The problem with BITS is that it assumes that the computer it's on is the only computer on the network. (In a switched network, how could it know otherwise?)

The problem with BITS is that it assumes that the computer it's on is the only computer on the network. (In a switched network, how could it know otherwise?) So it will start bulk downloads while other users are trying to use the network interactively, with predictable consequences. I basically just configure my network as if everything connected to it – both clients and the ISP – are bad actors trying to DoS me (albeit, a DoS regulated by TCP Vegas). Between my ISP's bufferbloat and these shenanigans from MS/Akamai, it's not a bad approximation.