Problem with Second Life/ my broadband subscription

Guys is Second Life peer-to peer or file-sharing software?

well my broadband provider says that we will get our broadband cut off if we dont stop breaching the fair usage policy between 6pm and 11pm.The fair usage policy applies to p2p and file sharing software, I have recently joined Second Life (though thoroughly regretting it) and wonder if SL fits into this category.

No, it's a game.

SL downloads a lot of data constantly and some providers will only see you downloading a steady stream of data and assume you are using p2p or file sharing sw it happened to me and i had to upgrade my Broadband package to allow me to play SL. My average monthly downloading with just SL and no other file transfering, tho i include in that normal web browsing and emails etc averages 50gig a month.

That has been my experience and im on BT in the UK. HTH

Peace

I've had an ongoing problem with connecting via Tiacali. Having spent weeks farting around thinking I had a problem with SL on my pc, it transpires that Tiscali block the following during 'peak' times:

Both UDP and TCP connections, inbound and outbound, on network ports 443 and 12020 to 13050, inclusive. And those IPs:

66.150.244.0/23
69.25.104.0/23
72.5.12.0/22

I've sent a stroppy email, other users who are unable to connect during the evenings ( uk time) would be advised to kick up a stink too!

I suspect that LL gets the blame for a lot of problems that are not in their control. Every weekend I read dozens of irate posts from residents who were crashing all weekend or not able to login, and they are all convinced that SL is to blame. Yet, at those very same peek usage hours, I have no problems at all.

ISPs, marginal computer systems, and inappropriate Preference settings can all seriously affect SL performance.

Thanks for showing that it's not always LL that deserves the blame.

I am on NTL here in the UK with (pretty much) unlimited bandwidth on a 2mb cable connection. Even though NTL have their own serious problems with support, I (touch wood) generally don't have too many problems with them with my connection!

My SL experiences have generally been very good, and I put this down to NTL not blocking ports like Tiscali (and others?) seem to and not using a software firewall at all (I make sure SL has complete access to the net via router firewall).

I very very rarely get crashes (if I do, they are probably gfx driver probs) and never really have problems logging in. The only problems i had with logging in was when I inadvertantly logged onto my neighbours wireless connection, and his router firewall was probably blocking needed ports.

I think people need to start staing what broadband connections they are using if they have crashes/logging in problems and what hardware/software firewall solutions they are running.

I know lack of proper firewall solutions are not ideal for people, but I beleive a properly set up system/connection will eliminate loads of problems people are having!

A friend is always logging in and out with her SL crashing all the time. I have since noticed that her MSN is going offline all the time due to her wireless connection dropping connection and reconnecting straight away. SL seems to be very senstive to this also.

I am so glad that others seem to realise that it might be client-side setup problems causing crashes/login problems. Many thanks!

I've been on NTL for years and they have announced the introduction of restricting peoples d/l volume a few times but a friend of mine who works for them told me they are just too incapable to do it...as i am sure any NTL customer will fully understand. I did hear that the next generation of set top boxes will have firewalls built in to restrict you connecting through certain ports commonly used with p2p software. Apparently this wont be the case it you have a cable modem. To be honest NTL have bigger issues. Their infastructure is screwed. Cable & wireless did a completely half arsed job when they started cabling the UK in the late 80's. My area, Portsmouth, was one of the first areas cabled in the country and they are now in the process of replacing the majority of the cable as people were experiencing up to 80 % packetloss on their connection due to the degradation of the cables and hardware. So apparently allot of their attention and resources is focused on this in order to accomadate the new 25M connection they are launching and the 50mb connection they are supposed to introduce in 2008. Hopefully this will keep em busy enough to realise a good few thousand people are downloading up to 30 gig a day.

Sorry went of on an NTL rant then...so easily done.

I am lucky.... I am on a 20mb ASDL connection with a provider who really gives unlimited bandwidth.

If your provider claims SL is a peer-to-peer program, you may consider to switch to another one, because clearly this provider has no idea what he/she is talking about.

Sure, SL gives a lot of download.... but that has nothing to do with peer-to-peer.

Morwen

Apparently Tiscali do not actually block it. They sent me the 'fix' detailed below:

There are multiple causes for this issue. I request you to perform the following steps in sequence:

- Refresh the IP address of the computer
- Manually add DNS to the computer
- Perform advance troubleshooting steps

%% Step 1 %

Please perform the following steps to refresh the IP address of the computer:

1. Disconnect & power off the modem (or the router) and try connecting after 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Re-start the computer & try the following steps:

1. Click on Start – Click on Run link- Run window pops up
2. Type CMD and click OK. Command prompt screen pops up ( if you are using Windows 98 or ME, type COMMAND instead of CMD )
3. Now, type 'ipconfig /flushdns' (without the quotes) and press the Enter key.
4. Type 'ipconfig /release' and press the Enter key.
5. There after type 'ipconfig /renew' and press the Enter key.

%% Step 2 %

Following steps will help you to add the DNS address manually, so that the Tiscali servers can be reached without any delay:

1. Double click the icon which will have two computers overlapping each other on the right hand side bottom of your computer screen.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click the Networking Tab.
4. Highlight the Internet Protocol and click Properties.
5. Choose 'Use the following DNS ServerAddress' and enter the following

Preferred: 212.74.112.66
Alternate: 212.74.112.67

6. Click OK -> OK and close the status window.
7. Disconnect from Internet and reconnect again OR restart the computer.

%% Step 3 %%

You can also perform the following steps to clear the temporary Internet files and cookies:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools in the menu bar.
3. Choose Internet Options. The Internet Options window will open.
4. In the Internet Option Window choose the General tab.
5. Click Delete Cookies to delete the cookies.
6. After deleting the cookies click on Delete Files.
7. A small window will open, check mark the 'Delete all offline content' and click OK.
8. After the computer deletes them, Click OK to close the Internet options Window.

%% Step 4 %%

In case issue persists after performing the above steps, you can perform advance troubleshooting steps:

You can now perform the steps presented in the following document:
http://uk-tiscali.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/uk_tiscali.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_faqid=201&p_created=1132853049

After performing all the above steps, in case the issue persists then I request you to visit the following link that will help you to perform the detailed steps to resolve this issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326155/en-us

Note: The link above will take you to a non Tiscali Web site. Tiscali does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the Tiscali Web site.