question about bandwidth usage

[mazinz]

I was talking with my boss the other night who happens to be a heavy downloader (torrents). He mentioned his isp limiting his usage and giving him a warning (not for content but the amount, he mentioned like 100 gigs downloaded in a day or something like that). I was curious and this discussion ensued creating the question I want to ask here

Would an isp measure traffic used for individual files or where they are from? For example lets say my boss grabs 100 gigs from a torrent and someone else grabs 100 gigs from an actual website (lets say mod files for fallout 3 game). Would an isp still see it as 100 gigs of bandwidth being used or because of the fact that they are individiual files not see it as one large lump of 100 gigs, or does it not matter and 100 gigs is 100 gigs?

I know he grabs a lot of mame and other type of stuff, but not sure if that kind of traffic is measured the same way it would be in the example listed above. I told him I do not think it is measured the same and that torrents are looked at differently but I could be wrong about that.
Any opinions or facts on this?

[poisondeathray]

Would an isp measure traffic used for individual files or where they are from?

The pattern of traffic for torrent use is different - there is a significantly higher upload bandwidth (unless your boss is a "leacher") compared to "regular" downloads. So if you download 100 GB, theoretically you should have uploaded 100 GB as well (1:1 ratio) , that's 200GB of usage

Cable companies have assymetrical rates - download is much higher bandwidth and lower latency than upload. So cable companies heavily monitor upload usage

Difficult for ISPs to monitor specific individual files, because torrents by their very nature have files that are distributed all across different peers and seeders in different locations (you're not downloading from 1 address, you're uploading & downloading from multiple ones).

RIAA and MPAA etc... have set up "traps" where they participate in torrent sites and record IP adresses of users (uploading & downloading) - because you have the IP address of peers and seeders

[jagabo]

To an ISP 100 gigs is 100 gigs no matter where it comes from. But torrents usually include a lot of uploading too. There may be different quotas for upload and download.

[poisondeathray]

So tell your boss to stop downloading pr0n

[minidv2dvd]

he's lucky he isn't a comcast subscriber. they have a hard 250gb/month limit. one warning, then the next month you exceed it you are terminated.

[HacktheHacker]

With my ISP I get 60gigs total download/upload and after that it is $1.50 / gig. I can view my download/upload on a daily basis online.

[jagabo]

I know Time Warner was experimenting with really low quotas -- 5 to 40 GB a month for their affordable plans (probably in an attempt to discourage subscribers from dropping their cable TV subscriptions in favor of internet streaming). They eventually gave up on the idea after a lot of backlash from their customers.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1048846/warner-trials-metering-cable

[Moontrash]

comcast seems to be a main culprit in the US for doing the bandwidth capping/usage scheme. Time Warner was starting to do that in a few cities around the US as a trial about a year ago and customers got irate. They stopped it. It's all to do with the hardware itself...cable...it has lotsa speed but when many users have it and are on it constantly, u nvr get the full speed they say u get so they put caps on how much u get a month to ensure fair and even usage. There's another company in my area that does the same...Suddenlink...notorius for capping and warnings etc. Cable is fast but not perfect. There's decent dsl out there that gets close and you rarely ever hear about customers being warned etc. Different setup all together. Until these old cable companies get into true fiber, you'll keep hearing about it more and more, and Comcast will usually be the ISP involved.

my little 5mb dsl connection is $40 a month unlimited, and its been non-stop for years w/o a complaint

[mazinz]

he's lucky he isn't a comcast subscriber. they have a hard 250gb/month limit. one warning, then the next month you exceed it you are terminated.

There is a lot of interesting reading here. I really think he was on comcast, I wil have to double check that with him