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Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

lauren.vortex.com

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Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#11

Post by striking »

alayne wrote: post #2

If people weren't so nutty about distributing file transfers, we could have a much more robust Internet.

What you call "nutty" I call "a dial-up Internet connection" or "a congested network due to streaming content or large downloads." If Win10 only did this while the entire network is guaranteed to be idle, and if it can guarantee it is on a landline DSL or better connection whose usage isn't tracked, then it would be okay.

But it's highly unlikely that Microsoft can make those guarantees. If this were a robust system, people (especially Microsoft!) would be championing it! But it's clearly not.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#12

Post by syvolt »

alayne wrote: post #2

If people weren't so nutty about distributing file transfers, we could have a much more robust Internet.

In a world where data caps are acceptable by ISPs, p2p is definitely not a viable solution yet and to have this be automated rather than opt-in is irresponsible at best. I'm not sure exactly how it works on their side, but to use up a person's data without their explicit permission is pretty bad in my opinion. For example, in my area and a bunch of others Comcast has a 300GB cap, I'm assuming there are other ISPs in other areas who also do data caps. People have to be mindful of their data in the current world we live in, to use it up without permission is a fairly dick-ish move. I feel the ISPs are more at fault than Microsoft, but Microsoft should be aware of the current ISP climate. My opinion.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#13

Post by Silhouette »

striking wrote: post #3

Now, at first I was thinking this was a relatively sane feature like Apple's Software Update Server (which caches and re-serves updates for your local network)[1]. It's a very useful tool, considering the fact that when iOS 7 came out, it took out my entire high school's network because everyone was downloading it. This isn't transparently helping serve updates to computers on a local network to save bandwidth. It tr…

Is there a word in English that captures how massively disappointed I am with this being on every Win10 computer and by default?

"Illegal" would seem to be a good start in many jurisdictions.

For example, as described in the article, I can't see how this behaviour doesn't fall foul of computer misuse and fraud laws in the UK. The best defence might be that somewhere buried in the terms and conditions it's allowed, but I wouldn't like to be the Microsoft lawyer arguing that position before a judge.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#14

Post by striking »

eli wrote: post #9
striking wrote: post #3

Now, at first I was thinking this was a relatively sane feature like Apple's Software Update Server (which caches and re-serves updates for your local network)[1]. It's a very useful tool, considering the fact that when iOS 7 came out, it took out my entire high school's network because everyone was downloading it. This isn't transparently helping serve updates to computers on a local network to save bandwidth. It tr…

It seemed to work out fine for Spotify

That's likely because MP3 files are smaller than Windows Service packs, and because Spotify is a thing you install yourself. Windows comes with the computer, with this turned on. Also, Spotify is no longer P2P anyway, because it only served as a temporary cost-saving measure. And now it's gone. [1]

1: https://torrentfreak.com/spotify-starts-shutting-down-its-ma...

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#15

Post by 1_player »

alayne wrote: post #2

If people weren't so nutty about distributing file transfers, we could have a much more robust Internet.

Do you mean it's not a bad idea to use the idle upload bandwidth to distribute the updates, i.e. turn each PC into a bittorrent seed?

In theory it's pretty great, in practice, with metered connections you're using up the users internet quota and causing a lot of frustration.

I am used to unmetered internet connections, and after moving to the UK I've spent a lot of time investigating why I'm getting an insane amount of packet loss. I'm talking 30% on weekend evenings.

Long story short, a flatmate was uploading data all day without noticing, the ISP's traffic management kicked in, limited our bandwidth, buffers aren't infinite so packets get dropped [1].

As someone said in a similar thread, this may be the reason for ISPs to drop traffic metering and upload quotas, but I somehow doubt this'll happen.

--

1: I've fixed it by limiting the upload quota and bandwidth on my OpenWRT router for that user. I guess I'll have to enable this rule for all other Windows 10 users in my house now.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#16

Post by Silhouette »

striking wrote: post #11
alayne wrote: post #2

If people weren't so nutty about distributing file transfers, we could have a much more robust Internet.

What you call "nutty" I call "a dial-up Internet connection" or "a congested network due to streaming content or large downloads." If Win10 only did this while the entire network is guaranteed to be idle, and if it can guarantee it is on a landline DSL or better connection whose usage isn't tracked, then it would be okay. But it's highly unlikely that Microsoft can make those guarantees. If this were a robust system,…

If Win10 only did this while the entire network is guaranteed to be idle, and if it can guarantee it is on a landline DSL or better connection whose usage isn't tracked, then it would be okay.

In any jurisdiction where you can in practice be held responsible for any data uploaded from your own Internet connection, it's still not OK to upload anything automatically without permission.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#19

Post by opnitro »

click170 wrote: post #7

I think a big part of the problem here is the perception of a big company trying to externalize costs onto their users. The funny thing is, if you ignore the fact that it's a big company named Microsoft who's using your bandwidth and that it's enabled by default, this is actually a pretty awesome feature that could help a lot of people in a lot of situations. Edit: Clarity

I think another big problem is that is without specific activation. If it asked me first, and I made the decision to help out, then it would be fine. When I torrent a linux iso, I'm making a specific action to use my bandwith. This is doing it without asking.

Re: Windows 10 “steals” your bandwidth

#20

Post by analog31 »

Regarding all of the issues surrounding Windows 10, could somebody create a little app that lets us turn off the objectionable features? I realize it can all be done in the settings, but an app could include some explanatory info, and also serve as a way of documenting all of the issues in one place.
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