Tor Server Affecting Net Access

[brianwc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi,

I run a tor middle-man node on an otherwise-unused Debian AMD64 box.  I
use the same IP address/DSL connection for all my home internet needs,
i.e., browsing, running web and dns servers, etc, and it's supposed to be
a 6000/1500 dsl line.

I have just realized that running the tor server has been causing serious
degradation of my internet access (a problem that had me baffled for some
time.)  My torrc allows 1GB traffic/day.  This is a relatively new
problem, so I'm wondering if something about my setup or the version of
tor I'm using is to blame, and hope someone here can diagnose.  The
problem primarily appears for the wireless clients.

I'll try to draw a text picture:

{INTERNET}
____|_____
DSL Router (1 static IP)
____|_____
WRT54GL running DD-WRT (4 ports) & no wireless clients
____|___|___|___|_____
____|___|___|___|_unused
____|___|___|_old computer running BOINC
____|___|_old computer running BOINC
____|_another WRT54GL running DD-WRT (4 ports) + wireless clients
____________|___|___|___|___________
_web server_|___|___|___|_dns server
_________unused_|___|_Debian AMD64 Tor Server

The wireless clients get very sporadic net connections when the Tor server
process is running, and are blazing fast when the Tor server process is
not running.  At first I got slightly better results by switching all the
wireless clients to the DD-WRT router closer to the DSL Router, but it
became clear soon enough that the net connections still were terrible.

Unless someone can suggest a different configuration that would solve
things, I was thinking of paying for additional static IPs with my ISP and
using one of them for the tor server, and once it had its own IP, I'd also
make it an exit node.  As I understand how my ISP does this, they will
simply activate the three other ports on the DSL router and each will have
its own static IP.

However, if the issue is simply that having a couple hundred people's tor
traffic running on your home DSL connection just gums up the works, and
even segregating the tor server to its own IP won't address the issue,
then I may have to sadly stop running it as I have to keep everything else
functioning too.  Thanks for any suggestions.

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