Dsl cap

[FROG MAN]

Anybody else have this? Rumor has it my dsl provider will impose a 5GB per month usage cap starting in December or January. That doesn't sound like much bandwidth to me considering I have 5 computers ( wife and kids ) using the service. Someone is usually online 24/7. I have a speedstream 6520 router. My question is how can I monitor my bandwidth usage just to know what my monthly activity is before a suprise bill arrives later?:mo money:

[Freebird]

I understand how you feel. 5 GB is a good bit, depending on what you are all doing. You may be OK. I fight that all the time here. VentureRider.org is allowed 100 GB a month data transfer. We have gone as high as 90 GB and I was starting to get worried but most of the time we are around 80 GB. I'm sure there will be a time when I have to increase it and that means more

 

One thing you can do here is to go into your UserCP "edit options" and turn off avatars, signatures and images. That will help a good bit on this site.

[friesman]

Depending on what youre doing you should be ok. BUT if youre using bittorrent downloading you will chew that up in a BIG hurry.

Most of my elementary schools use less than 10gig a month but I have had a month where my home modem used about 90 gigs (kids were home and downloading movie torrents but they left the azureus torrent clientopen to share for a few days before I noticed).

My ISP gives me a web interface to check on my stats so now I keep an eye on it when the kids are around.

 

I would ask for access to their web interface, I think every isp has one.

 

Brian

[BuddyRich]

Mostly it just the satellites limit you to 5. What I have read is that most wireless broadband may go with 20. Actually your router should be keeping a track of packets sent and received. Its probably never been reset. Go into the router and look under status or maintenance.

Who's your ISP ?

[FROG MAN]

Frontier is my only provider and they say:

 

 

Frontier may suspend, terminate or apply additional charges to the Service if such usage exceeds a reasonable amount of usage. A reasonable amount of usage is defined as 5GB combined upload and download consumption during the course of a 30-day billing period. The Company has made no decision about potential charges for monthly usage in excess of 5GB.

[Eck]

 

One thing you can do here is to go into your UserCP "edit options" and turn off avatars, signatures and images. That will help a good bit on this site.

 

 

Okie Dokie,

Mine are all turned off ....

[kbran]

I'm using a sprint air card on a router to desktop and 2 laptops. Just got it a couple months ago and droped hughes satellite. I can't get anything else but the sprint card is doing a great job. Then on another forum started reading about the 5g caps and sure enough sprint and at&t have emplimented them. My plan still says unlimeted but I know we don't download alot or play games (besides pogo for Beth) or watch movies but I went over the first month (8gb) and looks like I will be over this month and thats trying to keep it down. 5gigs is not enough with window updates and normal usage. Sprint is charging .05cents a meg over and that is $50 for 1gig over. That is just way too much.

[Freebird]

Okie Dokie,

Mine are all turned off ....

 

Eck,

Sorry if I was misunderstood. I wasn't asking the members here to turn things off. It DOES save bandwidth for site but that was not my point. It was a suggestion to Gerald for saving HIS bandwidth.

[SaltyDawg]

Anybody else have this? Rumor has it my dsl provider will impose a 5GB per month usage cap starting in December or January. That doesn't sound like much bandwidth to me considering I have 5 computers ( wife and kids ) using the service. Someone is usually online 24/7. I have a speedstream 6520 router. My question is how can I monitor my bandwidth usage just to know what my monthly activity is before a suprise bill arrives later?:mo money:

 

 

Understand that this isn't bandwidth it's the amount of data transferred. I have heard that Time Warner is test marketing this idea also.

 

Short of getting a LAN Analyzer or a like program I doubt there is an easy way to accurately record how much data is transferred.

 

I would assume that they would give you a program to monitor the usage. Otherwise they might be setting themselves up for a BIG lawsuit.

 

They more than likely will allow you to log onto your Administrators account for your Internet provider and usage reports might be there. Sort of like a cell phone provider. You can go online to check minutes used.

 

If that's the case they get you coming and going, literally. You have to log on to get the info and you are using more data transfer.

 

I honestly feel that I shouldn't have to pay for somebody putting POP-UP's all over their site.

 

 

I also don't think 5Gig will be anywhere close to what you will need with 5 pc's. Some pictures can be a couple megs.

 

Heck you would never get to view all of Mechanics photos.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Grabbed this right off the Frontier website:

 

 

What are "bandwidth caps" and what does it mean for Internet users?

"Caps" are thresholds where Internet Service Providers could deem usage in excess of "normal" usage. For the majority of our users, bandwidth caps will not be reached. However, some users have multiple servers or computers or download huge files that demand large amounts of available bandwidth. In response to these "power users," the industry is moving toward "tiered usage" plans that would be applicable when consumption reaches certain bandwidth levels. This type of plan would result in heavy users paying for their fair share of usage and will make sure that average users do not subsidize high-usage consumers. Other Internet Service Providers like Comcast and Time Warner are testing these tiered usage plans. Frontier has not implemented tiered usage plans and will continue to evaluate if and when they would be necessary. If and when Frontier implements a tiered usage plan pricing and usage information will be communicated to all High-Speed customers.

Does Frontier plan to limit my use of the Internet?

Frontier is providing (NOT LIMITING) all customers with a minimum of 5GB of usage on a monthly basis. The Company has made no decision at this time to charge for additional usage but wants to start to educate customers about their usage.

If I hit 5GB will my service be interrupted?

No. Your service will not be interrupted at 5Gb. You will continue to use our High Speed Internet service without disruption.

How will I know how many Gigabytes I am using?

Sometime in the future, Frontier will provide to all customers visibility as to what your usage is on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. We will also provide a the ability to estimate bandwidth usage for different types of activities – like streaming video downloads or file sharing. These tools will give our customers the ability to make informed decisions about broadband usage consumption.

Actually, I tend to favor 'tiered' price plans. We all are used to that when it comes to cable TV, satellite TV, cell phones, electricity, whatever.

 

I'm not saying 5GB is enough, it really is too low. Comcast has a cap of 250 GB per month.

 

But according to Frontier, they may offer more bandwidth plans in the future.

 

Most of the broadband providers who are implementing caps are also in the cable TV and telephone business, and they dont want to see that side of the business take a hit from consumers who are now watching streaming video and using services like Skype and Vonage to cut into the core business. And some users ARE sharing their wi-fi networks with neighbors.

 

You might look into an AT&T or Sprint 'air-card'...if you have access to internet via cell phone networks in your area. It wont be cheap, and its not real fast, but you can always think of them as a backup.