Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files

  

Typically it is hard for ISP or a router to block ALL torrent data so that is unlikely. It won't let me download again. I have downloaded the latest torrent.

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I recently changed from Verizon DSL [Digital Subscriber Line]

DSL is an acronym for Digital Subscriber Line, a technology that transmits digital data across existing voice telephone lines.
DSL is more correctly referred to as ADSL in most cases. The “A” stands for asymmetric, which means that data is transmitted faster in one direction than the other. In most cases, that means that the download speed of an ADSL connection is faster than the upload speed. This tradeoff reflects the fact that in normal internet usage, people download significantly more than they upload.
DSL coexists with voice (a.k.a. POTS) on the same wires by being transmitted at frequencies above human hearing.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>DSL to Charter Cable internet services. About a week later, I started receiving warnings via email from Charter telling me to stop downloading music from limewire (copyright infringement?). After that they sent notices to stop downloading movies from UTorrent. What’s funny is that both were files that never finished downloading. What I want to know is how do they know who I am, where I go on the internet and when I choose to save something to my computer? How does someone else know when your on a website downloading anything?

Well to start with, Charter isn’t just any “someone else” … they’re your ISP [Internet Service Provider]

ISP is an acronym for Internet Service Provider. (Not to be confused with IP, which is completely unrelated.) An ISP is the company providing your home or place of business its connection to the internet. They may also provide services such as email, web hosting, or more.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>ISP.

And as your ISP they know a lot about you, and have the ability to do a lot with that information.

Verizon could have but for whatever reason chose not to.

Let’s look at that in a little more detail.

Verizon

Your ISP Sees (almost) All

The whole point of having an ISP is to use their services to provide you with a connection to the internet.

That means that when you send or receive data – any data – it travels from your computer through your router

A router is a computer network device that receives data through one connection and then sends (routes) it to other connections, perhaps making changes to the data as it passes it on.
Most consumer-grade routers are actually fairly simple devices, with a connection to the internet on one “side” (the “outside” or WAN connection), and connections to one or more computers on the other (“inside” or LAN connections). In homes and small businesses, a router is mostly thought of as a way to share one internet connection with multiple computers.
Many consumer-grade routers also include a wireless access point, which is simply a way to connect more computers to the LAN to share the internet connection. Technically, the access point is a separate device, which has simply been included in the same box as the router for convenience. Thus, a “wireless router” is nothing more than a router that happens to have a wireless access point built in.
Think of a router as a small computer that can be programmed to understand, manipulate, and route the data that it is asked to handle. For example, broadband routers include the ability to “hide” computers behind a type of firewall, which involves slightly modifying the data as it traverses the device (referred to as NAT).
All routers include some kind of user interface to configure how the router will treat traffic. Large commercial routers have the equivalent of a full-blown computer programming language to describe how they should operate, and also include the ability to communicate with other routers to describe or determine the best way to get network traffic from point A to point B. Consumer and small business grade routers usually have a simple web-based interface that allows you to control various configuration options, such as IP addressing and security.
Related on Ask Leo!:
* What’s the difference between a Hub, a Switch and a Router?
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>router and immediately encounters equipment owned and operated by your ISP.“
… for the most part even if the ISP can’t see what you’re sharing, the can see that you’re sharing.

Where, if they choose, they can look at the data.

Rarely do they look at the contents of the data, but more and more they’re looking at the type of data – they’ll note whether it’s email or a web request or an instant message.

Or file sharing.

Typically, traffic that crosses the internet is identified by the IP address [Internet Protocol Address]

An IP address, short for Internet Protocol Address, is a number used to identify a device connected to a TCP/IP network like the internet. In IP version 4 (IPv4), an address is a 32-bit number typically displayed as four decimal numbers ranging from 0 to 255, separated by periods.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>IP address of where it came from, the IP address of where it’s headed, and a “port
A port, in networking, is a number that defines what application an internet connection is attempting to connect to.
Port numbers are typically well defined. For example, by definition, a mail server will “listen” for incoming connections on port 25. When an attempt is made to connect to that server requesting a connection to port 25, that means that the machine requesting the connection wants to “talk to” the email server listening there, presumably in order to send mail.
There are hundreds of different pre-defined port numbers for all common services. Some common examples:
* http is port 80 and https is 443* Sending mail (SMTP) is typically port 25 and receiving mail (POP3) is port 110* ftp, or file transfer protocol, uses both ports 21 and 22.
One way of looking at port numbers might be to think of them as apartment numbers in a large apartment building.
The apartment building’s street address might be analogous to the server’s IP address, which locates the apartment building (server). Once at the front door, the apartment number (port number) locates the specific resident (service) you wish to talk to. If that resident (service) doesn’t respond, it might be because their door is locked (access blocked, perhaps by a firewall) or they’re not home (the service isn’t running).
Not all port numbers exist on all servers, because not all servers provide all possible services; that would be analogous to an apartment number that doesn’t exist at a particular address.
•
Port, when used in reference to hardware, is a physical connection to a machine.
A desktop computer might come with several ports, including USB ports, networking ports, display ports, and more.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>port number” that indicates what type of traffic it is. port
A port, in networking, is a number that defines what application an internet connection is attempting to connect to.
Port numbers are typically well defined. For example, by definition, a mail server will “listen” for incoming connections on port 25. When an attempt is made to connect to that server requesting a connection to port 25, that means that the machine requesting the connection wants to “talk to” the email server listening there, presumably in order to send mail.
There are hundreds of different pre-defined port numbers for all common services. Some common examples:
* http is port 80 and https is 443* Sending mail (SMTP) is typically port 25 and receiving mail (POP3) is port 110* ftp, or file transfer protocol, uses both ports 21 and 22.
One way of looking at port numbers might be to think of them as apartment numbers in a large apartment building.
The apartment building’s street address might be analogous to the server’s IP address, which locates the apartment building (server). Once at the front door, the apartment number (port number) locates the specific resident (service) you wish to talk to. If that resident (service) doesn’t respond, it might be because their door is locked (access blocked, perhaps by a firewall) or they’re not home (the service isn’t running).
Not all port numbers exist on all servers, because not all servers provide all possible services; that would be analogous to an apartment number that doesn’t exist at a particular address.
•
Port, when used in reference to hardware, is a physical connection to a machine.
A desktop computer might come with several ports, including USB ports, networking ports, display ports, and more.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>Port 80 is web traffic, 25 is email, and so on.

As I said, it’s unlikely that they look or care about what the data actually contains (though they could), but they do care about the type of traffic, and the quantity of traffic.

And file sharing is on many ISPs radars.

Your ISP’s Rules: The Terms of Service

Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files Full

Here’s an often frustrating catch: your ISP sets the rules about what they do and do not allow on their system.

That means that they can disallow file sharing protocols whether or not you’re using them to perform illegal downloads. The justification is typically that file sharing protocols use up a great deal of the ISPs capacity, and thus have to be disallowed in order to provide adequate service to all of its customers.

Whether or not you believe it is up to you, but it’s a plausible position.

And if you violate the ISPs rules – their TOS (terms of service) or AUP (acceptable use policy) – then the ISP has the right to disconnect you.

Your ISP Knows You

Of course your ISP also knows who you are. You pay them every month, they know where you live since they deliver the internet connection to your home.

And they also know your IP address, since in order to connect to the internet at all they had to give the IP address to you.

What that means is when (say) a movie studio says “we see one of our movies being downloaded to and shared from this IP address” your ISP can then turn right around and say “I know who that is … I’ll tell them to stop it”.

And you get the warning message you get.

It’s a File **Sharing** protocol
A protocol is a formal process of communication between two entities – usually computer programs running on the same or different computers. It's often called the 'language' used by those entities.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>Protocol

Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files For Mac

When you use services like limewire, utorrent or others it’s important that you realize that you’re not only downloading whatever it is you’re downloading.

You’re also sharing what you’ve downloaded previously with others who are using the same service.

That’s why it’s called “peer to peer” file sharing – there is no central server, it’s everyone using the service sharing with each other.

Computer

That’s typically the copyright issue that most people get stuck on. If you download, say, a movie – well that’s you downloading one movie.

But with the file sharing software continuing to run, dozens if not hundreds of others could be “downloading” that same movie from your machine – even before you finish downloading it yourself. Now all of a sudden your machine becomes implicated not in one copyright violation – your download – but as a source of dozens or hundreds of other copyright violations as you make that same movie available to others.

That’s when the movie studios or record labels contact your ISP, and in turn when the ISP contacts you.

What About encryption
Encryption is the process of mathematically processing data using an encryption “key“, such as a password or passphrase, in such a way that the result of the combination is unrecognizable as the original. Encrypted data can be restored to its original form by reprocessing it, using the original encryption key (symmetric encryption) or the matching key of a key pair
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>Encryption?

ISPs can’t see what you encrypt, it’s true. It’s one of the reasons VPNs and https and encrypted email are and should be in widespread use: no one who can see the traffic can read its contents. Many file sharing protocols have begun to do exactly that: encrypt.

However.

The port number that defines what it is you are sending is not encrypted. It may change (25 is email, 465 is typically encrypted email), but it still defines what it is you are sending. They can’t see the contents, but your ISP can still see:

  • The IP address of where the data is being sent. (That must be in the clear so that internet routers know where to send the data.)
  • The IP address of where the data came from. (That must be in the clear for the TCP/IP protocol
    A protocol is a formal process of communication between two entities – usually computer programs running on the same or different computers. It's often called the 'language' used by those entities.
    (Click on the term for full definition.)
    '>protocol transmission acknowledgements to work.)
  • The port that identifies what the data is … email, web, etc. … which is also not encrypted.

Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files Free

They can’t examine the data, but they can still see where the data is coming and going, and what kind of data it is.

So even encrypted your ISP could still say “hey, you’re running peer-to-peer file sharing software, and we don’t allow that: knock it off”.

Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files Full

Yes, there are attempts to further obfuscate peer-to-peer file sharing traffic, but you get the idea – for the most part even if the ISP can’t see what you’re sharing, they can see that you’re sharing.

Verizon Router Won't Let Me Download Torrent Files For Windows

And for many, that’s enough.