Bad Torrent ISP’s in Canada

Digg it 

Here is what pisses me off. No matter where I go in Canada, be it Nova Scotia, Manitoba, or currently British Columbia, it seems whatever ISP I have tends to screw with my bittorrent traffic.

I always thought it was something wrong with my connection, but checking out a list of bad ISP’s in Canada, I know now its not my fault. I do work for one of these ISP’s through a third-party call center in Vancouver, but will not evaluate the services through what I have heard on the phone, but instead, my own experience.

From the best to worst…

I have had three ISP’s in the various locations I have lived (one several times), and the best of the ones I have tried is Eastlink. Eastlink provides home phone, cell phones, cable (digital, satellite, ect), and of course, internet. I subscribed to their 10mbit line, and has been the most enjoyable so far. I find that when I download a torrent with a high seeder/leacher ratio (E.G: a torrent by aXXo), the highest connection I can get is around 250kB/s, but what really angers me is the fact that I can’t seed. Since 2006, Eastlink has limited the bittorrent protocol drastically, however its mainly for the upload speed. I made a few torrents about a year ago, and I only had bitcomet open, seeding. I was seeding around 10-20kB/s. Before 2006, I was able to go up to 1.5 mB/s and seed at around 1.0 mB/s. Even using bittorrent encryption, its still not easy to get high download speeds.

Another thing I found about Eastlink, is that when you are downloading something with a P2P network, even if its only 10kB/s, it will completely slow down ALL traffic going to and from your computer, and not just the bittorrent traffic. Overall, I would give Eastlink with a 5/10 for download/upload.

The SECOND one I used was Shaw Cable. This was… to say the least, horrible. They offered a 5mbit, and a 10mbit line, however, because I was in an area they just started providing internet in, I could only subscribe to the 5mbit line. The 5mbit line was okay, but it severly limited all traffic, not just bittorrent. However, I found that the bittorrent traffic was cut dramastically as well. While trying to play games online like rainbow six: vegas, if I went an entire game without severe lagging or being disconnected, I would be surprised. Traffic was really slow. Torrent downloads, nearly impossible. It took me three days to download “Sicko“, and cut pretty close. I actually kept my laptop running while me and my grandma were finishing cleaning my room before I went to stay at the farm for a few days before catching my flight. This ISP, however, did not limit all of my traffic when downloading a torrent, but still reduced my torrent speeds dramatically. I got, at most, 50mB/s, and thats with a 3/1 seeder ratio with around 2000-3000 seeders. Overall, I give this ISP a 3/10.

Now, overall, those two ISP’s have a bad mark. So, now going to my third, and final ISP, I have a few choice words… none of them nice.

Rogers, probably the LARGEST service provider for cell phones, cable, internet, and home phones (after aquiring Sprint Canada) in the country. Now, just because this is one, if not THE largest provider in Canada doesn’t mean its a decent provider. Yes, I have had its cable, digital cable, cell phone, and internet previously (not sure about home phone), and they have all been SHIT. The cell phone gave many mysterious “service charges” that I never saw on anyone elses bill. If i got too close to Quebec, or the states, I would find I got alot of “international roaming fees”, though I never ventured into the states. Because I was pay-as-you-go, they refused me credit for the flaw in THEIR system. But, back to the ISP. Remember the list I linked to earlier? Well, it seems the service has actually DEGRADED over the years. Now, the internet they provide sucked before, and its worse NOW. Not only do they LIMIT bittorrent traffic to the point where its nearly impossible to download a torrent. So, lets try using encryption to make it go faster… Nope, sorry, it actually makes it WORSE unless you have some sort of encryption software I never heard of. Now, if you think thats bad, don’t even TRY to make a .torrent and send it. The reason for this, is because this is the ONLY ISP (besides Cogeco) in Canada that BLOCKS seeding. Cogeco is some small-time ISP that I never heard of. If you think you can access the internet while downloading torrents, then your highly mistaken. This is worse then Shaw, because I found it was virtually IMPOSSBILE to browse the web AND attempt a download at the same time. Overall, I would give my experience with this ISP a 1/10. They get a 1 because I did have SOME sort of internet connection.

If you leave rogers, please put your name at http://boycottrogers.com

In before I get fired from my job…

(P.S: 100% original content)

Similar Posts

• Can Media Defender be so stupid?
• Featured Torrent User: Mark721888
• Interview With Charlie Angus
• BRB CHURCH
• Hey Charlie: Some issues affecting Canadians