Rogers realized that the bit-shaping applications they were using to limit the traffic that is generated by BitTorrent weren’t effective anymore, and started to throttle all encrypted transfers as well. As a consequence, people have trouble connecting to encrypted e-mail services, and other applications that rely on encrypted connections.

Rogers is not the only ISP that tries to cut down the BitTorrent traffic. Last year we had a discussion whether traffic shaping is good or bad, and both BitTorrent users and ISPs had some good arguments. However, limiting all encrypted transfers is a completely different story, it affects a wide range of customers, not only the ones using BitTorrent.

What makes it even more ridiculous is that Rogers still advertises with the slogan “for sharing large files and much more”. Last time I checked BitTorrent was still the best way to share large files, but I guess the people at Rogers don’t want their customers to share large files after all.

Rogers’ competitor Shaw is also limiting BitTorrent traffic, but at least they still leave encrypted traffic untouched (for now).

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Are you not sure if your traffic is being throttled Check the list of bad ISP’s.

But there is a solution. Encrypting your torrents will prevent throttling ISP’s from shaping your traffic. I will explain how to enable encryption in Azureus, uTorrent, and Bitcomet, the three most popular torrent clients.

What does encryption Do?

The RC4 encryption obfuscates not only the header but the entire stream. This means that it’s very hard for your ISP to detect that the traffic you are generating comes from BitTorrent.

Note that RC4 uses more CPU time than the plain encryption or no encryption. It is however harder to identify for traffic shaping devices

How can I do this?

This is different for all clients; check the setting for your favorite client below.

Azureus

1. Go to: Tools > Options > Connection > Transport Encryption

2. Check the ‘require encrypted transport’ box.

3. Choose RC4 in the ‘minimum encryption’ dropdown box

note that RC4 uses more CPU time than the plain encryption or no encryption. It is however harder to identify for traffic shaping devices
4. You can choose to tick the ‘Allow non-encrypted outgoing connections if encrypted connection attempt fails’ box. This will ensure compatibility with clients that are not using encryption. However, it makes it easier for your ISP to detect BitTorrent traffic. I recommend that you try to tick this box first. If you are still not getting proper speeds untick it

5. Tick the ‘Allow non-encrypted incoming connections’ box

That’s it, your BitTorrent traffic is encrypted now.

Bitcomet

1. Go to: Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection

2. Go to: ‘Protocol encryption’ You can choose between ‘auto detect’ and ‘always’. Auto detect will give you more connections but offers less protection against traffic shapers.

I would recommend to try auto detect first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to switch to always

That’s it, your BitTorrent traffic is encrypted now.

uTorrent

1. Go to: Options > Preferences > BitTorrent

2. Go to ‘Protocol encryption’, you can choose between ‘enabled’ and ‘forced’. ‘Enabled’ will give you more connections but offers less protection against traffic shapers.

I would recommend to try ‘enabled’ first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to swich to ‘forced’.

3. Ticking ‘Allow legacy incoming connections’ allows non ecrypted clients to connect to you. This improves compatibility between clients but makes you more vulnerable to traffic shapers.

I would recommend to tick this box, but if that doesn’t increase your speeds, untick it!

That’s it, your BitTorrent traffic is encrypted now.

Good luck and happy torrenting

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.