With a VPN, it’s easy to get around blocks on BitTorrent, Skype along with other applications put in place by ISPs like Rogers and Comcast.
Increasingly, Internet service providers are using a technique known as traffic shaping to try to control what their customers do with all the link they paid their hard-won cash for. With an anonymous VPN service, it’s possible to circumvent the blocks on services like Skype and BitTorrent set into place by Comcast, Rogers and others.
How can traffic shaping work?
To the implications of traffic shaping on consumers (and, concurrently, find ways to evade such shaping), it’s crucial that you learn how traffic shaping works to block or slow down Internet traffic.
Canadian service providers, most infamously Rogers, have implemented harsh traffic shaping policies in an attempt to prevent peer to peer file sharing on their networks. Rogers has gone as far as to block encrypted traffic of any form and, at one point, block the download of files with a .torrent extension. This is usually done through QoS (quality of service) hardware in the ISP’s end and, hence, is hopeless to circumvent without using a VPN service like Blacklogic. In the case of Rogers, such extreme traffic shaping caused an extensive backlash and tarnished the business ‘s reputation, possibly forever, as customers went in droves to service providers that gave them the bandwidth and access that they pay cash for.
Comcast, Sandvine and packet forgery
Not to be outdone, Comcast, the largest broadband provider in America, began shaping users’ BitTorrent traffic in 2007 utilizing a system called Sandvine. Insidious and dishonest, Sandvine actually injects its data right into a user’s BitTorrent session. This operation is worse than traffic shaping, since it is actual forgery of a valid user’s data. By sending TCP RST (reset) packets to peers in a torrent swarm, a user is efficiently prevented from seeding a torrent file without resorting to high level encryption which is not supported by all torrent clients. This slows down the download for all involved.
Getting around traffic shaping using a VPN
While there are means around most traffic shaping and filtering, they’re usually unreliable and hinder transfer speeds so much as to be unusable. The best way to avoid traffic shaping is by utilizing an anonymous VPN. Services like Blacklogic were designed with downloading in mind. Using a Blacklogic VPN, for instance, is the same as sitting in a pc in Canada, where Blacklogic’ servers are.
Torrent files can seed, Skype can make calls, and blocked websites are suddenly unblocked, as well as that the access provided is entirely anonymous. Whether you’re being blocked by Rogers, Comcast or another ISP, a VPN is the sole 100% reliable approach to get around BitTorrent, Skype and other traffic shaping.
The last word on Sandvine and traffic shaping
So long as you’re not doing anything illegal, your service provider has certainly no right to try to limit everything you do with your link that you paid for. In case you can not send them a message by changing to a different ISP, use a VPN and get around their draconian blocks.