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Downloads & Slow Network Speed

Friday, February 15th, 2008 11:28 am

Dear Smith Students,

Since the beginning of the spring semester, ITS has been receiving increasing reports from students of network slow-downs and “sluggishness.” Our network usage statistics show this is primarily due to an increase in the overall volume of peer-to-peer traffic on the campus network.

We have also noted an increase in the number of RIAA violations and abuses of Smith’s policy on the acceptable use of computer resources.

As you know, the use of peer-to-peer clients for the distribution of copyrighted material is prohibited on campus. ITS supports downloading copyrighted music, movies, or television from legal sources, such as iTunes and Amazon.com MP3.

To minimize the impact on the Smith residential network, we strongly recommend that you always download this type of file over an Ethernet connection, rather than a wireless connection, and strongly recommend downloading full-length movies and TV-series files overnight, rather than during peak usage hours.

Thank you for your help in keeping the Smith residence network running smoothly for all students.

Regards, Kate Etzel

For more information, please take a look at previous TechNotes articles on copyright and the RIAA.

Posted in: News, Policies | Tagged: , , ,

One Response to “Downloads & Slow Network Speed”

  1. Marissa Szabo Says:
    March 5th, 2008 at 12:10 am

    I’m finding that the Ethernet is unacceptably slow, not the wireless. Honestly, I have never seen a college network this slow before. It’s extremely frustrating and I don’t even download anything. Can we expect it to get better in the future?

    Dear Marissa,

    Thank you for your comment, I understand your frustration with current network speed on campus. ITS is actively monitoring network traffic to identify “top talkers” and to prioritize specific types of traffic to spread the load and maximize it’s utility.

    Top talkers are computers that use the largest percentage of bandwidth (in comparison with other computers on the network), regardless of the type of traffic they are generating. Students who use the Smith Network “in such a manner that might cause congestion of the network” are in violation of the Smith College Policy on Acceptable Use of Computer Resources.

    Traffic on the Smith Network is prioritized based on the traffic’s protocol and port. HTTP traffic (primarily web surfing and streaming media) is the network’s top priority, with legal downloads from iTunes and other sources allocated more bandwidth than known P2P ports.

    While these efforts do make some impact on network speed, it is clear to us that additional bandwidth for the campus is necessary.

    ITS has identified funding and plans to increase the total bandwidth for residential use by 30% in the near future.

    If you have any other questions, please email 4its@smith.edu

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