Do download accelerators **** with others network?

[IntoxicatedPuma]

So I got a question, because both of my last two roommates have used download accelerators, and the moment they come home the internet goes to absolute crap at my apartment. Both of them have asked why i don't use a download accelerator, because somehow it's this amazing tool even though I showed them a dozen articles online telling them it doesn't do anything. I also complained to both that the internet goes to crap when they come home, which they replied to "well that's because you use the wifi, of course it's slow. If you plugged in the ethernet cable it'd be faster."

My current roommate I showed the router use and that he was using a ridiculous amount of bandwidth. I also showed how even plugging in an ethernet cable gave no improvement. I've even tried setting his PC bandwidth limit on our router to about 40%, but still when he turns on his PC everything goes to hell.

So I'm curious, because many articles prove they don't increase your speed, but I am wondering if they actually could be blocking or hogging the network and preventing others from getting much bandwidth? No articles I read commented on this, and I am not knowledgeable enough about networks to know if this could be what is happening. Do others know about it or might share some insight?

 

[K888D]

I have no experience with download accelerators, but it sounds like he's being a bit of a d!*k if you've confronted him about hogging the bandwidth and he's not willing to look into it or compromise.

Ask him for proof of the difference it makes to the files he is downloading.

 

[jØrd]

This software might be useful for collecting actual data to present to your room mates. Ideally on a box thats sitting between your router and your switch
https://github.com/firehol/netdata
http://oss.oetiker.ch/smokeping/
You could also look into using Squid as a transparent web proxy to help gain some insight into what traffic is going where
http://xmodulo.com/squid-transparent-web-proxy-centos-rhel.html

Edit: I concur w/ @K888D, If your room mate perceives it as a you problem and not a them problem then it might be difficult to get them to be more considerate.

 

[Phuncz]

If they aren't consuming the total download bandwidth with those "download accelerators" (not some P2P or torrent downloading app ?), they're probably hogging the total upload bandwidth which in some connection media like ADSL could lower the download throughput too. It would be best to set a 80-90% limit to the upload bandwidth to eliminate it if that's the problem.

Maybe the router can't deal with the amount of connections, I've had/experienced routers that weren't made for more than light usage. So if it's a router that was really cheap, that's also very likely.

If I would live with people that can't live without "download accelerators", I'd probably go postal. But I'd also have a good router with QoS and rate limiting to begin with, before I'd go berserk. Download accelerators (the real ones) are so 1994.

 

[Teddy]

https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/make-wifi-fast/wiki/

 

[EdZ]

Assuming that are using 'download accelerators' that actually do something (i.e. programs that will open multiple connections per file), there are two different problems they could be causing.

1) Downstream saturation. If you have a 10MB/s link available, and someone is using 10MB/s, then that leaves 0 MB/s for everyone else to use. This can also happen with normal downloads, with torrents, with game updates, with video streams, etc.

2) Router overload. As you open more connections, the router needs to do more work routing. A normal home all-in-one 'router' (which is really a router, an Ethernet switch, and a WiFi Access point, that all happen to share the same box) is not able to cope with a large workload. Or for more than one user, most consumer all-in-ones can barely cope with even a moderate workload. If you are using WiFi rather than wired networking, then you also have the WiFi AP that can very easily be overloaded on cheap consumer gear too.

To solve problem 1, either have them add a downsteam limit of 90% to their downloaders (and a similar limit to upstream bandwidth), or use a router that can set per-client bandwidth limits. You've already done that, so...
To solve problem 2, switch the consumer router to something more robust. Ubiquiti's Edgerouter X is pretty cheap and capable enough for any domestic use, or if you have an old box with two network ports you can install PFSense/RouterOS/etc and use that as a router. The all-in-one can then be relegated to just being used as a 'dumb' switch and WiFi AP.