prioritizing bandwidth, is it possible?

[scampo77]

the thing is that i know if i throw a ton of money at this problem i can solve the problems i am having, running a T1 line seems like a step in the wrong direction. if i have more bandwidth then i will want to upload and download to its capacity still and i will be right back at the first post except i can start off by saying "i have a T1 line i am downloading on and my voip phone is choppy and streaming tv shows is choppy, but i have a firehose of a internet connection"

i would like to be able to get more bandwidth from my isp but first i need to figure out how to prioritze the speed that i have now.

yes the download program i use is p2p and also torrents and yes they both have options to set specific torrents and speeds and times during the day it is used. this seems like not a very good solution. i want it to download and upload like crazy the second im not using the network, example; im sleeping or working or leave for an hour. then when i come back it stops downloading while i check my email or get a phone call. then fires back up again. to me this seems like a far more effeciant system then restricting the programs to certain times or limits.

"root" you are the first person to say that i can do this with a QOS router, which router will do this and is easy enough to use, and preferably as cheap as possible. i am holding out on buying a router because i would like some real world advice on which options i need on a router to perform these sfunctions. will any QOS router have these adjustable settings? it seems like i can get a qos router for 50$ and from there the sky is the limit right up to commercial stuff. there seems to be a pretty big range

 

[root]

I think that a better explanation of the problem is that you want 100% utilisation of your line all the time...

when nobody is using any other machine you want to download at 100%.

when you want to use the web, then you want the connection to split, so that your web browsing is guaranteed bandwidth, and your downloading still happens, albeit at a slower rate.

whilst you're loading a page you want that to happen as quickly as possible, then whilst you're reading the page, you want the download to pick up again at full utilisation for the five minutes you're reading the page.

AFAIK, QOS is the only way to do this.

You can set bit torrent traffic at best efforts, and other stuff as marginally higher.

Your machine for checking mail, assuming that you're using IMAP or POP you can set this at just higher than the best efforts setting.
that way pop/IMAP will take precedence over bit torrent...

you want to set web traffic as the highest priority traffic, then your wen browsing computers get the best connection...
unfortunately, if you use web-mail then protocol based QOS won't differentiate between machine C or B or A as you listed above...

but lets face it, the traffic there is so low that you needn't worry. you won't max out a connection loading your inbox page...



with regards what router to buy...
this really is a case of RTFM, you need to select one in your price range, then read the manual to find out whether it does QOS, and whether it does it in the way that you want. what settings are available and how to set them up...

I'm assuming that you'll be fairly lost if you're having to create telnet sessions to your managed switch to edit the config. so you may wish to opt for one with a web interface.

 

[scampo77]

ok so there isnt "different types" of QOS? ill start looking at one for what i need

is there any way via software or hardware to see graphically which computer is using bandwidth in real time?

 

[root]

assuming you have an intelligent switch.

You should be able to monitor the ports traffic, either by logging onto the switch or by using SNMP polling.

as before, if you want a switch that does this, make sure you read the manual before buying the switch so that you can determine how you do this, and can make sure that you can do this.