Housemate Stealing Bandwidth

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dr_Seuss

Posts: 66   +0
im at university and my house of 12 people has broadband which is networked around the house (10Mb broadband). however, one of our housemates insists on downloading full length films from the internet which takes its toll on the bandwidth (like leaves none for the rest of us). web pages wont open, MSN messenger wont connect.

is there anything we can do to restrict how much bandwidth he can have or a program which forces us to have the bandwidth instead of him??

we've all tried talking to him about it but he refuses to stop.

Please help!
 
He's got the download flu.. Once it gets into you can't stop.. :)

You would have to change the Router you're using to one that has features you need, Bufalo MIMO Wireless/Wired/Access Point Router does that. I don't know about the others, maybe Netgear?

You can limit the WAN from 1 to 100
Same for the LAN 1 to 100 per IP..
 
unfortunatly i cant get access to th router as it was supplied and locked away by the people i rent the house from. is there no piece of software that forces my computer to take more bandwidth?
 
You have to get into the settings part of the router, but if the router doesn't have the ability to limit banwidth to an IP Address, this won't work anyway
 
i know this is probably not what u are after, but why not try nuking in anyway possible ur housemates system, either via ur computer, or simply cute his electricity/plug/fuse, anything that will shutdown his system for the time when u need to access the net/and/or he is away/sleeping :)
i think, or atleast i believe many will agree or see some light to this :)
 
Run this on his computer http://dban.sourceforge.net/ It will likely take him some time to recover when he does do it again and continue untill he stops hogging the bandwidth. This may seem cruel but it should send the approiate message.
 
Solution

Instead of wiping his hard drive with the mentioned program simlpy take turns cutting his network cable in half. After a few trips to the store to buy a new one he will get the message.

If he is, pardon my french, that big of a prick to not respect the rights of the others in the household to use the service they are also paying when asked to stop, he deserves what is comming to him.

I have 5 meg internet and let me tell you I have had about 6 people playing online FPS games here and it hasnt given my bandwith much of a problem.

10meg with im assuming a max of 5 people at any given time online doing not very bandwith intense stuff (ie msn, surfing and occational song download) he must have atleast 10 movies downloading at one time at about 400kbs a second or faster for the effects that you are getting because of him.
 
Hi Dr-seuss,

first of all... I would strongly advise against doing anything that would harm your housemate's computer, files, etc. (such as wiping his hard drive, cutting cables/cords, etc). doing so would only make matters worse, and could potentially get you in alot of trouble... with that being said...

as already stated, bandwidth limiting can only be done through hardware (router), so there is no software to do what you want. you can however download software that lets you monitor the amount of bandwidth used by each local IP address (although you may need to access you router to use it).

I assume that the 12 of you split the cable internet bill evenly 12 ways, right? perhaps you and your other housemates could all agree to charge him extra (say you each pay 5%, and he alone pays the remaining 45% of the bill) for his excessive usage.. (if possible, use a bandwidth monitoring program to prove his excessive usage)

if it costs him more each month than perhaps he will think twice. hit him in the wallet (thats where it really hurts ;))

whatever you decide to do, good luck :wave:
 
there are programs that will run from your machine
that will slow him down ,but he or she will fig it out and since they are admin of there own machine they can fix it
if cable is accessable in a hidden area put another router on it and control them this way
if they don't want to play nice
talking about it like adults and agreement of terms of use is better
,but I have seen where it is like a drug and they will lie to keep there internet
 
The only way is to download full length movies when he isn't. Then, when he tries to download one, the speed will be 0.07kb/s and he will be soo pissed. Trust me it works. And if anyone asks why the internet is so slow, blame it on him.
 
You could turn him over to the RIAA or other such organization if what he is doing is illegal.
 
call a house meeting and vote him/her OFF the net
(mass, public, polite-disapproval can modify behavior)
OR
get a schedule for that activity to which all can agree.
 
And If....

And if reasonable mediation does not reslove the issue, think about negotiations with a couple 2 ft peices of steel pipe and a bycicle chain. Its a little crude but its always worked in my family :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back