With a VPN, it’s simple to get around blocks on BitTorrent, Skype along with other programs set in place by ISPs like Rogers and Comcast.
Increasingly, Internet service providers are employing a technique called traffic shaping to attempt to control what their customers do with the link they paid their hard-earned money for. With the anonymous VPN service of HidemyAss VPN software, it is possible to circumvent the blocks on services like Skype and BitTorrent set into position by Comcast, Rogers among others.
How does traffic shaping work?
To the consequences of traffic shaping on consumers (and, concurrently, find methods to evade such shaping), it is crucial to know how traffic shaping functions to block or slow down Internet traffic.
Canadian service providers, most infamously Rogers, have executed severe traffic shaping policies within an effort to stop peer to peer file sharing on their networks. Rogers has gone so 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 at the ISP’s end and, consequently, is impossible 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 company’s reputation, perhaps forever, as customers went in droves to service providers that gave them the bandwidth and access they pay money for.
Comcast, Sandvine and packet forgery
Not to be outdone, Comcast, the biggest broadband provider in America, began shaping users‘ BitTorrent traffic in 2007 employing a system called Sandvine. Insidious and dishonest, Sandvine really injects its data right into a user’s BitTorrent session. This operation is worse than traffic shaping, as it’s real forgery of a legitimate 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 that’s 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 generally unreliable and hinder transport speeds so much as to be unusable. The easiest way to go around traffic shaping is by utilizing an anonymous VPN. Services like Blacklogic were designed with downloading in head. Employing a Blacklogic VPN, for instance, is just like sitting in a pc in Canada, where Blacklogic‘ servers are located. Torrent files can seed, Skype can make calls, and blocked sites are unexpectedly unblocked, not to mention that the access provided is completely anonymous. Whether you’re being blocked by Rogers, Comcast or a different ISP, a VPN is the only 100% reliable way to get around BitTorrent, Skype along with other traffic shaping.
The last word on Sandvine and traffic shaping
So long as you are not doing anything illegal, your service provider has absolutely no right to restrict everything you do along with your connection that you paid for. In case you can’t send them a message by switching to a different ISP, use a VPN and get around their draconian blocks.