Broadband usage?

cheghead

Really confusing to work out how much I use. Have 2 computers networked. Don't download much but teenagers spend lots of time on msn chat room etc. Should I go for un-limited like AOL or would Madasafish be OK?

lipidicman

MSN wont use much. The biggest load would be peer-2-peer filesharing (eg Kazaa, Limewire, etc) and other major downloads of video and audio

cheghead

Don't use any p2p anymore. Would Madasafish 5gb/mth be enough even thou computers are connected for 8 or more hours per day?

lipidicman

Hard to say. Time isn't really the issue as an idle connection wont eat up much bandwidth. 5Gb is a lot of MSN'ing (probably an impossible amount for the world's fastest typist although I haven't done the maths to verify this!)

You need a 'traffic counter'. Might go look for a free one myself

jaws77

This traffic monitor will allow to you see how much data is being passed via your broadband connection:

http://delphi.about.com/library/weekly/code/networktrafficmonitor.zip

starving_artist

What exactly counts as usage? Does looking at each web page use anything at all or does downloading only count when you physically store something on your computer like music or software?

ManAtHome

Anything coming down the line is usage - web pages, emails, attachments etc as well as the music/film feeds.

Madasafish_Customer_Care

The table below displays a range of typical weekly online activities that you could undertake using 5GB a month.

General web browsing 125 hours a week
Sending/receiving photos (by e-mail) 125 per week
Downloading MP3s 75 per week
Sending/receiving e-mails (no attachments) 1000 per week
Watching videos 75 minutes per week
Online gaming 5 hours per week
TOTAL 5GB / month

These are examples of usage, not limits. Other online activity can result in data transfer. Please note; this is only an approximate guide.

lipidicman

I really dont see the point of a 8Mbps connection capped at 5GB. A 2Mbps connection is fast enough for most people whose 'normal' usage is below 5GB/month. The people who would benefit from a fast connection are also going to want a higher limit IMHO.