KNOW YOUR CONNECTION:

     To get the most out of your broadband connection it is important to understand how most ISP firewalls and traffic shapers work. And even more so, how Mechcom Dot Net manages our network for the best possible performance for all customers system wide.

     Before we begin, if you would like to know more about the basics of how broadband works, READ THIS. 

     In Mechcom's case, we manage our networks on several fronts. Since we have networks throughout the state of Ohio and all of them use slightly different configurations and traffic shaping rules, we will cover the most commonly used.

    1. IP Address allow/block - Certain IP addresses can be blocked if they are known to be virus infected sites, sites of illegal material, or sites in which excessive bandwidth is downloaded from, or uploaded to. It is possible to just limit download speed from a particular IP address without completely banning the IP. (This is NOT a common practice for Internet browsing traffic, but rather used to block particular email servers used to send huge amount of Spam.

     2. Port Blocking or Limiting -  Another common practice is port blocking. The most common ports used on the Internet are:

• 2 - Pinging
• 21 - FTPing
• 23 - SSH- and some Telnet
• 25 - Outgoing email
• 80 - Web Browsing
• 110 - Email incoming

     In most cases, these ports are left open since they encompass 90% of normal Internet traffic. Although, some ISP's will limit speed on certain ports such as FTP, (which is used for files transfers), and Instant messaging.

     3. Queuing / Tapering - Another method to help keep overall consistent bandwidth control is tapering bandwidth. This is done by measuring the amount of bandwidth coming or going from point A to point B and after a certain amount it will begin an "anti-burst" process. And example would be if a customer started a movie download of  a file in excess of  700MB. The file transfer would start at whatever the  maximum speed your connection would allow. (Say 5000Kbit). After the firewall realizes several minuets have gone by and the download has not finished, it will then check with the entire system load and see if there is a strain on the backbone feeding the system. If not, it will let the download continue at it's maximum speed. But if the firewall does see a strain on the entire system then it will cut 25% off of that download speed. If it is a really busy time of day and high bandwidth usage is an issue, the firewall may cut a streaming download down to 10% of normal speed while everything else the customer does still runs at full speed.

     4. Tracking States - Another way to manage bandwidth is limiting states. A state is a connection from a customers PC to another point on the Internet. An example of this would be if a customer had a web browser open to Google, that would be one state connection. If the same customer had an Instant messenger program running, such as ICQ or MSN Messenger, that would be another state. In fact, in that case each connection to each person that customer was IM'ing would be separate states. So, a typical IM normally will use 4-12 states. It should be noted that many web sites like Ebay that have many pictures from several hosted locations, will count each picture on a page as another state. So a web site with many pictures and graphics can add up to several states to a system managing states. We have seen certain web sites such as Myspace can add up to 50 states per page being viewed. Normally, states are NOT limited.

     Our firewall makes use of a combination of all four of these concepts. This gives our servers a way to insure little to no abuse of our service and maintains a fair amount of bandwidth to all customers.

     How to maximize your connection - There are several things you can do or avoid doing to ensure your connection remains as fast of possible. Below are some things keep in mind:

• If you know you are going to download large files for long periods of time, plan and start the download during off hours. If you download during prime time and the firewall does throttle you, you may remain throttled for 24 hours. If at the end of that time the same activity is still going on, it may knock you to a 7 day throttle.
• If you intend to file share, either limit your upload speed on your peer-2-peer program and the number of connections, OR, download a third party bandwidth controller. (Which we provide at the bottom of this page.)
• Be careful if you have several PC's in your home sharing connections. In the past we have seen entire households wondering why there appears to be speed issues when it turns out "little Johnny" is file sharing on his pc while he is doing homework in the living room.
• ALWAYS be sure you are not infected with a virus. MANY viruses will open a huge number of states and pass data even if it accomplishes nothing. Our firewall sees this attack and limits it. (Note, below are a couple programs that will monitor what your PC is doing and show you in detail what you don't normally see.)

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     Here are a couple of programs that really can help you control your PC so no one will have to.