uTorrent 2.0 To Elimininate The Need For ISP Throttling

http://www.utorrent.com/images/utorrent_logo.png

ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years already. Although the true reasons for this are not always clear, some ISPs have argued that a high number of BitTorrent connections are slowing down other applications and traffic.

In early 2007, when network neutrality was still a non-issue for most people, BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen told us that ISPs should find a way to cope with BitTorrent.

“ISPs have to invest in making their networks better and faster rather than stifling applications which consumers use and love,” he said, while encouraging users to switch to non throttling ISPs if possible, or complain to their ISP’s customer services.

A lot of things have changed in the years that followed. Comcast started to prevent its users from seeding content on BitTorrent, and many other ISPs took similar actions to throttle BitTorrent traffic. As a direct result, network neutrality was placed on the political agenda in many countries. It also inspired BitTorrent Inc. to look for solutions that would eliminate the need for throttling entirely, solving the problem at its root.

This is where uTP comes in. uTP is a new and improved implementation of the BitTorrent protocol which is designed to be network friendly. The current implementation often causes interference with other applications, which is the main reason why ISPs try to slow it down, or even stop it altogether. uTP aims to solve this problem.

With uTP, uTorrent (and the Mainline client) will become network aware by throttling itself if congestion in the network is detected. This will have a huge impact on ISP networks according to Simon Morris, BitTorrent’s VP of Product Management. “If uTP is successful it should result in a multi-billion dollar windfall in terms of savings for ISPs,” Morris told TorrentFreak

This means that the new uTorrent will eliminate the need for ISPs to throttle BitTorrent traffic in their networks. Of course, uTorrent users will also be affected by the new protocol. When needed, uTorrent will decrease the upload or download speed to avoid congestion.

According to Morris it’s mainly the upload speed that will be affected. “The throttling that matters most is actually not so much the download but rather the upload – as bandwidth is normally much lower UP than DOWN, the up-link will almost always get congested before the down-link does,” he explained.

“uTP measures the time a packet takes to get sent from peer A to peer B, so in theory uTP will detect congestion anywhere on that path, although in practice the congestion most often happens somewhere on the first-mile uplink connection.”

So does this mean that the new uTorrent will result in slower download times? Not necessarily. Since there is less congestion, uTorrent users will experience no slowdowns in web-browsing, and ideally less congestion and a more efficient use of the network may result in faster download speeds. uTP is currently being tested in uTorrent v2.0 beta and thus far none of the testers have reported any significant problems.

“There are already a couple of hundred thousand people using our v2.0 beta client, and things seem to be progressing very nicely. Our v2.0 client will initiate outgoing uTP connections by default whenever it can. Previous versions of our clients will accept incoming uTP connections – they just won’t initiate them,” Morris said.

“We’re excited that this creates a better experience for millions of consumers, and it also potentially has a massive impact on ISPs – greatly reducing (even eliminating) any justification to manage or shape BitTorrent traffic and allowing ISP networks to handle more BitTorrent traffic, without resulting congestion forcing capital network upgrades ahead of schedule or the ‘need’ to invest in DPI or other traffic shaping gear.”

It is hard to tell if uTP really is BitTorrent’s savior, but if it lives up to the expectations it will be beneficial to both users and ISPs. The specs for uTP will eventually be open so other clients will have the opportunity to implement it too. However, since uTorrent and the Mainline client together are used by two thirds of all BitTorrent users, the effects should be immediately noticeable to both those users and ISPs.

:source: Source: TorrentFreak:view: Homepage: uTorrent:down: Download Link: uTorrent

I was just reading this and was about to post it as well.

My only concern is obviously of speed. Is BT moving to appease the corporate masses? This kind of process claims to prevent the necessity for "ISP throttling", but how is the means they go by to accomplish this any different throttling itself? It's essentially the same concept, throttling when congestion is high. Only now, it won't matter which ISP you use, there will always be throttling through the program itself.

It's a good thing honestly, how would you like to be streaming Hulu off you ISP and then you get a 100 BT users starting to upload/download shit and you Hulu takes twice as long to stream and buffer? I know if it affected me I would be pissed if I couldn't stream or watch TV.

That's why when you advertise certain speeds as an ISP, you keep your promise. People pay a premium for faster internet speeds, only to be throttled due to apparent "high traffic". If your infrastructure can't handle allowing people such high speeds, either upgrade your infrastructure to allow it or don't advertise your plans as such. It's nothing short of deceitful to promise certain internet speeds only to throttle the connection.

I can't see anyone installing this new uTorrent client...

i'm still confused after what i read. i love utorrent, but i'll wait sites to give opinion of it.

The only reason ISP's throttle is to fatten their already fat profits.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tesco

I can't see anyone installing this new uTorrent client...

---

may be because it still in beta phase & I think most trackers have not approved it yet .

Sounds like rubbish to me and just a caveat to appease the ISP. As said before if when you pay for 1 Mbit you actually get it then things would be a lot better. Only plus side is this won't throttle you 24/7 like some ISPs do but it is really just self-throttling.

Sounds like a quick fix for the ignorant users who unknowingly saturate their upstream and thus slow down their connection. Granted, I don't fully understand what goes on between the ISP customer and the ISP's hardware, so maybe I'm also ignorant *shrug*.

Quote:

---

“uTP measures the time a packet takes to get sent from peer A to peer B, so in theory uTP will detect congestion anywhere on that path, although in practice the congestion most often happens somewhere on the first-mile uplink connection.”

---

"first-mile uplink": would that be ISP customer to ISP?
Also, if most of the congestion happens before packets leave the ISP's local service area, then uTP will throttle all traffic outside of your zip code?

Lastly, how is this measured time different from ping? And isn't that largely dependent upon physical distance? (i.e. speeds are higher within a 100 mile radius rather than connecting to someone across the globe)

just tried utorrent 2 ,I noticed the following two gross changes :
1- integrated speed test with few locations including us , France Netherlands... etc

http://i36.tinypic.com/2dnzeq.jpg

2- an interesting feature transfer cap ,it will be very useful for users with limited traffic

http://i38.tinypic.com/16bd6k5.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ahmed047

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tesco

I can't see anyone installing this new uTorrent client...

---

may be because it still in beta phase & I think most trackers have not approved it yet.

---

The article is in error.

Simply put, in the same fashion that memcache reduces load on a database server... this protocol will reduce load on the tracker.

Yes, there are benefits to an ISP... but that wasn't the goal, as much as it was a convenient feature.

If you don't want to change over, so be it... just keep your mouth shut when we ban all clients that don't support it.

Oh wait... I already have.

:fst:

there will be MOD pretty soon after the 2.0 version will come out finally