Optus slowing ex-Napster port 6700
2001-Dec-23, 1:45 pm
Optus has admitted it slows traffic on certain ports such as those previously used by Napster as a method of "traffic shaping" and "load balancing" on their network.
A Whirlpool reader discovered the problem when he tried to use a different file sharing client for Macintosh called Carracho -- unrelated to the Napster network -- which needs to connect via the same ports (6700 - 6702).
When he queried it with Optus he received an email from them confirming that the port was limited.
This is not the first time Optus' policies on port filtering have raised the ire of customers. However, previously O@H has only blocked incoming ports which prevent customers from running servers (which is against the acceptable usage policy).
This latest example of port limiting restricts customers' freedom to use the service as they see fit.
The full email from Optus can be read in the article continuation.
You can discuss the Port 6700 issue in this forum.
Subject: RE: port 6700 issues
Date Sent: Wednesday, 12 December 2001 3:40 PM
From: Evan G
To: 'Mathew Marques'
Hi Mathew,
I've consulted our Lead Technical Staff and the response gathered was that this port (6700) is also used by Napster and as a method of "traffic shaping", we filter this port. This means that the bandwidth assigned to this port is limited due to obvious reasons regarding load balancing.
As the configuration of the software suite you are using may have undesired effects on many other networks because of the above reason, it would be suggested and recommended by OPTUS@Home to question the possibilities of reconfiguring this software to suit the networks it is running on.
Hopefully this is possibility but I appologise for any inconvenience.
Regards,
Evan G
OPTUS@Home
Technical Support Specialist
Ph: 1300 300 693
Fax: 02 9775 9898