upload cap slows down my home network

[SomeGuyNamedMike]

I've got a home network consisting of 3 computers attached to a 3Com HUB. I've bought seperate IP's for each computer from my cable provider.

Originally, my upload was NOT capped, and things ran smoothly in my network here. About a month ago, my cable company capped upload speeds to 128k (about 15k per second). After this happened, I noticed occassional periods where my internet connection would get extremely slow, making net surfing slow and online gaming very laggy (completely unplayable).

Tonight I was finally able to pinpoint the problem. Whenever one of the 3 computers attached to the HUB decide to upload something, it steals most of the upload bandwidth from the other two computers!

If I'm playing Quake3 while someone on another computer in my house decides to upload, I get lagged with pings of upwards to 700 or higher.

Seems to me that all 3 computers here are sharing a single 128k upload cap? This is particularly frustrating because I'm PAYING for additional IPs and yet they all share the same limited upload cap?

I tried contacting Comcast (my provider) about this issue, but the best advice they could offer was that they didn't offer assistance to customers with home networking issues and to try searching the net for a solution. Thanks Comcast!

Anyhow, I'll be grateful if anyone can give me advice on what I can do to remedy this situation. Basically, I don't want one computer on my HUB stealing all the upload bandwidth. Any solutions out there?

[glc1]

Originally posted by SomeGuyNamedMike:
Seems to me that all 3 computers here are sharing a single 128k upload cap? This is particularly frustrating because I'm PAYING for additional IPs and yet they all share the same limited upload cap?Yes, that is the way it works and the problem your experiencing is expected w/a 128kbps upload cap. Sorry, but there's really nothing you can do. :(

[Prey521]

A lotta people seem whom have more than one IP are under the assumption that just cuz they have more than one IP provided by their ISP, that each IP has its own dedicated bandwidth, when we all know that that is not the case. The ISP's should be more forthcoming about that info, cuz a misinformed customer will be disappointed when they find out the truth about how one account will share the bandwidth, no matter how many IP's they purchase. Do they tell you that kind of info when you lease extra IP's?

[Teck7]

Get a switch, it will allocate your availible bandwidth better and unlike a hub when a data request is made, wont allocate like 70% of bandwidth just for that one data request.

[glc1]

Originally posted by Teck7:
Get a switch, it will allocate your availible bandwidth better and unlike a hub when a data request is made, wont allocate like 70% of bandwidth just for that one data request.The bandwidth of his LAN isn't the problem, the problem is the upstream bandwidth of his connection.

[SomeGuyNamedMike]

128k cap is choking a single cable connection, now I'm forced to spread it out over 3 different computers?!

This is so frustrating. The only solution I've managed to find is to restrict heavy uploading by the other computers (disabling outbound transfers in Napster apps, limiting mass uploading of files, etc.) Seems to be helping a lot, but I still don't like the fact that one computer can steal the measley upload bandwidth from the other 2.

So there's no realistic option to fix this situation? How about possibly getting separate upload caps for each IP, either through my cable provider or by setting specific speed limits for each computer? I know there's most likely not much I can do here -- I'm desperate!

Thanks for all your help!

[glc1]

Originally posted by SomeGuyNamedMike:
How about possibly getting separate upload caps for each IP, either through my cable provider or by setting specific speed limits for each computer? The only way to allocate upload bandwidth is expensive hardware.

[ 03-08-2001: Message edited by: glc1 ]

[Larry_Beall]

I agree with the one of the other posted messages about expensive hardware. I wonder if your ISP would allow you to have 3 seperate cable modems, one for each computer. The 3 modems could be connected on the cable side through a hybrid splitter or tap to combine the 3 cable outputs. There would have to be cable company involvement because this will probably affect your cable signal levels probably by reducing them. I would think that 3 modems would effectivly allow each computer to have its own download and upload channels and bandwidth. I am not sure if this arrangement would work but it may not be a bad idea to run it by your ISP and local cable supplier.

[glc1]

Originally posted by Larry:
I would think that 3 modems would effectivly allow each computer to have its own download and upload channels and bandwidth. Only if each modem has an account. Modems don't add bandwidth.