Broadband Useage

[ajo54]

I have the basic 10gb Broadband allowance with BT and for the last couple of months have gone over this and this month had to pay the £5 "fine". I have an iMac and an iPod touch. And recently bought an iPad. I use Facebook a lot and play puzzle games as well as browsing and sending (a few) emails. Also use itunes a bit and download some podcasts off Radio 4. I have no idea how much data these different activities use.

I was wondering if there is a website where I could see a list of all the different activities and how much they use. Preferably in words of one syllable - I'm not a techno!

 

[noiseboy72]

You would need to do this at router level or by using a proxy server, as your broadband line will not be able to distinguish between connections.

10GB is nothing if you are downloading any audio or video or uploading pictures, that sort of thing.

Email and general browsing uses very little by comparison. FYI, as a family of 4 all using the BB, we chew through close to 80GB a month! This includes Sky on demand, Netflix etc.

 

[ajo54]

Thanks for your quick and helpful response. I'll probably go for the £18 unlimited useage option soon.

I'm not so bothered about checking out my personal useage, but wondered if there was a general list of how much these activities use. BT give a very brief list on their website but it doesn't include things like games or downloading podcasts.

Apart from when I was ill in bed a while ago, I don't tend to watch videos or TV through my broadband connection.

 

[noiseboy72]

Games can be quite high, but only if you are using multiplayer with comms as well. A podcast could be 10-60Meg, depending upon length.

A downloaded DVD quality movie anything up to 1GB or so and an HD 2GB or more.

 

[Broxi1979]

Nooooooooo, don't do it.

Sounds to me that you, like my mother, use nothing like 10Gb of usage a month. They were claiming that she was exceeding her cap by 15gb a month!

There is either something far wrong with BTs system for monitoring this or they are plain *** *******. Do a google search on BT usage and you will see a pattern here. I had a long telephone conversation with some guy in their tech support who spoke to me like I was an idiot that didn't know how much internet usage 10gb was.

This absolutely boils my blood.

I am a heavy internet user with a 30gb cap.
I use Xbox Live daily
I spend the rest of my time on youtube
I watch Twitch.TV streams for hours on end
I torrent numerous video files of 700mb-1.4gb size.

I can hit just below that 30gb each and every time with no problem.

I know for a FACT that my mother, with her jigsaw puzzle websites and infrequent plain text emails does not even scrape 10gb. This mug at BT tried to tell me that it was likely youtube that was contributing to her using 25GB of usage.

Something has to be done about BT, they seem to go through spates of this, causing their unsuspecting customer base to "upgrade" their accounts.

 

[DVD-Man]

Could be a virus?

Your router will tell you how much you have used, have a look at the interface, sure I seen it on my HH2.

 

[ajo54]

I think we may be going down the wrong track here. My original question asked if there was a website that showed general levels of data useage for different activities on the Internet.

My useage was within my 10 gb allowance until I got my iPad, since when I am online much more, on Facebook, puzzle games (bit of a Candy Crush addict!), occasional YouTube & itunes etc, although I don't watch tv online or download movies. Last month it was 12 gb and so far I've used 8.5 this month. I'd have thought this was reasonable, given my increased useage and the fact I have 3 devices now.

The first person who replied said their useage was 80 gb a month, albeit for a family of 4, so my 10-12gb seems ok to me. I just want to know what activity eats into my allowance most.

 

[gwladok5]

Not sure if this thread is still "live",

I'm having the same problem, but I'm wondering whether anyone knows if the Sky wireless adapters are actually using bandwidth even though I'm not using On Demand?

 

[beerhunter]

My useage was within my 10 gb allowance until I got my iPad,

That will do it.

Rather than limit your enjoyment, (which is what your question suggests) call BT and threaten to leave unless they give you better deal. Most people locally that i have counselled to do this are now getting Unlimited for about a tenner a month. How well you do is down to your negotiating skills.

 

[beerhunter]

I'm having the same problem, but I'm wondering whether anyone knows if the Sky wireless adapters are actually using bandwidth even though I'm not using On Demand?

No.