College Blocking Torrents?

[edisonfloyd]

I just moved to a college town and get internet through comcast and my torrents have been suspiciously slow. Verified torrents with >1000 seeders and <100 leechers will start downloading at around 500 kbps but then drop off to about 10-20 kbps within 30 seconds. I'm on Windows 8.1 and normally use uTorrent for a client but also tried Deluge (same problems on both). Is there any way to circumvent this blockage, preferably without paying for a seedbox or VPN?

[megabyteme]

Others may be able to give you detailed technical knowledge on circumventing Sandvine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandvine), but the first question I have is what site(s) are you downloading from? If you aren't using a private tracker, see if you can get an invite. Try a couple and see if one is better than the other speed-wise. In such an area, you may find yourself with DMCA notices and/or university policy violations (if you are on campus), as well.

Test the waters. See how many problems you could face (maybe none whatsoever). $8 for a VPN may not be so bad if you plan to download a significant amount. Main reason I say this is specific to your mention of it being a college town. You could even mention the town name if you want personal experiences.

[pootystomp]

Are you actually going to school there? Or do you just live in the town?

[Skiz]

Are you actually going to school there? Or do you just live in the town?

This.

If you just live in the town, it shouldn't matter and you should contact Comcast. If you're attending school there and live on campus, I'd say the school is throttling your activities. If that's the issue, ask around and you may find others with the same problem. If it's a large university you can probably find some online forums full of people from your school.