Tunnelling BitTorrent over SSH

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:02:39 +0100

I'm making a note in case I hit this particular wall that you can tunnel BitTorrent over SSH. This came up when I read a post about Comcast breaking BitTorrent uising a technology called SandVine.

The usual ISP argument goes like this "If everyone uses the bandwidth they've paid for our network will collapse." This argument is horse shit. What the ISP is saying is that they are massively overselling their bandwidth and if people used what they thought they were paying for the ISP couldn't cope. It's like when I turn up to the airport to find that my flight is "overbooked." How do you sell more tickets than you have seats? Willfully, that's how.

I would counter that ISP's should have their feet put to the fire and sell what they can provide at prices that are profitable. That gets rid of "fair usage" at a stroke. It's not about some arbitrary measure of "fairness" but about what I have paid for and can legally use. Of course the ISP's and Telcos will fight this bitterly because it would put them on a level playing field where they could no longer operate a cartel and would actually have to compete leading to a reduction in price and improvement in service.

Our problem as consumers is that telcos & ISP's have lobbied so successfully to corrupt the law and strange all methods of competition that as consumers we are forced to put up with them if we want an IP dialtone.

Curiouser and Curiouser! on bandwidth

Tunnelling BitTorrent over SSH