Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

John Shrall

Aug 12, 2010, 10:05 AM

Post #1 of 13 (4940 views)

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Telecable And Torrents

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Is there anyone using Telecable for Internet services that is also using a bit torrent client like uTorrent? I'm testing them out think of replacing Telmex. The speeds so far are pretty good, certainly a lot faster than Telmex at the same price level.

The problem is that the dumb cable modem doesn't support port forwarding as do most others so the client thinks there's no open port available. It doesn't seem to have slowed downloads and uploads but at least one of the torrent sites blocks peers that do not seem to be connectable. That would be me on the Telecable modem.

Casa

Aug 12, 2010, 10:14 AM

Post #2 of 13 (4934 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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I use Megacable with Vuze and do not have any problems. I have the cable modem that Megacable issued to me connected to a pair of netgear wireless router/ access points and a couple of VOIP lines as well. (Megacable owns a large portion of Telecable but I do not know if they issue the same equipment or have the same policies and protocols)

John Shrall

Aug 12, 2010, 11:03 AM

Post #3 of 13 (4925 views)

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Re: [Casa] Telecable And Torrents

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Thanks for the option but I'm having the same problem with Vuze as with uTorrent. I even added Linksys Router and updated the port forwarding in the router with no success.

I doubt that Telecable is blocking anything but nonetheless without the ability to port forward in the modem, the other end thinks there is a problem with connections.

Interesting issue that is only posing a real problem with one torrent site that requires the presence of a good connection before letting you play in their sandbox.

So far the Telecable speeds both down and up are substantially better than Telmex who can't actually deliver the 5mb advertised speed in Ajijic. We'll see if Telecable is anywhere near as reliable as Telmex over the next couple of months.

The torrent site with issues is qemist.info. I've got a very good ratio there and as it is unusable to me at the moment, if anyone is interested in taking over my account send me a PM. The site is free leech until the end of the month so if you are looking for stuff, you can check it out.

John Shrall

Aug 13, 2010, 7:08 AM

Post #4 of 13 (4892 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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Let me ask this question. Anyone using Telecable and a wireless modem? Inalambrico? If so, what model is it? The Telecable website shows a Motorola SGB900 which does support port forwarding, unless of course they've blocked access to those options.

Since I had a Linksys router and Telecable wanted to charge a monthly fee for the wireless modem, I opted for the simple cable modem. My next step is to take this one back and attempt to swap it for wireless to see if that works.

johanson / Moderator

Aug 13, 2010, 8:21 AM

Post #5 of 13 (4884 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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When I tried to use telecable internet, I had a modem with both cable (RJ45) and wireless (802.11b not n) output. Sadly I live on the outskirts of their coverage area, and I kept on loosing my connection. So I gave it up as my backup last year

Now back to your question. The brand was Motorola and it looked very much like the SGB-900. And because I get my video via satellite I never tried messing with any torrent sites.

John Shrall

Aug 13, 2010, 8:51 AM

Post #6 of 13 (4875 views)

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Re: [johanson] Telecable And Torrents

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I stopped by the store in Riberas and asked to swap out the wired modem for a wireless one. Even though the web site shows a picture of a nice Motorola SGB900, they pulled out an old Scientific Atlanta DPC2302 from the drawer. The drawer looked like a modem graveyard. According to the instructions I found on the Internet, that modem does have options for port forwarding although it is not a router. I went to the PC in the office and entered 192.168.0.1 and the secret password that seems to work for all the Scientific Atlanta modems W2402 and the options popped up. That particular modem exposed the port forwarding option screen so if they haven't blocked access on the one they'll give me, I should be good to go.

The girl at the desk had to wait for her manager to properly load the ID of the new, well not really new, modem into the system so that it is assigned to my account. I have to schlep back there around 5 to pick it up. I'm tempted to take the laptop and cable and try the options before I leave the building.

John Shrall

Aug 14, 2010, 7:34 AM

Post #7 of 13 (4840 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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Got the used Scientific Atlanta DPR2320 modem which has the port forwarding options. Even though the options can be modified, the ports are still not open. It's possible that Telecable has somehow disabled port forwarding inside the modem but that sure seems like a lot of work on their part.

I sent an email in my best Spanish to Telecable support. I don't really expect an answer but it's worth a shot. I'll call to see if there is any local tech support. I don't have high hopes for that either but I did print my question send over the Internet so I'll pass that to the jefa at the office and see where that leads.

So far the connection has been very stable and the download speeds are often in excess the 6mb level. But if Telecable has somehow disabled port forwarding, it isn't of much use to me.

sparks

Aug 16, 2010, 11:01 AM

Post #8 of 13 (4797 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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Did your try the Port Forward site

http://portforward.com/...DPR2320/Utorrent.htm

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

(This post was edited by Rolly on Aug 16, 2010, 11:10 AM)

John Shrall

Aug 16, 2010, 1:56 PM

Post #9 of 13 (4780 views)

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Re: [sparks] Telecable And Torrents

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It turns out the underlying problem is that one needs to contract for what Telecable calls IPPlus which is 50 pesos/month over and above the normal monthly fee. Without this "feature", Telecable blocks all P2P ports as well as the ability to VPN. How clever.

So I go once again to Riberas and ask them to add on this service. She enters someting on the PC, says it may take a while to kick in so don't pay her now. Go home, check it out and when it works come back and pay.

I get home and the Internet is totally down. All the lights are on properly and the signal strengths are where they should be. It wouldn't be a stretch to think that whatever she did at the office adding this feature caused the outage but with yet another trip to Riberas, she shrugs her shoulders and says a tecnician will come out to check the modem.

Still waiting...

I think that once all the pieces of the puzzle are in place everything will work just fine but for now I'm just in another holding pattern waiting for technical support. Telmex is still up so it's no big deal.

John Shrall

Aug 20, 2010, 4:38 PM

Post #10 of 13 (4698 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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With the 3rd modem - a new (not out of the graveyard) Webstar DPX2100 and IP Plus I finally have success. Even though IP Plus gives you a static IP address when running ipconfig, you configure the router for DHCP. Go figure.

The router is now working with the modem and the torrent ports are open at least while wired. When I tried to check the ports when connecting wireless it showed blocked. I'll look at that sometime but for now that's not important.

The speed tests are showing about over 6mb down and close to 2mb up which is a substantial gain over Telmex 3.5mb down and a paltry .30mb up.

Now let's see if it stays up.

johanson / Moderator

Aug 20, 2010, 6:46 PM

Post #11 of 13 (4688 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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6 by 2, how cool. I am looking forward to hearing how reliable Telecable is where you live. Sadly when I tried them about a year ago, I was down way too much, more than 30% of the time. Now I live way up in the hills and you couldn't be much farther away from the Telecable feed that runs through the center of town. But both Telmex and Lagunanet work fine here.

Please let us know what type of reliability you have.

John Shrall

Aug 23, 2010, 4:06 PM

Post #12 of 13 (4607 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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The jury is still out since it's only been a few days, but so far no down time at all using Telecable. The new modem - a Scientific Atlanta DPX2100 looks like it came out of a box, not a modem graveyard drawer.

The interesting stat so far relates to torrent download and upload speeds. When downloading a popular torrent I'm getting consistent downloads about the 750kb/sec and can pump the uploads about 250k/sec.

That's a far cry from Telmex (4mb) where occasionally I'll hit 400kb/sec download and can sustain uploads at a meager 30-35kb/sec.

John Shrall

Nov 29, 2010, 3:25 PM

Post #13 of 13 (3960 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Telecable And Torrents

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It's been 3 months now since I made the change to Telecable so I thought I'd post an update.

Last month I dropped the 4mb Telmex DSL (aka 5mb) down to the 1mb level. That drops the cost from $1,047 pesos to $389. I now use Telmex as backup to Telecable and for my Packet 8 phone. This level is more than adequate for a good phone call and whatever I may be doing on Telecable won't affect anyone on the phone.

Telecable has been surprisingly reliable after a somewhat shaky start. I've had 2 or 3, 1 hour outages usually on a weekend morning and one 24 hour outage that turned out to be an equipment problem on the pole down the street. In the same 3 month period I also had a similar one day outage on Telmex so that was about a wash.

The speeds are still good and consistent, normally 6mb+ down and 2mb up. The monthly bill is $654 pesos which includes IP Plus (for torrents) and $30 pesos for modem rental. The drop in the Telmex bill about equals the Telecable bill, but with this combination I have better speeds as well as Internet backup.

It seems that location may have a lot to do with Telecable reliability so my experience may not translate to your location. I also do not have Telecable TV so I have a straight line of cable from the street to the modem with no splices.

While the Telecable support leaves a little to be desired, I have been successful at getting problems resolved normally by phone although I spent a lot of time in the office early on. I believe that with some persistence most problems can be resolved. Telmex certainly has better phone support but I think that Telecable has come a long way in the 3 months I've been on board.