[Tutorial] How to increase internet speed

I felt a little bit guilty because a lot of people went over to my Celcom broadband trick blog post that no longer work. It was an old trick, and yes in a way it was a some sort denial-of-service (DoS) attack. But it worked because the Celcom ISP at that time were limiting the bandwidth from their server, so the DoS was meant to render their limitation useless, allowing us direct path to the internet gateway. Something like that.

I had another blog post actually, how to bypass the broadband limit and such. But I took it down after I was made abundantly clear that such information was actually classified. Corporate secret or something, I think. Only the ISP operator should have access to that kind of information, and yes, that is why if you ever worked in the ISP building, you'll noticed that their internet speed IS NOT capped. But that was all history, and today sharing is something people doesn't care anymore. Though, that will not stop me from writing. In a way, this is like my own personal note. Something possibly useful for me in the future.

So, I have been receiving emails asking about how to bypass internet broadband quota and/or increase internet speed. For bypassing internet broadband quota, I don't have the answer to that. Yeah, I know it sucks. But there is nothing you can do about it. There are reasons why they capped the bandwidth, and one of them is to keep you from hogging the entire transmission capacity of a shared network.

But that doesn't mean that they could cheat your money and throttling the whole network just for the sheer joy of making your life a living hell. So lets get to it. First of all, this tutorial is not a sure-thing workaround. This is an old tutorial on a basic internet speed.. urmm 'configuration'. Timeless one, I might add. Once you get the gist of it, it should allow you an inner sight of how your internet speed are being controlled by your ISP. And from there.. well, you know where this lead to.


Now, do you guys know what is TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) stands for? TFTP is this simple, very unremarkable, file transfer protocol. Used for automated transfer of boots files or configuration between machines through a local network. Uses very small amount memory, useful for booting devices such as router, or can be implemented in the ROM/NVRAM of the host's network card as part of the PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) network boot protocol.

Too complex for you? Let me break it down for you. When the router or modem is booted (started), it will search an 'Image' file where the configuration such as your upload/download speed is defined. So where is this 'Image' file is situated? You guessed it, in your ISP's TFTP server.

So how do we configure the boot files within the inside of your ISP's TFTP server to your preference? Isn't that considered, as hacking? Well, not exactly. Because we are not changing the boot file from the ISP's TFTP server. We just going to grab it, configure it, and 'persuade' the router/modem to query the boot file from our computer instead of, you know, the ISP's TFTP server.

1) Find the TFTP server IP address and the 'Image' file path.

There are several ways to do this.

One, you can try to access the router/modem itself through it MAC (Media Access Control) Address. Its usually at the back of your modem/router, or listed inside of the manual book. You can also login into the the modem through your modem/router Web Browser (usually look something like 192.168.100 or something). The idea was to snatch an internal HTML pages stored within your DOCsis (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) modem that gives your the vital information that you'll need.

Second, you can use third party software to save you from the hassle of trying to access your tight-lipped router/modem. The most famous software was a program called Querry.exe from Weird Solutions. Its a BOOTP packet request program that display the Image Filename, TFTP server address, practically all the information regarding of your network. But this software, well, you can guess it no longer around or really, really hard to find nowadays. Obviously. But don't worry, if you are computer literate, you'll know exactly what kind of software you are looking for, so you can just find another third party software with the same function.

Using the above methods you will get the information of your ISP`s TFTP server IP and the name of your 'Image' file stored in that TFTP server.

There would be a whole bunch of information such as these:

MaxRateDown 2621440; MaxRateUp 393216
(Technically this means your ISP setting is 40KB/s upload and 250KB/s download)

Configuration [TFTP] [Server] = 194.*.*..90
(This would be your ISP's TFTP server address, might be different for different ISP)

Configuration filename = isrr.bin
(This would be the name for the boot file, might be different for different ISP)

IP fragments created = 0

IP address.10.$$$.$$$.$$$ = 10.$$$.$$$.$$$

IP address.192.168.100.1 = 192.168.100.1
(This would be the IP address of the router/modem. Take note of this)

IP-to-If-index.10.$$$.$$$.$$$ = 2


2) Download the Image/Boot file from ISP`s TFTP server.

To do this, go to your command prompt and type in the commands below:

C:\tftp -i GET

Congrats, but you ain't done yet. Here is the part where it got a little bit tricky.

3). Decrypt and modify the Image/Boot file

To decrypt the Image/Boot file, you need an DOCsis tools. You can easily find this software throughout the net. After you had decrypt it, you would be able to open the boot file and modify it. Do so and just find the value that you needed, something similar to MaxRateDown, RateUp, or something. Make the changes, and encrypt it back and save it using the the original file name (don't forget to make a backup from the original boot file).

Then, we need to change our computer's TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) configuration so it would be the same as your ISP's TFTP server.

Go to My Network Place/Network Setting/ or what have your, and access its properties.
Select your LAN Card, access its property and look for Internet Protocol (TCP-IP). Click on it and change its respective value into the settings as below:

IP: 194.*.*.90 (replace with the ISP's TFTP server)

Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Gateway: 192.168.100.1 (replace with your cable modem's IP address)

Note 1: Gateway should be 192.168.100.1 then only your modem can communicate with computer.
Note 2: The setting would be different for different ISP. This setting is based on the info that we get from Step 1 earlier.


4). Host your own TFTP server, put the Image/Boot file in the base directory of the server

Download TFTP Server software and host TFTP server in your computer, such as TFTPD32 or SolarWinds TFTP. Anyway, if you are using TFTPD32, here is how you put the Image/Boot file into your base directory of your TFTP server;

• Start the server.
• Go to Settings and set the Security to None.
• Increase the timeout to 20secs and the Max Retransmit to 6.
• Choose to translate UNIX filenames. Make sure it's base directory point to where the 'isrr.bin' is (i.e. the image/boot file which you modified, might be different for different ISP).
• If you need to replicate a directory path name along with the image file, then make a directory from root that corresponds to the image file path name.

5). Restart your modem

You should see your modem/router booting and blinking lights. As soon as the blinking light goes solid, it means that the modem/router have been successfully 'persuaded' to query the Image/Boot file from your own computer.

Then you can go back to your computer's TCP setting and change back your PC's IP as given by your ISP.

6) And you're done!
Enjoy your need internet speed. Keep in mind that the internet speed would remain so long as the modem/router is online. If your modem/router got rebooted again, you need start back at the step where you adjust your PC's TCP setting into your ISP's TFTP server. Reboot again, let the router/modem download your own hosted image/boot file, then change back your TCP setting into normal.


Personal Note:
This tutorial is basically ancient. Really old, but due to the TFTP simplicity, its still used until today. This tutorial is meant for educational purposes and you should not abuse this for your personal gain.

There are possibilities that if you ISP caught you 'hacking' into their services, they can charge you for speed theft, ban your for life from their subscription, press charges and sue you, or slapped you with a huge amount of bills for your new speed usage. The ISP operator usually monitor for unauthorized speed changes.

If you wanted to use this tutorial, then make sure you are using it to get what you deserve. For example, you subscribe for 1.5Mbps data plan or something, then you ought to get that one way or the other.

Anyway, do this at your own risk.

Posted by wr1t3r at 1:27 PM

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Labels: broadband, bypass, how to, tutorial

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