# I am a screwedup airtel user!!!



## cynosure (May 9, 2007)

Hi guys,
I use Airtel 128kbps "broadband" internet connection at home.
My d/l speed is never more than 12-13 kBps; although for a second or two in a minute it jumps to 18 and then goes down to 2-3 before coming back to 12.

Now the airtel guys say that the d/l speed must be 128kbps(I wonder if it is kBps) (which I know is not true) and there might be a virus or things like that in my PC (I use linux for browsing so theres no point of any virus).

SO is there any way of increasing the speed so that I can get even a speed of 20kBps. 

PS: This is the average speed that I get if I download anything using a torrent or using standard d/l managers of firefox. I searced google and asked those airtel masters but theres no solution to my problem


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## aakash_mishra (May 9, 2007)

I am having Airtel connection with 64Kbps n i get download speed of 9-12Kbps....


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## cynosure (May 9, 2007)

^^
@kenshin:
Even a guy with half my net speed get equal to my download speed.
He should get 64/8= 8kBps but he's getting around 12(maxed out)
My max is 13, now what?


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## kalpik (May 9, 2007)

Airtel mentions its an "upto" 128 kbps connection.. So if you are getting 64-128 kbps, its fine from their side


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## ravi_9793 (May 9, 2007)

I m on 256 unlimited plan...I get between 30-40 KBPS speed.

And some time I have seen speed above 50 KBPS during  night.Awesome service by airtel.

I think there is some problem in ur system only.May be some virus eating bandwidth in background.I want to suggest you following things:
1)Do full scan in safe mode.
2) *www.techiehome.org/viewtopic.php?t=224
3) *www.techiehome.org/viewtopic.php?t=518


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## Tech.Masti (May 10, 2007)

^^^
he using linux for browsing , so no virus....


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## ravi_9793 (May 10, 2007)

^^^^^^^who said linux don't have virus???


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## Sukhdeep Singh (May 10, 2007)

Speed is just fine.....

KBPS here means Kilo *BITS* per second and not Kilo Bytes per second.

Speeds depends upon users location but it is good. I have Airtel 256 and i get 27-28KB download speed while brwosing during the day.

After 11PM in night to 6:30 in the morning. I get 70-80KB


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## Wannabe_a_techie (May 10, 2007)

ravi_9793 said:
			
		

> I m on 256 unlimited plan...I get between 30-40 KBPS speed.
> 
> And some time I have seen speed above 50 KBPS during  night.Awesome service by airtel.



Wow! That is impressive.


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## cynosure (May 10, 2007)

*@sukhdeep*:
80kBps is the limit!!!! I mean 40kBps is understood on a 256kbps connection but 70-80 kBps is ....... 

And yes, kilobits and kilobytes depend on whether you are writing it as kbps or kBps  (and thruout my posts, I maintained the difference)

See guys, I want this kinda speed...

*@Ravi*:
Dont know much about the linux's viruses but the links you gave deal with windows.. I use linux. 
PS: I dont use a firewall rite now but I have firestarter installed, should i start using it?? Will it give me speed??


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## gauravakaasid (May 10, 2007)

@sukhdeep......i guess Airtel doubles its speed at nite??


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## Sukhdeep Singh (May 10, 2007)

gauravakaasid said:
			
		

> @sukhdeep......i guess Airtel doubles its speed at nite??



Yes, airtel doubles it speeds at night. 



> *@sukhdeep*:
> 80kBps is the limit!!!! I mean 40kBps is understood on a 256kbps connection but 70-80 kBps is .......



Yep, at night speed doubles. Want me to post a screenshot LOL


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## thetopcyborg (May 10, 2007)

hey, what's the rental that u pay? does it include landline rental too? 
i applied for BSNL 900 UL + plan, but they said that they lack some ports and equipment... i impatiently waited 1 month but now the company from which they ordered the equipment has blacklisted. Trust BSNL to be so kanjoos...

so now i'm considering other companies.


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## ravi_9793 (May 10, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> *@Ravi*:
> Dont know much about the linux's viruses but the links you gave deal with windows.. I use linux.
> PS: I dont use a firewall rite now but I have firestarter installed, should i start using it?? Will it give me speed??



yes,start using a firewall...and permit internet access to limited programs only.


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## akshaykapoor_3 (May 10, 2007)

time to switch over to BSNL H500  ....230 kBps+ continuous !!!


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## cynosure (May 10, 2007)

sukhdeepsinghkohli said:
			
		

> Yes, airtel doubles it speeds at night.



In my case, the speed is same in day awa in the night. 
I am migrating to the plan home 780 (128kbps UL; gosh, few months back it was 699), hope this helps.


And yes guys, Ive to download the ubuntu 7.04; opensuse 10.2 DVD and many other distros and I know torrents are way better for these kinda downloads. Thats why I am giving so much of stress on torrents.

I read on the net that a guys dl speed increased from 60kBps to 400kBps just by enabling the line encryption; in my case nothing happens. 
I went thru various tutorials and tried them over my connection but the speed reduces to 3 or 4 kBps 

Is there any way of increasing the dl speed??? I've downloaded around 230MB of ubuntu 7.04 and my share ratio is 0.86.


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## ravi_9793 (May 10, 2007)

^^^^^^^^^where r u from??


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## cynosure (May 10, 2007)

^^Ghaziabad; A place in the NCR.

And dont say that Airtel doesnt allow that dbl speed in the night thing here in the NCR.
I asked those guys and their reply was positive but I dont see any difference. 
Waise I am using the night top-up of 99 bucks. Is that the reason that the night speed is not dbling??


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## azad_singh (May 10, 2007)

try port mapping and get all connection speed of your area on your PC


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## eagle_y2j (May 10, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> Hi guys,
> I use Airtel 128kbps "broadband" internet connection at home.
> (



according to TRAI ny connection below 256 kbps is not a broadband


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## cynosure (May 10, 2007)

^^ Thats why I used "broadband" and not broadband



			
				azad_singh said:
			
		

> try port mapping and get all connection speed of your area on your PC



Whats that


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## ravi_9793 (May 11, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> Waise I am using the night top-up of 99 bucks. Is that the reason that the night speed is not dbling??


may be??Plz conform abt ur speed from airtel customer care.


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## cynosure (May 12, 2007)

My plan has been changed to unlimited download @ 128kbps.
I am using firewall.
Still no increase in the speed either in the day or in the night.


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## Edburg (May 12, 2007)

I am too a sad Airtel 128 ul user......

At first when i subscribed to this plan i was the happiest user among my frionds having U/L at Rs.600.But now the plan has not been upgraded and i am havin the pathetic speeds among my frineds.Guess times change....

But i am getting the promised 16kBps at Rs.600 unlimiterd.....but no double speeds at night.


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## cynosure (May 12, 2007)

^^At least you are getting 16. Mine is 12
You must be using DAP coz it sure increases dl speed.

Imagine 12kBps unlimited for Rs. 780 + CLI + Modem rental a month.


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## Edburg (May 12, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> ^^At least you are getting 16. Mine is 12
> You must be using DAP coz it sure increases dl speed.
> 
> Imagine 12kBps unlimited for Rs. 780 + CLI + Modem rental a month.



No DAP.Only torrents But the speed varies and not at constant 16 due to the overhead associated with file and data transfers of protocols.I get around 12-15 kbps mostly and sometimes below or above but its what they promised.

Since i am one of the first customers to get the plan the charge at those times of 600 is still being charged now.And i have my own router/modem and rarely calls are made from the airtel landline.So just about Rs.750 a month


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## Sukhdeep Singh (May 12, 2007)

Yep, I was one of first aswell in my city and i pay Rs 400 for 64kbps with zero phone and modem rental .


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## freebird (May 12, 2007)

ravi_9793 said:
			
		

> ^^^^^^^who said linux don't have virus???


 Linux and UNIXens dont have much viruses.even viruses cant harm them.haan!be sure not to login as root user!
*Note to new Linux users: No antivirus needed*



> Savvy Windows users have to watch their virus checkers as closely as the head nurse in the ICU keeps an eye on patient monitors. Often, the buzz in the Windows security world is about which protection-for-profit firm was the first to discover and offer protection for the _malware du jour_ -- or should I say _malware de l'heure_? The only thing better than having backed the winning Super Bowl team come Monday morning at the office coffeepot is having the virus checker you use be the one winning the malware sweepstakes that weekend.
> 
> It's no wonder, then, that when Windows users are finally able to break their chains and experience freedom on a Linux desktop, they stare at me in disbelief when I tell them to lay that burden down. They are reluctant to stop totin' that load. They have come to expect to pay a toll for a modicum of security.
> I try to explain that permissions on Linux make such tribute unnecessary. Without quibbling over the definitions of viruses and trojans, I tell them that neither can execute on your machine unless you explicitly give them permission to do so.
> ...


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## ravi_9793 (May 12, 2007)

^^^^^^^^^^funny claim.Linux community will always claim similar things.If this is case,than why linux based server are hacked.And plz don't agrue on this here.This is not proper thread to discuss.If you want to discuss on this..start a new thread...there I am ready to have discussion.


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## freebird (May 12, 2007)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Viruses and network security are two different things dude!grow up!I am not going to argue with u.know what is in ur mind.even Linux servers ran AV's to check for win32 viruses `coz they are serving windows customers too!reality sux;eh?


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## ravi_9793 (May 12, 2007)

even I dont want to ague on this topic.so,lets close our topic.


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## cynosure (May 13, 2007)

Check the Image, check in the yellow box and youll realize my pain.
This is something that Ive been getting all this afternoon.
I changed the settings zillion of times but still dl speed wont go above 5-6.
The settings used at the time of taking the picture were giving me speed of around 16-17 earlier

*images6.pictiger.com/thumbs/11/d11cf8b966daa2a80259af5f1e19d111.th.png

My share ratio has gone up from 0.88 to 0.96 with nothing  good downloaded. 



			
				Edburg said:
			
		

> No DAP.Only torrents But the speed varies and not at constant 16 due to the overhead associated with file and data transfers of protocols.I get around 12-15 kbps mostly and sometimes below or above but its what they promised.
> 
> Since i am one of the first customers to get the plan the charge at those times of 600 is still being charged now.And i have my own router/modem and rarely calls are made from the airtel landline.So just about Rs.750 a month



CAn you post your torrent settings??
I might try them too. My last resort


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## Edburg (May 13, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> CAn you post your torrent settings??
> I might try them too. My last resort



What kind of settings ??? port no:14676 and what others do u want....

And did u check with another torrent with many seeders ?? because some torrents go slow....And did u try with another OS...

I wud say inquire with a airtel user in ur area....If he is getting same speed contact customer care and complain about this.....If his speed ios fine then mess around with ur system.....

And dont expect more than what u are promised even though some get them. Their luck....As as u get more or less about 14~15 its alrighht for the connection....


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## cynosure (May 13, 2007)

^^ Oh yes!!!
Now at least I am getting around 12-13.
Changed the port from 6881 to 51550; Disabled the UndP plugin; Disabled DHT; Forwarded my port manually. Phew...

And I have only 2 OSes: Win Me and Ubuntu 6.06LTS. I can use the former for internet; its buggy and I havent updated it till now.

And my friend has 256 connection and his speed is around 32kBps (sometimes 40). Think this is the fault within my system so I cant sue Airtel too


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## praka123 (May 13, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> And I have only 2 OSes: Win Me and Ubuntu 6.06LTS. I can use the former for internet; its buggy and I havent updated it till now.


You can connect in Ubuntu if its(airtel's) a adsl pppoe connxn and u got a lan card.or does it uses dial-up OR better if u post in open source section.we will try to help


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## clmlbx (May 14, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> ^^Ghaziabad; A place in the NCR.
> 
> And dont say that Airtel doesnt allow that dbl speed in the night thing here in the NCR.
> I asked those guys and their reply was positive but I dont see any difference.
> Waise I am using the night top-up of 99 bucks. Is that the reason that the night speed is not dbling??


 
I too use night top-up of 99 bucks . and my speed goes to 60 kbps ( max )
50 is avg. on 256 kbps connection which becomes 512 at night 

don't try downloading with default windows downloader .

airtel guy himself said u have to use that downloader to get the good speed .

use dap or flashget . I am using dap .

for torrents check the port is open or not .

check what is the number of peers connected to u . try increasing it .

try utorrent . that is best bittorrent software .


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## Edburg (May 14, 2007)

I am on 128 kbps U/L in Chennai.I am not getting night double speeds.Has anyone with my specs got double speeds ???

Besides i am using torrents and port open,good no of seeders,etc

Should i disconnect and login again at night to get that double speed ?? And exactly which time are u guys getting double speeds ???


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## cynosure (May 14, 2007)

^^ I read over the net that (Airtel guys told the author) that you have to disconnect and then reconnect in order to get the free conxn (he was using 99 topup) so I think the dbl speed thing works the same way.

@clmlbx: I use ubuntu and not Win to do my daily internet tasks. I tried using utorrent with wine but 0.5kbps is max speed that I can get
At any point of time I am connected to around 90+ peers. ktorrent right now is showing 4(74) seeds and 92(1104) leeches[I hate these guys].

@praka: Dude!! Did you read my post??
My conxn is working but I am not getting speed.
I use USB port to connect my modem.


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## Edburg (May 14, 2007)

And the timings which the noght double works ????


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## clmlbx (May 14, 2007)

my com clock shows 10:48 pm when speed doubles .
current time 10:33 pm

and speed coms back to normal at 06:50 am

I am using utorrent with a very good upload and download speed .

you do not have to reconnect or do anything . It doubles itself .


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## cynosure (May 14, 2007)

Clmlbx is rite. My airtelwalah told me the time as 10.30. +/-15 minutes and your speed will dbl.


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## clmlbx (May 14, 2007)

I don't know anything about ubuntu . but do that too have limited tcp/ip connection as win xp sp2 .

If yes, try increasing limit .


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## cynosure (May 15, 2007)

^^ Even I dont know that much about ubuntu
Tried searching google (in vain) but cudnt find any results worth reading!!


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## clmlbx (May 15, 2007)

give ur ktorrent setings 

nat icon is of what colour ?

try increasing ur upload speed .

bcoz some trackers give good download speeds only if u r uploading well .

try on some well know sites .

have u installed any firewall ?


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## cynosure (May 15, 2007)

^^
Ktorrent ver. 2.1.4
Port: 50551 (forwarded)
UDP tracker port: 4444
Mximum upload speed : 10kBps (tried 11 and 12 but it hampers my dl speed)
Maximunm dl speed: 0 (no limit)
Maximum seeds: 0 (no limit)
Maximum downloads: 0 (no limit)
Global connection limit: 800
No. of upload slots: 2
Maximum limit: 0 (no limit)
DHT on
Encryption on
UnDP off (If I switch this on then I am getting a speed of 1-2kBps)

With these settings I am getting a speed of around 11-12kBps (I should be getting 16 as my conxn is 128kbps)

My share ratio is 0.91; Downloaded: 3.79GB; Upladed: 3.43GB

I have tried many sites but things dint work out my way except they asked to switch off UnDP which I did and get a boost in dl speed.

I am using Firestarter.

Whats this nat icon??


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## praka123 (May 15, 2007)

^^that green,yellow or red color button present in the torrent client
for normal desktop users *lokkit *is enough.
apt-get install lokkit;then in a terminal sudo lokkit-customize-give open port for torrent fwding...etc.
run sudo iptables  -L for rules listed


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## cynosure (May 16, 2007)

^^
I had lokkit but I uninstalled it
I think I will have to go back to lokkit coz FS uses too much resources of my "super"computer.


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## pushkardey (May 16, 2007)

airtel is like that only i have taken the life time offer and now i m wondering why did i do that..... the connection is F***************** (ladies excuse my language) ....... after 11 pm it stops working....... the wireless internet  as well as the  broadband sucks...


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## clmlbx (May 16, 2007)

rarely u will get speed of 16 kbps

bcoz 128 kbps means speed between 100 to 128

at what time do you get this speed .

it may also depend upon time .

as more traffic low speeds . no traffic good speed .

any firewall ?

nat icon  ?


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## cynosure (May 17, 2007)

^^But airtel guys say that after 22.30 the speed automatically doubles and this has happend with few members of this forum!! But not with me!


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## mehulved (May 17, 2007)

cynosure said:
			
		

> *@sukhdeep*:
> PS: I dont use a firewall rite now but I have firestarter installed, should i start using it?? Will it give me speed??


 How don't you have a firewall? Did you modify the kernel? From what I know all distributions come with iptables inbuilt in the kernel. Firestarter is just a frontend to iptables. You can use it. But, it would be good to understand a few things about iptables, so you'd find using any linux based firewall easy cos most, if not all are just frontends to iptables.



			
				cynosure said:
			
		

> I use USB port to connect my modem.


 This could be the problem. USB is always slower and less stable than using a LAN card.


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## Edburg (May 17, 2007)

For me too night double is not coming.Tried it today at 5.15 A.M,No luck.

An d i am using router with ethernet card.


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## Sukhdeep Singh (May 17, 2007)

Double speed during night must be a market startagy in some cities.

Like i was offered Unlimited 64KBPS with no phone and modem rental for Rs 400. This same scheme is now Rs 750 

What my cousin was even great. Pay Rs 400 and get 256kbps unlimited during night. 9PM to 8AM.


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## cynosure (May 17, 2007)

mehulved said:
			
		

> How don't you have a firewall? Did you modify the kernel? From what I know all distributions come with iptables inbuilt in the kernel. Firestarter is just a frontend to iptables. You can use it. But, it would be good to understand a few things about iptables, so you'd find using any linux based firewall easy cos most, if not all are just frontends to iptables.



I dont think Ubuntu came with FS preinstalled, nor it had Lokkit. I dont know about any other firewall.
I think I edited iptables and configured it to start firestarter at the startup.
So everytime FS starts and protects my PC like superman.
But still my speed is not up to the mark.


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## mehulved (May 17, 2007)

You got some special ubuntu? I haven't seen any version of ubuntu/kubuntu or such that I've used that didn't already contain iptables.


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## cynosure (May 17, 2007)

^^ I was a bit confused
But I am sure that after I downloaded and installed FS from the net, only after that was I getting "Starting Firestarter firewall" at the startup. And only after I downloaded and installed Lokkit was I getting "Starting basic firewall environment:Lokkit" at the startup!!
These two lines were not there before I installed the two packages. So thats why I am assuming that niether FS nor Lokkit came preinstalled in my system.

And since I am not a linux geek and I tried "define:iptables" in google; it threw some weird definitions whch I was not able to understand


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## praka123 (May 17, 2007)

why?just open a terminal and type "man iptables" or for that matter any other commands.
Also do remember lokkit or firestarter(GUI) or anyother are all control scripts for basic netfilter iptables.
for making u know that u got iptables installed :
in terminal type and enter:

```
~$ sudo iptables  -L
```
^^ this will list u the current fw rules.like ports opened for ur torrent client,the dns server lines etc.iptables is very much superior to any windows fw fyi.
infact if ur security paranoid,u can try selinux package too.used by american mil. 
if u got doubts with any command,try "man cmdname" to get its use.most cmds  got man pages.
And ur Ubuntu is based on Debian,which is used by US for sending space craft outer space due to err,the reliability of famous OS .


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## cynosure (May 17, 2007)

^^ I checked iptables -L and it did listed a few rules.
All the policies were accepted.
The Chain Input was ACCEPTED and the port 50551 was listed that I use for torrent Thanks for this @praka

I already knew about man but kinda forgot


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## praka123 (May 17, 2007)

Aah!now u knows!


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## clmlbx (May 18, 2007)

We Go For Expertise Now Check The Basic . 

Does Your Plan Have This Facility ( Speed Doubles At Night )

Many Plans Are Limited To Some Regions And Some Conditions . 

Does Anyone In Neighbour Hood Gets Double Speed, 

Having Same Plan ( Same Rental,speed ) 

If Yes , Then Make A Call And Book A Complaint To Airtel .

WHAT IS YOUR LOCATION ?

one more thing I got to know ( not sure about it ) that this facility ( speed doubles at night  ) was only made available as a new year gift to existing user who r with airtel from a  long time ?

how long are u with airtel .


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## alienspiesu (May 18, 2007)

ok dude.. i hav an airtel conexion n i too hav the unlimited plan wid the 128 kbps speed.. wel i get d/l speeds in the rnge of 14-15 n sumtimes wven 18 @ nite..
wel i ges ur in a pipeline whr thr r many conexions provided in ur area.. n if tats the case.. the b/w gets divided.. say if thr r 3 conexions in ur pipeline then the b/w of 128kbps wil b divided into 3 parts.. tats wat they wud say if u askd'em .. n tat too @ the main ofice, cos most of the airtel cce's r nt as educated abt their stuff... 
n 1 of my frnd too had the sme pblm.. he simply switchd 2 dataone.. if the pblm persists then i wud advice u 2 switch..


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## reddick (May 18, 2007)

Airtel MO also sucks a lot...espacially @ evening time


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