Flatmate uses torrents, will this slow the internet connection?

Solution 1:

Downloading anything will result in slowdown of the internet in your local network

The number of clients actually connected to the network are largely irrelevant, its what they do that matters

Tell your roommate to cap the number of simultaneous connections, upload and download speeds in utorrent

Solution 2:

Maybe your wifi router (I suppose there is one) has an option to set different priorities for different traffic classes e. g. bulk for Torrent, normal for Websites, priority for low-latency online-games. This would be the best solution, because it does not unnecessarily slow down torrent traffic but keeps other traffic at a higher priority. So torrents would be just using the leftover data rate.

If there is no such option, stick with Akash's answer.

Solution 3:

Yes, any heavy network use will reduce the amount of available bandwidth for other uses. Torrent software, in particular, tends to have a noticeable effect on other network traffic for several reasons:

1. It is in constant use. Most other forms of traffic (web browsing, email, even online games) are only sporadically sending or receiving traffic. Usage patterns like large file downloads (and, similarly, extended playback of streaming media) tie up a consistant amount of bandwidth for a much longer amount of time.

2. They tend to be "greedy" with bandwidth. This is for similar reasons as #1: the torrent has a lot of data to transfer, well beyond what it can send at one time. The torrent client will try to download as much data as it can.

3. They are bi-directional. In my experience this is the biggest drawback to seeding torrents. Most consumer-level providers give their users asynchronous bandwidth: they allow more traffic to come downstream to the customer than they permit to return upstream. This lets them provide a "faster feeling" experience than a synchronous connection, since most end-user traffic really is downloading. But one key goal of torrents is to serve as much traffic as you pull, which screws up this model. If your upstream bandwidth is being saturated by torrents, your initial requests for connections will take a long time, and everything will feel very, very sluggish.

Most torrent clients are programmed to be very cooperative in mediating these problems. They allow you to regulate things like the number and speed of uploads, downloads, and total connections. Most even have built-in traffic profiling that supply "reasonable" values for these settings, or pre-defined profilers for various speed connections.

Try asking your roommate to configure her client for a slower connection than you have. Try limiting the number of uploads, or the upload bandwidth, and if that doesn't work, just cap the total bandwidth used by the client (say, to 1/3 of your total allocation.)

Solution 4:

As others have stated, and I won't necessarily stomp on their answers, your mate's usage will affect your usage - simply because there is only so much bandwidth. They max out the usage, and you're left with a laggy internet.

1. Control the bandwidth usage via uTorrent. While there are more detailed settings (options > preferences > bandwidth), the "Setup Guide" (options > setup guide "ctrl + G") is a really good place to change things "simply". When I want to limit downloads so my connection isn't affected, I go here and simply raise/lower "Your Upload Speed:" until I can game (or my fiance can surf) without issue.

2. Look up your Router Manual and how to adjust Quality of Service (QoS) setting. Assuming you have a set Port Number ("Current Port" in the picture above) that doesn't change, you can set the priority of that port to low, thus allowing everything else priority before torrents.

3. WebUI for uTorrent - Guide for WebUI. Install and use WebUI to make changes while her computer is on.

4. uTorrent Scheduler - use it to control the times during which uTorrent runs at Full/Limited/No speed.