Gb Limit

[Coppit]

I have changed from Virgin where I surfed without limit and am now with BT who limit me to 40Gb a month – or incur an extra charge. How to work within it?

Does having multi websites open at the same time affect it?
And what if only my favourite website is open but not being used?
When my mailer is open do I use bytes only when sending and receiving mail?

[Tuvok]

BT do an unlimited option as well.

Do you watch videos or catchup tv? If so that will eat into your limit.

[Coppit]

I have used catch up sparingly so I want to know how the GBs get used up. If I left my computer on all night with my favourite BBC website up, am I using space?

BT Unlimited costs more than I was persuaded to sign up for.

[Buenchico]

If you view a static web page data is only used when you first download it. (i.e. you won't use any additional data if you leave it on your screen for hours). Websites like this one are dynamic, in that they keep sending you data in order to update 'latest posts', so leaving an AB page on your screen (or in a non-visible tab) for hours would add a small amount of data usage to what was initially incurred when first loading the page.

However it's streaming that really uses up data quickly. (Audio streaming, such as when listening to internet radio stations, isn't too bad, but video streaming quickly gobbles up your allowance). An hour of Youtube viewing typically uses around half a Gb.

Sending and receiving mail does, as you suggest, contribute to your data allowance (although the 40Gb might only refer to downloads, so only receiving will count) but, unless you regularly receive hundreds of emails with massive attachments, it's so negligible that you can ignore it. (i.e. your tens of thousands of friends can all send you birthday wishes by email without it having any significant effect on your data usage at all).

Remember that streaming devices other than your computer (such as a Now TV box) all contribute to your data usage. With the increasing popularity of such devices I'm amazed that any ISP still offers data-limited packages. I certainly wouldn't touch one!

[VHG]

Looking at web sites that are mostly text based with small images wont use up much data, and emails generally dont use up much data.

The thing that REALLY uses up your data allowance is any sort of video.

You could probably look at 5,000 emails and it would use up less data than 5 minutes of video (depending on the quality of the video).

You can download programs that tell you how much data you are downloading, though I don't use one as I am on Virgin unlimited.

[VHG]

Buenchico makes a good point about other devices.

For example is you have a Sky box (or similar box) that offers catch up for TV programs then these are downloaded via your router using your broadband allowance.

A long film in HD format could be 3Gb or 4Gb for example. Programs in SD format are smaller to try not to use HD unless you have to.

[Coppit]

Thanks for all responses.