

[rokie]

I once had my highest achievement hitting a whopping 4TB in one month. Till now they still regard me as their valued customer.

[Peerzy]

ISP's are not legally allowed to view the data you are downloading, only how much and from where (IP address which would just be a NG server).

[FriLock]

ISP's are not legally allowed to view the data you are downloading, only how much and from where (IP address which would just be a NG server).

cheers to that!

Might be time to get a new ISP...they should not be hasselling you at all.

I use Newshostings unlimited NHXL plan and I down on average like 250-300GB/month

[4play]

ISP's are not legally allowed to view the data you are downloading, only how much and from where (IP address which would just be a NG server).

site your sources since im actually pretty interested if this is true or not.

[ivenholt]

what the hell are you guys d\loading?

[gamer4eva]

what the hell are you guys d\loading?

Top secret stuff to overthrow the government i bet....:pinch:

[0ctane]

ISP's are not legally allowed to view the data you are downloading, only how much and from where (IP address which would just be a NG server).

site your sources since im actually pretty interested if this is true or not.

If your service supports SSL theres very little chance they will see wot your traffic is used for anyway ;)

[bsgjunkie]

I worked for a small ISP during my first two years of college - only extremely high users were ever noticed. It will also depend on your service, as if you're dling 700gigs on cable, you may have others in your neighbor hood complaining, which will raise flags as well. Never once did we ask a customer to slow down on their bandwidth. Our local service was pretty nice, and many customers received much higher speeds then they paid for - for the customers that were excessive in their bandwidth, we did throttle their useage to the speeds they paid for. I don't know what the laws are, but its not impossible for an ISP to see exactly what you're dling - on occasion a tech would start laughing as he stumbled upon a user visiting animallove.com and downloading a file called hideitinthegoat.avi

Juinkie

[torrentseed]

My ISP has 30GB download limit each month, what happens if i go over that?