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I share an internet connection with another person, and it appears that his computer gets priority over mine with regards to the amount of bandwidth we are allocated. Is there any way of allocating bandwidth manually so that both systems get an equal amount? We connect through a router, and are both using Windows XP (I use Pro, he uses Home). We use a 2 meg broadband connection (although it's more like 2k for me at the moment!l lol).

Thanks for your time :)

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As describes, one PC getting most of the line is usually a local problem (one host saturating the pipe) rather than the ISP intentionally favoring a machine. As noted, Windows XP does not provide a simple built‑in per‑user bandwidth limiter, so shaping is normally done at the router or gateway.

A short diagnostic checklist:

  • Measure each machine alone (use any speed test) to confirm the asymmetry.
  • Check whether one machine is wireless and the other wired (wireless link rates and interference can make a big difference).
  • Look for heavy upload activity (P2P, upload backups). Uplink saturation kills responsiveness even if download looks OK.
  • Inspect the router status page for per‑client connection counts or obvious QoS/bandwidth controls.

If the router has QoS/bandwidth control, use it. Generic steps: log into the router admin page (commonly 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1), find QoS/Bandwidth Control/Traffic Shaping, set the measured upload speed slightly below the ISP number (about 85–95% of measured max), then add per‑IP or per‑MAC rules or use fair‑share/HTB settings so each PC gets a defined share. Many consumer firmwares label these features differently, so look for “QoS”, “Bandwidth Control” or “Traffic Shaping”.

If the stock firmware lacks features, consider a firmware that adds QoS (DD‑WRT or OpenWrt) or a dedicated gateway (pfSense) — both provide per‑host limits and fair‑sharing, but flashing or installing them has a learning curve and carries risk. See DD‑WRT and OpenWrt docs for QoS options: DD‑WRT QoS and OpenWrt traffic shaping.

If changing the router is not possible, use application limits (set upload caps in P2P clients) or a per‑PC limiter (tools such as NetLimiter on Windows). For strict fairness, router/gateway shaping is the most reliable long‑term solution.

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Member Avatar for DMR

Windows has no buit-in bandwidth limiting/shaping capabilities that I know of, although your router might; check it's documentation.

Member Avatar for Paddy

Unfortunately my router didn't come with adequate documentation haha. All it tells me is how to plug it in basically. I scanned through the options in the configuration page though, and didn't see anything that looked like it handled allocation of bandwidth. I could be wrong, because I'm not really sure what I'm looking for haha. I think the best solution for this problem will be personal repsonsibility - i.e. I'll make sure the other guy doesn't leave his computer downloading stuff all day every day :rolleyes:

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