Thread: Bandwidth Question.

I'm not much of a computer geek, but I'm interested in this subject as well.
I've recently upgraded to an ADSL2 service, hence why I've been quiet for the past three months ( razn frazn Dodo internet took three months to put me back on line ). I used top be on an unlimited plan, but this new one is limited to 3gig which is only a bit more than I was using in the past, so I'm concerned with conserving my useage now.

I hear that there's a good adblock program for firefox that blocks banner ads (use less bandwidth, faster page loads etc). I used to have Google set to 100 results, but I've cranked that back to ten. I turn off my modem whenever I'm not at my PC.

Any other tips from any geeks out there?

Bleeding,

Do a scan, you may have picked up an infection that is using your bandwidth. The other is are they charging you for both up and download? So so some dont.

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

So a couple of questions

1. Does hanging around here use my bandwidth, if so howmuch?
2. Does playing say a card game on line use up bandwidth?

Yes, everything you do on the internet uses up your data allowance (Bandwidth) playing online games and even hanging around here, every time you go to a website, it is a download, so you are using up your allowance of data you pay for each month from your provider.
If you are only using the internet the same as always then there is a possibility as Gra said of you picking up a virus that is causing the problem.
1 Gbyte of data is not a great lot to use today I have a 5 gbyte allowance. Check your stats over the past few months on your providers website and see what your usage has been and look for a change of pattern.
You could contact your provider and explain the problem to them, could be something happening from their end that is causing problems too.

Another thing to check is your internet explorer options and make sure that the option is not set to check for updates on all pages previously visited or something like that - not sure exactly of the wording and I can't find it on mine. A Holden forum I hang around in had the opposite problem where their bandwidth was getting gobbled up by about a dozen guys who had this setting ticked on their PC's.

It could also be that because it is a new PC it has run all the auto updates for every program and all the updates have used up your bandwidth.

Originally Posted by pawnhead

I'm not much of a computer geek, but I'm interested in this subject as well.
I've recently upgraded to an ADSL2 service, hence why I've been quiet for the past three months ( razn frazn Dodo internet took three months to put me back on line ). I used top be on an unlimited plan, but this new one is limited to 3gig which is only a bit more than I was using in the past, so I'm concerned with conserving my useage now.

3 Gbyte should be quite sufficient depending on how you use your internet connection. I have a 5 Gbyte allowance but have never come close to using that much in a month.
Check your contract terms with DODO Most providers only cut your speed back to dial up speed if you exceed your limit for the month without penalty or extra cost. If that is the case then all that will happen if you use up all your allowance is your download speed will drop to dial up speed for the rest of month and go back to your ADSL speed when your next monthly billing cycle begins.

One of the biggest bandwidrh chewers are on line videos like utube.

How would you like to be restricted to 500meg and the get charged $0.1364 per meg if I go over it which I did last month which cost me $76.60 on top of my $68.50 for my monthly access fee and all for 128k upload and 512k download.

So much for having two way satelite. At that rate I think I will have to go back to my ISDN connection at 64k upload/download.

Originally Posted by Barry_White

One of the biggest bandwidrh chewers are on line videos like utube.

.

Ahhh that could explain a bit...Bloody Lignum and his youtube links

For me the biggest users of band width are the kids.

I get by with 1 gig easy but the boy uses up the other 19

Originally Posted by Burnsy

Another thing to check is your internet explorer options and make sure that the option is not set to check for updates on all pages previously visited or something like that -

Sure enough Burnsy it was set to automatic check. I then went and looked at the Temp files which show you the size of the files...thats very educational.

For instance you use only about 1KB to read a thread but about 13KB to look at a Jpeg.

It seems the game of Solataire that I have been playing on line has been a big problem as well.

I think another prob was that my Temp file was set to 1024megs so a lot of files were sitting in there getting updated. I've now reduced that to 650 meg and I will clear them more regularly.

If you've got a wireless router, make sure you've got the security set up. I lost a months worth of download to some nerd somewhere - probably sat in the car around the corner.

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

Sure enough Burnsy it was set to automatic check. I then went and looked at the Temp files which show you the size of the files...thats very educational.

For instance you use only about 1KB to read a thread but about 13KB to look at a Jpeg.

It seems the game of Solataire that I have been playing on line has been a big problem as well.

I think another prob was that my Temp file was set to 1024megs so a lot of files were sitting in there getting updated. I've now reduced that to 650 meg and I will clear them more regularly.

Glad to be of assitance, maybe this has something to do with the server busy problem the forum has been having. If there are others around who had the update everything box checked maybe they are overloading the server whenever they log on each night?

If you have the automatic everything bit turned off, it should not matter how big your temp files is as it should only check for updates when you actually visit a page again.

I guess I'm a geek (well, I'm a professional one anyway).

Barry_White is right about youtube using plenty of bandwidth. If you've upped your usage of that since you got your new PC, that would be a contributor.

One of the most likely causes is what you have suggested - updates to Office and Windows. Anti-Virus updates generally don't use much bandwidth, but Windows and Office updates can, especially with a new computer as manufacturers generally don't update the machines to the latest patches before sending them to you. This could be hundreds of megabytes depending on your versions of Office and Windows.

Hanging around on these forums uses bandwidth, but not much.

Hope that helps,
JK.

On-line solitaire?...is that like the multi-player version or something?

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

On-line solitaire?...is that like the multi-player version or something?

Multi-player solitaire?
That would be an oxymoron, i.e. a contradiction in terms. Sort of like "Military intelligence", "Government organisation", or "Microsoft works".

Anyway, back to the shed. My two-wheeled unicycle is almost finished.