Re: Not using slow circuits (was Re: Tor slow no matter what I do.)

[Dave Page <grimoire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 02:06:17AM -0600, Scott Bennett wrote:

> Perhaps there is a simpler quasi-solution here.  Right now the tor
> documentation suggests that one consider running tor in server mode if
> one has at least 20 KB/s bandwidth to spare for its operation.
> Perhaps changing that figure in the documentation--maybe doubling
> it?--and publicizing the change on this list would gradually alleviate
> some of the problem.

In parts of the world that may be feasible. Certainly here in the UK the
standard broadband product is 64KB downstream, 32KB upstream, which
means that a Tor server eats over half your upstream bandwidth. Most
products which offer greater downstreams only have 16KB upstreams, not
enough to meet Tor's minimum requirements.

By increasing the minimum requirement for a Tor node, you reduce the
geographical distribution of Tor nodes, making cross-jurisdiction
routing more unlikely; it would be better to investigate ways to reduce
traffic overhead (if this is possible) to allow more people to run Tor
nodes.

Dave
-- 
Dave Page <grimoire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Jabber: grimoire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx