• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 11:04
CET 17:04
KST 01:04
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners8Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon!33$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship6[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win9
StarCraft 2
General
RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon! 5.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8) Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win
Tourneys
$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL20] Grand Finals [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Current Meta PvZ map balance How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Why we need SC3
Hildegard
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1696 users

ISP Throttling Hurts SC2: How to Fix

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
KTK99
Profile Joined November 2014
China48 Posts
November 26 2014 23:46 GMT
#1
If you have issues where you get ping jumps, unstable/inconsistant ping, Waiting For Server, or other things, it is probably your ISP throttling your connection to save money on their end at the cost of the user.

If you live in places like China, Russia, and (especially) the United States (this one is almost 100% likely!) this is a serious thing, and even if you don't notice anything, it helps to do this anyway!

Also, this fixes torrents, YouTube buffering, and so on. You should never have YouTube buffering at, say, 1080p with a 10mbps internet connection, but you probably do.

Here is how:

1. Run Command Prompt (Start+R, type cmd, hit Enter)

2. Type the following code in and press Enter:
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="THRTL BLK" dir=in action=block remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 enable=yes

3. Close Command Prompt. No restarts needed.
"If you lose, automatically assume their race is OP and they are map hacking." -Nathanias 2014
IntoTheWow
Profile Blog Joined May 2004
is awesome32277 Posts
November 26 2014 23:50 GMT
#2
Isn that dependant on the CDN Server your ISP uses? So... everyone should have different IPs to block?
Moderator<:3-/-<
KTK99
Profile Joined November 2014
China48 Posts
November 26 2014 23:52 GMT
#3
On November 27 2014 08:50 IntoTheWow wrote:
Isn that dependant on the CDN Server your ISP uses? So... everyone should have different IPs to block?

No, if you look, it is a form of Internal IP.
Basically, you block this general IP and the throttling mechanism goes all whacko and your connection is always up.

I noticed this when my torrents hit less than 0.5Kb/s. Now it is at a constant speed maxing out my connection. It also majorly helped SC2 because my ping would spike in large battles.
"If you lose, automatically assume their race is OP and they are map hacking." -Nathanias 2014
scott31337
Profile Joined January 2013
United States2979 Posts
November 27 2014 00:20 GMT
#4
The firewall rule is blocking IP addresses which start with 173.194.55 or 206.111 from making connections to your computer.

The article suggests that these addresses belong to CDN servers which is basically a cache that may be geographically close to you. This means that the YouTube servers don not have to send the same information over and over again.

The reason that the article gives for this causing a slowdown is that your Internet provider may be slowing down traffic from these addresses. Therefore blocking them will force the stream to be sent directly from YouTube's server which the Internet provider may not be slowing down traffic from.

If you have were not experiencing slow streaming before or have not seen any benefit from adding this rule, then I suggest you disable it as it could also slow down your connection if the CDN servers are not being slowed.

Additional Information About the Command

The netsh command is used on Windows systems for viewing and changing the configuration of network components and services. For more detail on the tool you can look here.

The advfirewall firewall add rule part tells it to add a rule to the firewall.

The name="THRTL BLK" part defines a name for the rule. This can be anything you like; to make it easy for you to recognise later.

dir=in specifies the direction of the rule, in this case inbound. This mean that this rule applies to computers trying to connect to your computer as opposed to when you connect to other computers.

action=block tells it to block any traffic that matches this rule.

remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 tells it that this rule applies to traffic where the other computer involved has an address starting with either 173.194.55 or 206.111. The /24 and /16 tell it how much of the address to use. There are eight bytes for each number between the dots so /24 tells it to use the first three (24/8) numbers (173.194.55) and /16 tells it to use the first two (16/8) numbers (206.111).

Finally, enable=yes simply sets the rule as enabled.
THIS WAGON IS HITTING MAFIA FOR SURE BOYS!
SinCitta
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Germany2127 Posts
November 27 2014 00:41 GMT
#5
On November 27 2014 08:52 KTK99 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 27 2014 08:50 IntoTheWow wrote:
Isn that dependant on the CDN Server your ISP uses? So... everyone should have different IPs to block?

No, if you look, it is a form of Internal IP.
Basically, you block this general IP and the throttling mechanism goes all whacko and your connection is always up.

I noticed this when my torrents hit less than 0.5Kb/s. Now it is at a constant speed maxing out my connection. It also majorly helped SC2 because my ping would spike in large battles.


If you look... how?

The first IP range belongs to Google, the second IP range belongs to XO Communications. I doubt this will have an effect on anything other than Youtube/Google stuff and whatever XO Communication provides. I strongly doubt it has anything to do with your SC2 connections and your torrents.
hero_lief
Profile Joined December 2010
United States53 Posts
November 27 2014 01:01 GMT
#6
On November 27 2014 09:41 SinCitta wrote:If you look... how?

The first IP range belongs to Google, the second IP range belongs to XO Communications. I doubt this will have an effect on anything other than Youtube/Google stuff and whatever XO Communication provides. I strongly doubt it has anything to do with your SC2 connections and your torrents.


This. It might fix some weird form of throttling in your very specific use case, but this is pretty much guaranteed to be different for almost every situation.
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
November 27 2014 05:25 GMT
#7
On November 27 2014 08:52 KTK99 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 27 2014 08:50 IntoTheWow wrote:
Isn that dependant on the CDN Server your ISP uses? So... everyone should have different IPs to block?

No, if you look, it is a form of Internal IP.
Basically, you block this general IP and the throttling mechanism goes all whacko and your connection is always up.

I noticed this when my torrents hit less than 0.5Kb/s. Now it is at a constant speed maxing out my connection. It also majorly helped SC2 because my ping would spike in large battles.

Those two IP addresses are not in the internal/private IP address range. Can you explain the technicalities of how this works? If not, then I would refrain from sharing potentially false information.
the throttling mechanism goes all whacko and your connection is always up

is not reassuring to say the least.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Willba
Profile Joined June 2011
United Kingdom209 Posts
November 27 2014 18:41 GMT
#8
I have an extremely stupid problem that I have created myself here and I was wondering if someone can help me. I have no idea why I tried this since I'm not particularly competent with IT.

I ran the cmd on my pc as admin and typed in exactly what the OP said to. Upon pressing enter my internet disconnected and when diagnosing the problem I get the message ' Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (Primary DNS server). The WAN icon on my router is the only one that is not flashing the usual colour if that helps.
Kerence
Profile Joined May 2011
Sweden1817 Posts
November 27 2014 19:38 GMT
#9
On November 28 2014 03:41 Willba wrote:
I have an extremely stupid problem that I have created myself here and I was wondering if someone can help me. I have no idea why I tried this since I'm not particularly competent with IT.

I ran the cmd on my pc as admin and typed in exactly what the OP said to. Upon pressing enter my internet disconnected and when diagnosing the problem I get the message ' Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (Primary DNS server). The WAN icon on my router is the only one that is not flashing the usual colour if that helps.


You can remove the rule you just created in the advanced firewall settings found in the Control Panel.
Alternatively typing
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="THRTL BLK"
into the Command Prompt should also work.
I am here in the shadows.
Willba
Profile Joined June 2011
United Kingdom209 Posts
November 27 2014 21:05 GMT
#10
On November 28 2014 04:38 Kerence wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2014 03:41 Willba wrote:
I have an extremely stupid problem that I have created myself here and I was wondering if someone can help me. I have no idea why I tried this since I'm not particularly competent with IT.

I ran the cmd on my pc as admin and typed in exactly what the OP said to. Upon pressing enter my internet disconnected and when diagnosing the problem I get the message ' Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (Primary DNS server). The WAN icon on my router is the only one that is not flashing the usual colour if that helps.


You can remove the rule you just created in the advanced firewall settings found in the Control Panel.
Alternatively typing
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="THRTL BLK"
into the Command Prompt should also work.


I tried the command and I got the response 'The following command was not found: advfirewall delete rule name='THRTL BLK''

As for the firewall settings I couldn't find the rule, although I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for.

Previously I tried the command 'netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt', not sure if that changes anything.
Kerence
Profile Joined May 2011
Sweden1817 Posts
November 27 2014 21:15 GMT
#11
On November 28 2014 06:05 Willba wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2014 04:38 Kerence wrote:
On November 28 2014 03:41 Willba wrote:
I have an extremely stupid problem that I have created myself here and I was wondering if someone can help me. I have no idea why I tried this since I'm not particularly competent with IT.

I ran the cmd on my pc as admin and typed in exactly what the OP said to. Upon pressing enter my internet disconnected and when diagnosing the problem I get the message ' Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (Primary DNS server). The WAN icon on my router is the only one that is not flashing the usual colour if that helps.


You can remove the rule you just created in the advanced firewall settings found in the Control Panel.
Alternatively typing
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="THRTL BLK"
into the Command Prompt should also work.


I tried the command and I got the response 'The following command was not found: advfirewall delete rule name='THRTL BLK''

As for the firewall settings I couldn't find the rule, although I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for.

Previously I tried the command 'netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt', not sure if that changes anything.

You need to have an extra "firewall" in there.
You can just copy-paste what I wrote, right-click into the Command Prompt and select paste.
In the Firewall rules, the rule will be under "Rules for incoming traffic" and have the name "THRTL BLK"
I am here in the shadows.
Willba
Profile Joined June 2011
United Kingdom209 Posts
November 27 2014 21:19 GMT
#12
On November 28 2014 06:15 Kerence wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2014 06:05 Willba wrote:
On November 28 2014 04:38 Kerence wrote:
On November 28 2014 03:41 Willba wrote:
I have an extremely stupid problem that I have created myself here and I was wondering if someone can help me. I have no idea why I tried this since I'm not particularly competent with IT.

I ran the cmd on my pc as admin and typed in exactly what the OP said to. Upon pressing enter my internet disconnected and when diagnosing the problem I get the message ' Windows can't communicate with the device or resource (Primary DNS server). The WAN icon on my router is the only one that is not flashing the usual colour if that helps.


You can remove the rule you just created in the advanced firewall settings found in the Control Panel.
Alternatively typing
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="THRTL BLK"
into the Command Prompt should also work.


I tried the command and I got the response 'The following command was not found: advfirewall delete rule name='THRTL BLK''

As for the firewall settings I couldn't find the rule, although I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for.

Previously I tried the command 'netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt', not sure if that changes anything.

You need to have an extra "firewall" in there.
You can just copy-paste what I wrote, right-click into the Command Prompt and select paste.
In the Firewall rules, the rule will be under "Rules for incoming traffic" and have the name "THRTL BLK"


Oh god that was silly of me. Thank you for your help.
Willba
Profile Joined June 2011
United Kingdom209 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-11-27 23:30:24
November 27 2014 23:02 GMT
#13
Ok so I used that command, and received the message 'No rules match the specified criteria'. My internet is still not connecting though. Does this mean the THRTL BLK rule has been removed and there is now some other issue that could be affecting my internet? I also used the command 'netsh advfirewall reset' when your command did not solve the problem.

[image loading]
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-11-28 03:31:30
November 28 2014 01:54 GMT
#14
Just going into the Windows advanced firewall GUI to find/delete the rule.

Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings (left hand navigation panel). At least that's where you can find it in Windows 8 within the control panel, I'd assume it's identical or very similar with Windows 7.

Click on Inbound rules in the left panel and scroll down until you see the name of the rule you created (THRTL BLK). If you can't find it you probably either made a typo when entering it or it's already removed.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 56m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 572
BRAT_OK 90
Codebar 41
Livibee 31
StarCraft: Brood War
Jaedong 1495
GuemChi 1465
EffOrt 1325
Stork 698
Light 607
Larva 417
Snow 411
Mini 356
Rush 223
Barracks 222
[ Show more ]
Leta 119
hero 112
sSak 111
JYJ47
Aegong 37
Backho 34
sorry 29
zelot 26
soO 23
Terrorterran 16
HiyA 15
scan(afreeca) 12
Bale 9
Dota 2
qojqva3422
420jenkins258
syndereN218
Other Games
singsing2199
Sick375
DeMusliM352
crisheroes342
Lowko284
Hui .257
Liquid`VortiX150
oskar109
KnowMe96
XcaliburYe58
QueenE29
Trikslyr17
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL201
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 4
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 2491
• WagamamaTV466
League of Legends
• Nemesis4280
• Jankos3067
• TFBlade809
Upcoming Events
LAN Event
1h 56m
Lambo vs Harstem
FuturE vs Maplez
Scarlett vs FoxeR
Gerald vs Mixu
Zoun vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
ByuN vs TBD
TriGGeR vs TBD
Korean StarCraft League
10h 56m
CranKy Ducklings
17h 56m
IPSL
1d 1h
dxtr13 vs OldBoy
Napoleon vs Doodle
LAN Event
1d 1h
BSL 21
1d 3h
Gosudark vs Kyrie
Gypsy vs Sterling
UltrA vs Radley
Dandy vs Ptak
Replay Cast
1d 6h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 17h
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 19h
IPSL
2 days
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
[ Show More ]
LAN Event
2 days
BSL 21
2 days
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

BSL Season 21
SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.