Can someone please explain bandwidth to me?
By kris182_2000
@kris182_2000 (5469)
Canada
October 24, 2010 9:04pm CST
In terms of CPU bandwidth?
My ISP limits my usage to 80GB per month and I've just installed a monitoring program.
We just upgraded our internet, the limit was 60GB and we were already at 75% of usage before our billing cycle was completed.
So I'm just trying to wrap my head around bandwidth usage and speeds.
My current speed is 11mbps, and it's been bouncing from 1 to 11 for the last little while.
We got a new router today to handle the higher usage I guess, but mainly because the old one was dying.
I can't figure it out for trying, it's just too confusing to me.
4 responses
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
25 Oct 10
Okay I will explain as the person below
so you have 80 GB of data bandwidth to use.
as explained every website you go to you have to download the content on the page so going to mylot.com for an example every page you visit that isn't in your browsers cache has to be redownload from mylot.com. Since most websites are fairly small. In the KB range for per page file size.
11mbps = 1.375MBps = 4.8 gigs per hour = 16.66 hours of internet usage per month at maximum speed.
1mbps = .125MBps = .439 gigs per hour = 35.15 hours of internet usage per month
Okay so the 11Mbps mean Megabits per second and MBps is Megabytes per second. You can down load a single 4.8gig file in an hour only using 4.8 gigs of your bandwidth this could be a few files maybe a video game. Or a single Youtube video. CPU bandwidth wouldn't be the limit as that would be on your motherboard and is unlimited in the fact that it is just the amount of data between your CPU and RAM or the rest of the computer.
You can use your bandwidth really quickly if you are streaming or watching things over the internet as this requires your computer to be downloading more data as needed. Hulu.com or youtube.com I would limit your use of them or any website that streams live content as well these are generally video files which also take up the most room for your computer to have to download. and that is at your max speed.
The slower speed would in theory give you more time to use your internet but you would be speeding tons of time waiting for things to download or load on your computer to the point of where internet usage would almost be a waste.
I live in the United States and well my ISP doesn't limit my usage I have unlimited use of my connection I am on a 12mbps connection
1 person likes this
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
25 Oct 10
Thanks.
This means that my roommate has been sucking up the bandwidth with the stuff he's been watching online. He's downloaded several shows, and I had to warn him yesterday to watch how much he does from now on.
Everything used to be unlimited, but they capped it a while ago, the 2 major ISP's up here did that, but no other company has followed yet.
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
25 Oct 10
@Aelexix
Your connection is kilobytes per hour. And the speed you gave means that you download half a mbps so yours would look like this
512 kbps = .5mbps = 1.75 GB per hour = 45.71 hours if you had an 80 GB bandwidth cap.
Ladywriter1968
Aelexix is talking an internet speed as he/she put kbps which is used for a connection speed. If your computers MB (Mother Board) where to run at that speed you wouldn't get a very good response and as for the original post I don't think they where talking CPU Bandwidth as this would vary depending on the Type and level of the processor because the Front Side Bus would be different. And well with RAM you should always have more than 1 GB now days.
@donnaphipps (145)
• United States
25 Oct 10
im just wondering... is it your internet provider that is limiting you to your usage per month...??? if it is, your internet provider is ripping you off.
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
25 Oct 10
I think this person may be in a European country as I was looking last night and kept finding companies from across the ocean that had this I don't think any US providers but like Dial Up ones limit the amount of bandwidth or use of the a dedicated line. Now Wireless Carriers is a different story as they all Limit you to how much you can use. (With out charging you over fees for going over their 5GB limit.
It seems that Razor a company I haven't heard of has this they aren't in the United States.
@TeamCholent (2832)
• United States
25 Oct 10
Your bandwidth or "cap" as its called in some countries is always an issue. I remember going to South Africa and only having 5 gig for a month to use. The way it works is every time you visit a site you "download" content, that doesn't mean you are downloading but to view a site it has to download the content for you. When you watch a youtube video for example it buffers which means it downloads the video so you can view it. You ISp should provide a site where you are able to check your usage and also find out if local sites count towards your bandwidth limit or not.
@queensoft (78)
• Romania
25 Oct 10
I think you've got it pretty good.
60 Gb out of 80 used, 20 left. Depending on the time spent using 75%, the other 25% may or may not be enough ntil your next billing cycle.
ABout the speed: 11 mbps is the maximum. NOT guaranteed. So, anything from 1 to 11, even from 0.00001 to 11 is absolutely fine as long as they're concerned.
You only call them if you do not have Internet access at all.
