Network traffic problems

[Resolve]

Hi,

Going to cut to the chase. We live in a commune with about 20 people using a 4mb uncapped line(waiting for upgrade from Telkom).Speed and everything use to be fine,not perfect but completely usable.Now someone on the network is misusing the line by constantly downloading torrents or streaming videos. The usage is sky high everyday,maxing it out completely. Our isp is know throttling our line so badly the internet is basically useless,cannot check email or download notes for work. Is there anyway of tracing the culprit on the network and bringing him to justice?

Thanks
Your help will be appreciated.

 

[Anthro]

Well, you will have to start at the connecting point - possibly set up a IPCOP box, chat to The Librarian about that one ;-)
Elso, not knowing what sort of router you have kinda makes it pointless

 

[FNfal]

You will have to have a router/modem that can manage traffic ,what router/modem do you have ??
I think this one does that http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTAC66U/

 

[Resolve]

Nah the librarians at Tukkies intimidates me to much Router -> http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/support/gateways/WAG120N

 

[Resolve]

http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/support/gateways/WAG120N

 

[PsyWulf]

You'll have to provide a wee bit more detail on the exact network config for a more optimal solution to be proffered

 

[Pada]

Instead of having a server box with IPCop, you can use MikroTik or Draytek units to shape the traffic accordingly.

IPCop is much more powerful than the MikroTik/Draytek units, but also requires a bit more effort to setup than the Draytek routers. Setting op effective shaping/throttling on the MikroTik routers aren't easy either, but you should be able to get sufficient support here.

The easiest setup on a MikroTik would be to set it up as a hotspot, where you give everyone a username & password and then give them either a rate limit of cap per month.
This method involves now shaping/throttling, but it would prevent the users from going ballistic 24/7!

 

[Resolve]

Mmmh we shall try your idea,otherwise we are going set up a server giving everyone caps...but would prefer not to do that just because of one person

 

[Resolve]

Yeap that's what we are also thinking about doing,,giving everyone for example a 15gig cap and have one larger account that can be used for downloading and then sharing over the network...but only the smart ones will know about this one...

 

[Pada]

If you guys are all downloading the same stuff, then it might be worth while to have a server that downloads the stuff, and then you only need to download it once.

Like I setup SickBeard like that so that my brother and I don't have to download the same stuff twice

Also remember that 15GB/person is quite a lot actually. 15GBx20 = 300GB ! (not that everyone will download THAT much).

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

You need to ensure that each person pays for the downloads that they do.
This may help you isolate the bad people from the not so bad people.
You may also want to consider going to an unshaped option to remove the throttling for contravening the fair usage policy.

Regards

Tim