Windows bandwidth-limiting
There are a few products which claim to be able to rate-limit network connections from Windows PCs. They are:
* Bandwidth Controller(
http://www.bandwidthcontroller.com/). US$49.95. For Windows 2000 and XP only. Installs itself as a Windows kernel component which regulates traffic through each network connection for which it is enabled. Upstream can be limited separately from downstream.
* NetLimiter(
http://www.netlimiter.com/). US$29.95. For Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, 2003. Originally intended for rate-limiting on a per-application basis, it now supports overall limiting with effect from v1.21beta.
* DU Super Controler(
http://www.homeqos.com/). US$14.95. For Windows 2000 and XP only (Win9x/ME planned). Limits upload and download speeds independently; can prevent uploads from degrading download performance. Also planned is an enhanced version for load-balancing clients of Microsoft ICS.
Linux Wonder Shaper
With effect from Linux 2.4 and higher, a complete solution is available. The Linux Wonder Shaper from
http://lartc.org/wondershaper/ is a script which can be configured to rate-limit uploads so that low latency and high download speeds are maintained. You can use this with a single Linux PC connected to the cable modem, or if you are using Linux as a NAT router gateway to the cable modem. When using this script, you supply 3 parameters:
* the device to have traffic-shaping applied (e.g. eth0)
* download limit
* upload limit
You do not need to set a download limit any more restrictive than your cable mode rate cap, so this should be set to a figure several times greater than your download cap. You should set the upload limit to be about 85% of the upload rate cap of the cable modem.