OT: Bandwidth limiting

[Asmala]

I have a shared internet connection, and currently playing internet games and surfing simultaneusly leads to problems. Every time time a new page is loaded, the browser uses all available bandwidth. As you can guess, that's not nice for the player. So, I need a bandwidth limiter (for Windows 98). Any suggestions?

[TerranC]

Try this: Netlimiter (Shareware) (http://www.tucows.com/preview/330555.html) .

From the description, this seems like the software you're looking for. I hope you don't mind paying a bit though; it's a shareware, and it'll expire after 28 days.

[Fyron]

If you have an old computer laying around, you can set up Linux on it and run it as a router. Use QoS packet scheduling to allocate bandwidth and such.

[Asmala]

I tested Netlimiter and it's a nice program. However, the game lags even if I set 5 kB/s limit for surfing (I've 256/256 ADSL connection). Any ideas why it lags, there's more than 20 kB/s left for the game and it should be enough.

Fyron, the only old computer which I've laying around is a 486 and I'm afraid it's too slow.

[Aiken]

x486 is enough for mini linux or bsd distro for routers, like www.coyotelinux.com (http://www.coyotelinux.com) (486DX+12Mb RAM, no HDD required)

[Phoenix-D]

Are you sure you're actually experiencing lag, and not loss of framerate? Could be the game and the browswer at the same time use too much of your CPU for smooth gameplay.

[Captain Kwok]

Why would SE:IV cause any problems with bandwidth or framerate... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Ed Kolis]

Sounds like a virus or spyware to me... might want to try out AdAware and Avast Antivirus to clean up your system, you never know what you might find http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Fyron]

Keep in mind that pretty much all home-use routers out there run a modified Version of Linux. They certainly are not more powerful than a 486. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Asmala]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Are you sure you're actually experiencing lag, and not loss of framerate? Could be the game and the browswer at the same time use too much of your CPU for smooth gameplay. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes I'm sure, since surfing and playing are happening at different computers. The game works smoothly until I click a new link.

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Sounds like a virus or spyware to me... might want to try out AdAware and Avast Antivirus to clean up your system, you never know what you might find http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I already have AdAware. And why it'd be a virus or spyware program? In that case surely it would lag all the time.

[Ed Kolis]

A lot of viruses are designed to slow down your Internet connection... don't know WHY that's all they do (as opposed to formatting your hard drive) if they got into your computer to begin with, but they do... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

As for spyware, the way it works is it "piggybacks" onto your Internet connection to transmit data, so it would by definition slow it down.

[dogscoff]

A lot of viruses are designed to slow down your Internet connection... don't know WHY that's all they do (as opposed to formatting your hard drive) if they got into your computer to begin with, but they do...
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's not so much them trying to slow down *your* internet connection as to perform a Denial of Service on someone else (ie Microsoft) which basically amounts to slowing down that company's connection by using yours and those of many other infected machines simultaneously to overload it.

[Asmala]

I don't believe I have a virus or spyware. When I read a web page there's no traffic through my ADSL box. And there's no problem with speed either.