Your Freedom Proxy

[Gatecrasher]

With the Mweb outage last weekend, I bought a month's sub to the Your Freedom proxy service (+-R100 for Enhanced 4MB/s) to bypass the almost total p2p and non-HTTP shaping that was in place. It is a socks 5 proxy, but I set it up for HTTP only. It worked well for Astraweb via Altbinz, utorrent, even tried it in emule (but could only get LowID; you can get High ID with the more expensive Total option)

With Mweb back in action, I didn't really need the account any more, but today, being a big BBC fanatic, I switched the proxy to one of the UK servers (there are many to choose from) in my browser and I'm having a lot of fun on BBC iplayer. iPlayer downloads well at 3.5MB/s. I think the downloads are DRM'ed, with viewing up to 30 days, but it is stuff I'm not likely to keep anyway.

I can also stream domestic BBC TV this way.

So this proxy thing is really pretty useful, with lots of different applications. There is an option to purchase vouchers for specific time frames which you can then use at any time up to a year from purchase.

Just thought I'd post this as an alternative, and perhaps more flexible, idea to VPS TorrentBox and DownStorm type solutions, especially if you're like me, and don't like the idea of storing downloads on someone else's server.

I know it is possible to find free proxies online, but I've generally found them to flaky, unreliable, and untrustworthy. Your Freedom comes with nice software and powerful configuration tools.

http://www.your-freedom.net/

 

[mrudling]

Aaaaand the your-freedom proxy's get added to the shaping pool

Nice for sharing tho.

 

[cavedog]

Aaaaand the your-freedom proxy's get added to the shaping pool

Nice for sharing tho.

You obviously don't know how it works then. They have 32 servers across the world which you connect to via http/https/ftp/cgi/udm

I actually have a account. Its kinda cool. Does the same thing as VPN but works with a number of connection methods to bypass shaping/blocking. So yes it works to bypass shaping on p2p and hides your real IP since the server's ip is displayed.

Its costs like R100 a month for the enhanced package which is quite pricey for unshaping your torrents during the day. Unless you have extra money and its actually cheaper than downstorm.co.za

 

[Gatecrasher]

Its costs like R100 a month for the enhanced package which is quite pricey for unshaping your torrents during the day. Unless you have extra money and its actually cheaper than downstorm.co.za

Yeah, it is not really worth it just to unshape your torrents, but the fact that it works with so many different applications and gives you a choice of foreign IP addresses makes it really quite useful. This is also where the vouchers come in handy. You get 40x 4MB/s 12 hour sessions for the same price, which you can then use as and when you need them. Unfortunately, I only noticed the voucher payment method after I had bought the sub.

 

[AeroVPS]

Yeah, it is not really worth it just to unshape your torrents

Agree with you there.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Agree with you there.

I'm sure that is the only part you would agree with, though...

A couple of things I've discovered since my last post:

I can "cash-in" the pro-rata unused portion of my sub to purchase vouchers. I think I will do that.

I can make quality "back-ups" of iPlayer downloads with the free Windows Media Encoder. I also tried with the open source CamStudio but not get decent quality.

 

[fragtion]

Ok, something I don't get here, and I'd like someone to clear this one up for me please:
I'm forever seeing threads here about bypassing shaping through using unshaped ports like HTTP (such as this one). At the same time I'm seeing people complain about Mweb now shaping ports such as HTTP as well. The reason they shape p2p in the first place is to keep the price and service acceptable for all users despite the heavy contention ratios, by degrading the bulk traffic priority... now with everyone finding alternative http/ftp/etc ports to max their downloads, it completely defeats the point of that? All that this will achieve is getting the ISP to shape EVERY ****ing port to the displeasure of EVERYONE else trying to make use of the service!? In other words, you guys should not be doing this... if you get caught your account should by right be terminated.

 

[Gatecrasher]

@fragtion

In which way does this or any other "bypass", violate Mweb's FUP? Shaping is not something we control, it is something Mweb controls. The more they shape, the more people will feel compelled to find ways to bypass the restraints. The less they shape, the less people will feel compelled to bypass. It's really up to Mweb. Individuals will do whatever suits them best, depending on their needs.

In reality, with Mweb's fair shaping policy, only a handful of people will go the trouble and expense of bypass solutions. Under normal conditions, the proxy solution in this thread is not worth it just as a bypass. What makes it worthwhile, though, is access to content which is normally restricted to IP addresses in specific countries and as a backstop when shaping is excessively restrictive as we saw last weekend.

 

[fragtion]

The more they shape, the more people will feel compelled to find ways to bypass the restraints.

Bingo? The less people have, doesn't give them greater grounds to rob. Similarly, evading a p2p shape by utilising a prioritized port - namely http port 80 - to download your large files, would leave Mweb with no choice but to either rise the price to reduce contention (add capacity), or include http traffic into the shaping as well - or worse, impose something like cut-off limits on TCP threads exceeding specified quota. If you want to push your luck with the service, you're going to degrade it for everyone else. It's the mentality of people who promote this kind of behaviour, who make things like cheap uncapped for all unfeasible in the first place. Nobody likes shaping, so users should not steal their way out of it - that only results in greater overall shaping for everyone else. It would be lovely if our ISP's had an unlimited pipe of bandwidth, but our uncapped free lunch is in fact bottlenecked by a pipe that dumps enough goods for 1 in 20 of us to be satisfied fully at any given time, so we gotta respect that little fact until a few things happen... 1) we're not entirely dependant on Neotel for seacom bandwidth, 2) EASSy, WACS, etc land next year as planned, 3) the whole supply chain, especially tier-1 ISP's, follow through on their ability to reduce wholesale prices so that upstream bandwidth is abundant enough for shaping to become a thing of the past.

 

[Gatecrasher]

@fragtion

How do you rob bandwidth on an uncapped service? It's a complete oxymoron. I'm not going to prescribe to others, and I don't appreciate others prescribing to me. You really want to control internet users? You'll have far more success herding cats.

The only thing I've ever promoted on this site is getting the most out of the SA internet experience at the minimum cost. We are moving in the right directions, but we are still paying far too much for far too little.

 

[fragtion]

@fragtion

How do you rob bandwidth on an uncapped service? It's a complete oxymoron. I'm not going to prescribe to others, and I don't appreciate others prescribing to me. You really want to control internet users? You'll have far more success herding cats.

The only thing I've ever promoted on this site is getting the most out of the SA internet experience at the minimum cost. We are moving in the right directions, but we are still paying far too much for far too little.

You're oblivious to the fact that your "uncapped service" is not running on unlimited bandwidth at the tier-1 level. It's a big pool that users share, with fair usage systems in place and the assumption that the cost can stay low as long as people use the service somewhat sparingly. So either you're completely ignorant about it, or aware but careless - showing no remorse despite knowing that you're resorting to unofficial means to satisfy your greed. HTTP traffic is for browsing, not leeching the latest series episodes and clogging up the limited pipe that serves everyone. Look at it any way you like, bottom line is that by being greedy you're costing everyone else. I'm not trying to single you out in particular, I'm just pointing out a serious problem that 'uncapped' has. It's only passively uncapped, so users should acknowledge that their greed could potentially cost them the ability to have the service in the first place. Trust me, I don't want to control the internet, I would love true uncapped! But that will only be possible if you give the system a chance! Guess what that means?...

 

[Gatecrasher]

You're oblivious to the fact that your "uncapped service" is not running on unlimited bandwidth at the tier-1 level. It's a big pool that users share, with fair usage systems in place and the assumption that the cost can stay low as long as people use the service somewhat sparingly. So either you're completely ignorant about it, or aware but careless - showing no remorse despite knowing that you're resorting to unofficial means to satisfy your greed. HTTP traffic is for browsing, not leeching the latest series episodes and clogging up the limited pipe that serves everyone. Look at it any way you like, bottom line is that by being greedy you're costing everyone else. I'm not trying to single you out in particular, I'm just pointing out a serious problem that 'uncapped' has. It's only passively uncapped, so users should acknowledge that their greed could potentially cost them the ability to have the service in the first place. Trust me, I don't want to control the internet, I would love true uncapped! But that will only be possible if you give the system a chance! Guess what that means?...

What is official or unofficial in this context? This is the internet! The closest thing to anarchy ever devised by man. If Mweb want to cripple their service to the point of being useless to me, I'll just move onto a service that does fit my needs. That is what competition is all about. I'm not about to modify my behaviour for fragtion's self-conceived, self-opinionated notions of "greed" and the "common good." It not my business whether an ISP's business model succeeds or fails. It is their business, and I have no control over it.

The only thing I have any control over in this equation is my own internet experience. I will continue to strive for the best and most cost effective internet experience that I can achieve, and I will share any useful knowledge I gain with others who care to listen.

One thing I will not do is sit in judgement over others, or tell other people how to conduct their lives.

So I'm sorry if you are perched uncomfortably on some imaginary high horse. Your opinion is worthless to me.

 

[fragtion]

What is official or unofficial in this context? This is the internet! The closest thing to anarchy ever devised by man. If Mweb want to cripple their service to the point of being useless to me, I'll just move onto a service that does fit my needs. That is what competition is all about. I'm not about to modify my behaviour for fragtion's self-conceived, self-opinionated notions of "greed" and the "common good." It not my business whether an ISP's business model succeeds or fails. It is their business, and I have no control over it.

The only thing I have any control over in this equation is my own internet experience. I will continue to strive for the best and most cost effective internet experience that I can achieve, and I will share any useful knowledge I gain with others who care to listen.

One thing I will not do is sit in judgement over others, or tell other people how to conduct their lives.

So I'm sorry if you are perched uncomfortably on some imaginary high horse. Your opinion is worthless to me.

Facts remain facts. That high-horse you mention happens to be your strawman. The facts are that bandwidth supply is limited, you're wilfully abusing it, and turning a blind eye about it. That's all fair and well because you're paying for an 'uncapped' service, sure... but cause and effect means that whether you want it to be part of your world reality or not, by you overlooking that "common good" which you couldn't seem to give two damns about, you're forgetting the consequence: you're destroying the very service you're hunting for from ISP to ISP to find. You're essentially a selfish, catalystic parasite who thinks that because you're paying R300 a month for uncapped, you can take it to the next level and leech every last drop of potential as if it were your birthright. And then those of us who know how to control ourselves, must suffer. Fair, isn't it... Now you can maybe understand why I said such users who are caught finding loopholes ala non-standard ports to download bulk, should have their accounts terminated. I couldn't be bothered about judging anybody, trust me... I'm just arguing based on the facts, and the fact is that your carelessness has its toll on everyone else. My reaction is therefore 100% justified and rational. I'm defending my right to experience the closest thing to true uncapped for a low price - the very same thing you want - only difference is you're inhibiting it by admittedly caring naught about mutual respect. I'll say it again: the pipes that feed us are limited, and those like you are saturating your sponges more than you've been provisioned for, and at our expense. We don't exactly like that, and nor would you if your hope for cheaper, unshaped uncapped, was being destroyed by a potently destructive inconsiderate few.

 

[KulRath]

@fragtion

How do you rob bandwidth on an uncapped service? It's a complete oxymoron. I'm not going to prescribe to others, and I don't appreciate others prescribing to me. You really want to control internet users? You'll have far more success herding cats.

The only thing I've ever promoted on this site is getting the most FOR MYSELF out of the SA internet experience at the minimum cost and the rest of you can kiss my rear end. We are moving in the right directions, but we are still paying far too much for far too little.

Fixed it for you...

 

[cavedog]

Facts remain facts. That high-horse you mention happens to be your strawman. The facts are that bandwidth supply is limited, you're wilfully abusing it, and turning a blind eye about it. That's all fair and well because you're paying for an 'uncapped' service, sure... but cause and effect means that whether you want it to be part of your world reality or not, by you overlooking that "common good" which you couldn't seem to give two damns about, you're forgetting the consequence: you're destroying the very service you're hunting for from ISP to ISP to find. You're essentially a selfish, catalystic parasite who thinks that because you're paying R300 a month for uncapped, you can take it to the next level and leech every last drop of potential as if it were your birthright. And then those of us who know how to control ourselves, must suffer. Fair, isn't it... Now you can maybe understand why I said such users who are caught finding loopholes ala non-standard ports to download bulk, should have their accounts terminated. I couldn't be bothered about judging anybody, trust me... I'm just arguing based on the facts, and the fact is that your carelessness has its toll on everyone else. My reaction is therefore 100% justified and rational. I'm defending my right to experience the closest thing to true uncapped for a low price - the very same thing you want - only difference is you're inhibiting it.

You are making bold accusations. You don't know our usage? I can bet R1000 that my usage is less than 80% of the people that use mweb. So to come here and 'attack' some one is unjustified!

I hate abusers just as much. Bypassing the shaping doesn't amount to abuse. The amount of data you use WILL be considered abuse. If Mweb says listen you are using a bit to much I won't go crazy. I will accept it a use less. You should go to other threads where people say they used like 400GB+

Go and bitch there....

 

[cavedog]

Fixed it for you...

Screw you. Fixed that for you!

 

[fragtion]

You are making bold accusations. You don't know our usage? I can bet R1000 that my usage is less than 80% of the people that use mweb. So to come here and 'attack' some one is unjustified!

I hate abusers just as much. Bypassing the shaping doesn't amount to abuse. The amount of data you use WILL be considered abuse. If Mweb says listen you are using a bit to much I won't go crazy. I will accept it a use less. You should go to other threads where people say they used like 400GB+

Go and bitch there....

Like I said I couldn't be bothered about attacking anyone. I have better things to do with my time. My 2c is just as relevant here as it would be on one of those "I can download 500GB in 2 days" threads, because this is pretty much the same thing: abuse - the whole point of this thread is to bypass a shaping on p2p by using a non-p2p port. If you cannot work out in your mind that the implication of that initial shaping was to conserve a quality browsing/general use experience at the necessary expense of users' ability to download large quantities of less priority bulk data, then you shouldn't even get involved in this discussion because your argument is not based on the facts. Do you think they shape rapidshare for fun? - did they pick it out of a hat of many sites randomly and by chance it just happened to be one of the big downloading sites that happen to degrade everyone else's experience if left unshaped? Can you not see that by bypassing the standard limits which you should respect for what you're paying for, by finding these loopholes to download more for less price, you are in fact hurting everyone else's value for money. It's not my opinion, it's the very reason why you had to try find the way around in the first place. you probably wondered why the hell you had to go through all that **** when the internet should be free and unrestricted? Well now you know. Greed is destructive

 

[KulRath]

@cavedog.. no need to get hostile

Seriously though, do you honestly believe streaming TV at 3.5MB/s on a http port isn't abuse and isn't gonna hurt other users? I mean who mentioned overall usage anyway? I'd hate to try browsing when 3000 other users of my ISP cotton onto this "every man for himself" attitude.

 

[Gatecrasher]

@cavedog.. no need to get hostile

Seriously though, do you honestly believe streaming TV at 3.5MB/s on a http port isn't abuse and isn't gonna hurt other users? I mean who mentioned overall usage anyway? I'd hate to try browsing when 3000 other users of my ISP cotton onto this "every man for himself" attitude.

I've downloaded 2 whole files doing that. Less than 1 Gig's worth, and it took about 40 minutes. They were HTTP downloads anyway, not p2p. Normally, I wouldn't be able to do that because I have an SA IP address.

But now, I'm a "selfish, catalystic parasite."

I'm not even a heavy downloader. I just like my internet to work, and I like to have backup in place when I need it. It is a massive assumption to move from my discussion of a premium proxy server to then paint me as some devilish internet hog, destroying the experience of everyone else. I don't pay R300. All told, I pay over R2500pm for all my internet services.

But fragtion is entitled to his opinion. I just don't share it. I prefer to help others in practical ways, rather than preaching from a soapbox.

 

[KulRath]

But now, I'm a "selfish, catalystic parasite." paint me as some devilish internet hog, destroying the experience of everyone else.

/hugs Gatecrasher

just keep it to a minimum, k