Bandwidth Control on home network

[Prof.Deathray]

I realize there have been other posts regarding this issue on this forum and I've looked through them but I'm still not sure about an ideal solution.

So basically certain housemates are torrent hounds and destroying our bandwidth (usually about 300kbps upload and 4000kbps down). I'm looking for a way to equalize the amount of bandwidth each person can utilize. In the past I've been blocking mac addresses temporarily, but I can only do that if everyone is sleeping/out. SO...

Some posts on here suggest getting a switch. Will that be effective for my purposes, I wonder. All connections are wireless, so I'm assuming it wont work, but I'm not familiar with switches so I don't know. And with a switch is bandwidth just equally distributed? Or are limits preset?

I've seen some sites about getting a router with a decent amount of built-in flash memory and flashing it with 3rd party software that is capable of features only found in routers that generally cost thousands of dollars.

However, for that I'd need to buy a new router as the one we have isn't mine and I wouldn't want to risk bricking someone else's router. Also, our current router isn't supported. :(

I know the other solution is to get a separate server running in the house, but that will be impossible for several reasons, one being power consumption.

I just thought I'd ask here to see if anyone could offer any advice.

Thanks in advance,
ProfDeathray (AKA The Triangle [I lost my pw :( ] )

Cheers.

[t34b4g5]

Why not just stealth install netlimiter Pro and set it up so that they can only get a certain download upload speed that you set.

http://www.netlimiter.com/

[Sterling_Aug]

A switch is just a connection to the network. There are no "brians" in the switch to limit the bandwidth.

Since everyone is wireless, then a switch is useless since it only works when the PC is hard wired into the switch.

You can get a router that can be flash updated to 3rd party firmware such as DDWRT or Tomato. I have a Linkwsys #WRT54GL router that uses DDWRT and I can set QoS (Quality of Service) to limit bandwidth.

http://lifehacker.com/software/router/hack-attack-turn-your-60-router-into-a-600-router-178132.php

[cat6]

If your Router can do Qos (or can be flashed with DD-WRT), it can be controlled by the Router.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Quality_of_Service
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[Prof.Deathray]

Yeah, I figured I'd have to go the QoS route. Guess I'll be picking up a DD-WRT compatible router soon.

By the way, what's stealth install? I've never heard of that before. I don't have access to anyone else's computer so I'd have to be able to install something remotely, which I wouldn't really be willing to do even if it were possible that's a bit too devious for me.

[Midknyte]

Tomato also has QoS.

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

http://www.decimation.com/markw/2007/10/03/tomato-qos-setup/

[cat6]

Netlimiter is a good solution only if the "Hog" agrees to it.

There is No real way to make totally transparent any knowledgeable user would spot it in few minutes.

I do not know where your are at. in the USA this is a cost effective Router for the task.

It is a good device inexpensive and can be flashed with DD-WRT.

Asus WL-520GU, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320023

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