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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

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FFH5 to funchords

Premium Member

to funchords

Re: Bandwidth Limits - All discussion here

said by funchords:

...more fun with math...

Here's how long it will take you, uploading and downloading at full speed, to reach a 250 GB cap.

Tier.... Full-speed
up/dn... hours
50/5.... 10.1
16/2.... 30.9
8/2..... 55.6
6/1..... 79.4

Speed and volume are 2 different things. Calculations like the above are totally irrelevant to a discussion of "bytes transferred" caps.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

said by FFH5:
said by funchords:

...more fun with math...

Here's how long it will take you, uploading and downloading at full speed, to reach a 250 GB cap.

Tier.... Full-speed
up/dn... hours
50/5.... 10.1
16/2.... 30.9
8/2..... 55.6
6/1..... 79.4

Speed and volume are 2 different things. Calculations like the above are totally irrelevant to a discussion of "bytes transferred" caps.

Speed is a factor of volume, so it is relevant.

Would you agree that the devout, always-on, P2P file sharing crowd ought to be aware of the above chart?

How many times have we heard of P2P users who upgrade to the 8 Mbps plan for $10 more a month so that they can transfer more. WRONG CHOICE.

They also don't know that unless they keep their upload speed below something like 80 Kbps (that's 10 KB/s) -- or perhaps up to as much as 240 Kbps (30 KB/s) on a QAM64 uplink area -- that they're taking an increasing risk that they're going to start slowing down the neighborhood?

Speed has everything to do with volume, and we'd all be better off if the users of volume simply knew these facts. No need for name calling them "bandwidth hogs," just show them the bare truth, perhaps help them to incorporate that knowledge into their habits, and we'd all be much better off!

joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
552.8 23.8

joetaxpayer

Member

said by funchords:

Speed is a factor of volume, so it is relevant.

Of course there's a relationship, but it makes no sense to take the 250GB and divide down to the second and declare 790Kb/sec.

I am not on 24/7. When I am on my computer, audio streaming is a fraction of this, and the number of hours of video this can transfer is more than a normal person uses.

I see the problem as this: Comcast isn't offering all the stats. If the average user is 50GB, and we're told 1 in 10,000 break 250GB in any month, it seems there's a fear that's far worse than the problem at hand.

Are we all so outraged at our 'right' to unlimited download that we don't care that it would actually be an effort to exceed the cap?
I have about 1TB worth of drives on my computer, most is video off of cameras. I can't imagine (aside from a professional handling video) the need for such transfer volume.
Joe

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

2 edits

funchords

MVM

said by joetaxpayer:

it makes no sense to take the 250GB and divide down to the second and declare 790Kb/sec.

I am not on 24/7.
And because you are not on 24/7, it makes no sense to you. That's cool. But there are people that are on 24/7 -- or maybe 12/7 -- and the stats are useful to them.

If you're a dedicated (24/7) p2p user buying Internet service, should you go with Cable or DSL? Should you buy the slowest tier or the fastest? If you buy a fast tier, what precautions should you take?
funchords

2 edits

funchords to joetaxpayer

MVM

to joetaxpayer
said by joetaxpayer:

I see the problem as this: Comcast isn't offering all the stats. If the average user is 50GB, and we're told 1 in 10,000 break 250GB in any month, it seems there's a fear that's far worse than the problem at hand.
We're told that the average is 2-3 GB.
said by joetaxpayer:

Are we all so outraged at our 'right' to unlimited download that we don't care that it would actually be an effort to exceed the cap?
Some are clearly taken aback that there is any limit at all. These are the people that don't realize that they were sharing the connection with others, or they didn't know what that meant, or they didn't expect Comcast to oversell as much as they did.

Others know that they use more than 250 GB a month and are struggling with this new budget.

Some don't have a clue. They check e-mail several times a day and now they're worried that they'll only be able to check it a couple of times a week.
said by joetaxpayer:

I have about 1TB worth of drives on my computer, most is video off of cameras. I can't imagine (aside from a professional handling video) the need for such transfer volume.
I've been over it once or twice when I was studying the Sandvine thing. I'm with you -- it took an effort to consume that much.

One person told his story like this -- he used 300 GB during the Olympics. He has two HD-DVRs and subscribes to a service that uses compression to 5 GB/hr. He downloaded all the Olympic video down to both of his DVRs -- 60 hours -- 150 GB each DVR -- times 2. He blew the budget in 2 weeks.

Now, being that he was downloading (and not uploading), and likely doing so through a CDN (instead of far across the network), he probably affected absolutely nobody. Since the CDN was probably used, I'm not sure if that fact helps or hurts Comcast's transit costs (I suspect it doesn't matter -- someone know?).

So, in his case, he hits the stated cap (or he would have, it starts Oct. 1). He still might be in jeopardy due to the invisible cap.

The cap used to be connected to avoiding huge impacts on others on the network, it is now about avoiding huge impacts on Comcast's bottom line -- and while Comcast does have a right to make a profit, if it's going to hedge its bets by using a cap, it simply must be disclosed.

And now it is.

joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
552.8 23.8

1 edit

joetaxpayer

Member

With regard to a meter.
I am on a Mac, and »freespace.virgin.net/jer ··· ies.html
Appears to be good to track on a single computer basis, I'm sure there are others for PCs. It's a start.

For PCs - »sourceforge.net/projects ··· eemeter/

Joe