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billli
join:2012-09-07
East York, ON

billli

Member

Unlimited Usage

Hi all:

Is unlimited usage really unlimited usage?

ie) If I download 24/7 because I like to collect environmental/weather data. Will Teksavvy cut me off for "abusing" unlimited plan?

RizzleQ
Cunningham's Law Enthusiast
Premium Member
join:2006-01-12
Windsor, ON

RizzleQ

Premium Member

There was a similar thread here: »[Cable] Is Upload is free or it count on the monthly limit ?
i_pk_pjers_i
join:2007-04-20
none

i_pk_pjers_i to billli

Member

to billli
said by billli:

Hi all:

Is unlimited usage really unlimited usage?

ie) If I download 24/7 because I like to collect environmental/weather data. Will Teksavvy cut me off for "abusing" unlimited plan?

Yes, currently, unlimited is really unlimited usage. I have a friend who has downloaded 2-3TB a month with TSI and hasn't had any problems.

RizzleQ
Cunningham's Law Enthusiast
Premium Member
join:2006-01-12
Windsor, ON

RizzleQ to billli

Premium Member

to billli
How many TB do you feel you might use per month?

I don't think you'll be considered abusing the unlimited plan if you stay under a few TB, but consider that 30 mbps downloading 24/7 nets you just under 10 TB of data.

damir
join:2013-12-12
CANADA

damir

Member

If its advertised as unlimited, it should be unlimited (you can't abuse unlimited plan) - in that case its not unlimited, but, 'wanna be unlimited' = false advertising.
chrisA
join:2012-08-23
Hamilton, ON

chrisA to billli

Member

to billli
You might want to read TekSavvy's Acceptable Usage Policy

»www.teksavvy.com/en/why- ··· e-policy
You are prohibited from using the Service for activities that include, but are not limited to:
...
... creating an unusually large burden on our networks.
...


and the Terms & Conditions: »www.teksavvy.com/en/why- ··· nditions

11.4 ... we may restrict, block, suspend or terminate any or all of your Services or Accounts ... without notice or liability to you, if:
...
...You exceed reasonable usage limits, as determined by us;
...


So there are some limits on unlimited plans, although I've heard of some people using 2-3TB per month without a problem. It would be helpful to get an official answer on this from TekSavvy.

I wouldn't worry unless you're planning to use a rather extreme amount of Data, in which case, you could look into a business plan.
InvalidError
join:2008-02-03

1 recommendation

InvalidError to billli

Member

to billli
While unlimited is truly unlimited, people need to keep in mind that too many people abusing "unlimited" will eventually force ISPs to increase their prices to offset the additional costs.

If everyone on unlimited 25Mbps used most of that 25Mbps through peak hours, IISPs would be forced to raise their unlimited rates from ~$70/month potentially all the way to ~$350/month just to cover their Rogers/Bell/Videotron CBB costs.

Affordable "unlimited" is only possible because the bulk of people on "unlimited" use nowhere near their full bandwidth during peak hours on average.
billli
join:2012-09-07
East York, ON

billli

Member

While I understand downloading constantly during peak hours on a shared line from Rogers/Bell is a dick move.

But what about during their 2am-8am downtime? In theory, if the line maxes out at the full 60mbps, then in a 30 day period, I can download 4.6TB without a problem?

SimplePanda
BSD
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Montreal, QC

SimplePanda

Premium Member

2am-8am is for uploads only.

LD_in_ON
Premium Member
join:2010-01-23
WallyWorld

LD_in_ON

Premium Member

said by SimplePanda:

2am-8am is for uploads only.

no it's not

SimplePanda
BSD
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Montreal, QC

SimplePanda

Premium Member

said by LD_in_ON:

said by SimplePanda:

2am-8am is for uploads only.

no it's not

Of course you're correct. Brain exploded.
Uploads are unlimited 24/7. 2am-8am for downloads.

RizzleQ
Cunningham's Law Enthusiast
Premium Member
join:2006-01-12
Windsor, ON
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Ubiquiti U6-LR

RizzleQ

Premium Member

said by SimplePanda:

said by LD_in_ON:

said by SimplePanda:

2am-8am is for uploads only.

no it's not

Of course you're correct. Brain exploded.
Uploads are unlimited 24/7. 2am-8am for downloads.

Correctamundo
chrisA
join:2012-08-23
Hamilton, ON

chrisA to SimplePanda

Member

to SimplePanda
I've always wondered how this works.

Does it cost TekSavvy less when users download overnight?

digiwth
join:2012-09-21

digiwth

Member

Magnitudes cheaper compared to prime time hours.

RizzleQ
Cunningham's Law Enthusiast
Premium Member
join:2006-01-12
Windsor, ON

RizzleQ to chrisA

Premium Member

to chrisA
Yeah, it's about offloading usage during peak time to reduce costs and congestion.

SimplePanda
BSD
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Montreal, QC

1 edit

SimplePanda to digiwth

Premium Member

to digiwth
said by digiwth:

Magnitudes cheaper compared to prime time hours.

No, there is no cost difference afaik.

Someone (Gabe I think) mentioned that Bell / Rogers charge 95th percentile on the aggregated links.

re uploads: TekSavvy will never have uploads from customers exceed downloads so uploads are "effectively free" to them (to use their words). Hence unlimited uploads.

re downloads: by giving heavy downloaders an incentive to move their bulk transfers to the 2am-8am window they can bring down the maximum bandwidth required during peak hours and thus bring down the rate the 95th percentile billing happens at.

So, if you need, say, 100Gbps to service everyone at primetime but only 10Gbps to service everyone at 4am, you're still paying for 100Gbps of traffic.

If you can move the heavy downloaders to 2am-8am you may only need 75Gbps of traffic at primetime but now 45Gbps of traffic at 4am. You're still paying for 75Gbps of traffic; but 75 is better than 100.

Google used to do similar tricks to lower their transit costs back in the day.

Steven Levy explains it (what Google did) in an interview here:
»www.grc.com/sn/sn-461.htm

Very amusing.
InvalidError
join:2008-02-03

InvalidError to digiwth

Member

to digiwth
The high-low traffic ratio on internet exchanges is around 3:1 while the peak-to-average ratio is an even lower 1.5:1.

If you were able to perfectly even out traffic around the clock, you might be able to reduce CBB costs by about 33%.

Taylortbb
Premium Member
join:2007-02-18
Kitchener, ON

Taylortbb to billli

Premium Member

to billli
said by billli:

But what about during their 2am-8am downtime? In theory, if the line maxes out at the full 60mbps, then in a 30 day period, I can download 4.6TB without a problem?

That period is unlimited for a reason. As usage is well below peak usage it has no affect on what TekSavvy pays. It's pretty much free for TekSavvy unless people start using it so much it's more popular than peak hours (pretty unlikely). So if yes, if you're downloading between 2am and 8am then go crazy. Even if you're on a 300GB plan and do 4TB in a month overnight that'll be just fine.

rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames to billli

Premium Member

to billli
how much environmental weather data are you sending? I work on a full time environment canada relay, and we only need a 33,600kbps modem to send our data every hour and it takes 10 seconds.
DigitalRain
join:2013-03-16

DigitalRain

Member

said by rodjames:

how much environmental weather data are you sending? I work on a full time environment canada relay, and we only need a 33,600kbps modem to send our data every hour and it takes 10 seconds.

Do you really still use dial-up Internet at Environment Canada, or is this just theoretically possible?

rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames

Premium Member

We sure do. If I were permitted to bring a camera in, ITAP but I can't :/

Imagine the old v.anything modems, about 10 of them stacked up behind a rack of batteries.

fun times.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

 
I have one or two of those packed away.

They were very good in their era, compared to consumer modems.

SimplePanda
BSD
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Montreal, QC

SimplePanda to rodjames

Premium Member

to rodjames
said by rodjames:

We sure do. If I were permitted to bring a camera in, ITAP but I can't :/

Imagine the old v.anything modems, about 10 of them stacked up behind a rack of batteries.

fun times.

Brings me back. I loved my external Courier. I remember when we got our Total Control updates to enable X2 and USR gave me a beta of the Courier firmware. That crazy new "X2" negotiation noise was so exciting.

And the speeds! 45Kbps!

Good times.

rodjames
Premium Member
join:2010-06-19

rodjames

Premium Member

the first time I heard it I was like "WHAT IS THAT NOISE" and threw it into an audio/spectrum analyzer to see the phase shifts. I was fascinated.