Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

**Neko** · (This post was last modified: 19-08-2010 01:05 PM by Techmonkey.)

It's a common problem; someone on your network at work or at home wants to run a P2P client, or Steam downloader, or Spotify, some other application that hogs as much bandwidth as it can get but doesn't provide a throttle control. End result, every time they fire up their application, your internet slows to a crawl and anything beyond basic internet access just dies.

It's a fair old pig to do much about this at the server/router, as it's hard to figure out what's background data traffic, and what's not.

What you can do however is try an application like NetBalancer.

Tis a fairly small background service that you can install on each PC on your network, allowing application-by-application throttling of upload/download speeds. It's not foolproof, in that people have to agree to install it, and keep it running, but it is good in that you can, for example, set Spotify to 40 KB/s down and 4 up and have it work fine without choking down your colleague's remote desktop. Been trying it out at work; before, everyone used to complain whenever I turned it on, now nobody even notices Smile

Another option if you're alone on your internet connection is traffic priority - simply set your greedy application to low priority and your browser and games to high, and you'll not even notice they're running.

***Techmonkey*** · 17-08-2010, 12:54 PM

Nice find Neko, however at $30/pc I cant see it being a popular item for home users and businesses generally have other ways of controlling bandwidth that wouldnt require a per machine client.

**Neko** · (This post was last modified: 18-08-2010 03:59 PM by Neko.)

Beg pardon, I linked the wrong version! Quick google for "netbalancer free" got me http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Too...Free.shtml Smile

Updated first post.

***Techmonkey*** · 18-08-2010, 04:45 PM

ah much better, thats the word we like round here "free" Smile

**Neko** · 19-08-2010, 12:26 PM

Lol

While I generally agree, as a software developer I do make a habit of paying for things that are good and worth the asking price ^^

***Techmonkey*** · 19-08-2010, 01:04 PM

Agreed, however I think if you were implementing this in a company, there are more elegant solutions that dont require clients software on each machine.

That said for home it could be a huge blessing.

***Techmonkey*** · (This post was last modified: 19-08-2010 01:06 PM by Techmonkey.)

Moved this thread to the Product & Store reviews section as it seems to fit better here.

Dont forget to rate your thread Smile