The 5Gb Limit

[richfaa]

Carol try this http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ 4 gig = 4194304KB. 1 gig= 1048576 KB

Gotta watch the decimal points.

[Waynem]

Carol,
Each company, or individual, can monitor the amount of traffic over a network by using special tools. Every time you access the internet you have to log on to your internet service provider(ISP). Sometimes this is automatic. or depending on your security configuration it can be manually where you have to type your user ID and password. If you ever clear all your "cookies" out of the cache, you would have to log back into your ISP each time until you tell it to remember your password.

Every time you log in you are creating a record of your activity. The tools then monitor you for that duration to come up with the number of bytes you have used.

Here is one article to give you an idea: Network Traffic Measurement

You can acquire more information by searching on the phrase: "Who measures network usage data"

I hope I have contributed to your question.

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by Mrs. CountryGuy

Dave,

... Who measures the usage and how do we know they are "accurate"?"

As Waynem said, each company measures traffic. They have to monitor performance, track utilization, project when upgrades will be required, and a host of other reasons.

On another board relate to Verizon Air Cards, there was a mention of
NetWorx

http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

A free tool to (among other things) collect bandwidth usage data. This lets you check how much you have used towards your 5 GB limit independent of the ISP's numbers. There was also one response that NetWorx caused problems for somebody on a freshly built XP system so do exercise some caution when ever you install any freeware.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

I don't really question my useage numbers, I am a computer/net maniac.

If I am on my computer, I pretty much am on the net. Al plays this card game he loves, we use it hard.

Our useage, okkkk, my useage, is probably more OUT of the ordinary. That said, it is good for others to be made aware that you can get close or go over that 5 gig monthly numbers, and ole Mrs. CountryGuy is the proof.

It really is amazing what you can track on the internet. I am not a serious hacker type, heavens, I still don't wanna learn HTML, sorry Wayne and all the rest of ya that tried to get me to go there a while back. I am still resisting. But, I have learned a bunch of other stuff, like a little bit about tracking.

Rich, what decimal points????

Now, Carol has some web sites to visit

Dave, you reading all this about measuring, etc????

[dsprik]

Yes, Carol. I am used to dealing with seriously dishonest bankers and con artists disguised as mortgage brokers who would put drug lords to shame. MHO is that ANY independent tool to double check KB/MB/GB usage being reported to you by someone who is trying to charge you for that usage is a good thing.

Thanks, Carl!

[mail2us]

Not sure if it's been said on Waynem's thread here or not, but Verizon does have an unlimited usage plan beyon 5gigs.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Update, numbers checked a hour or so ago,

4808058

(Got till July 25th for new month to start.)

We are on unlimited, but, believe they can kinda change their minds???

And, if we purchase new air card, I understand we are then limited to the 5 gigs, that is one reason we are watching with interest?? or dismay!

[Art-n-Marge]

Hey Glenn,

A little off topic but you brought up a point that is near to my career. The bars on an indicator indicate the strength of a connection between your computer's network device and what it is connected to. The stronger the connection the less chance of "dropped packets" and retries, however the busier the network the greater odds of slow traffic even though you might have a strong connection. The strong connection and data throughput are two different things.

When you have a weak signal, you might be in a place that is not as busy, so that your network requests are processed quickly. While you might show a strong connection there may be more users and more chances for increased demand for the data traffic and this could slow things down.

The bars you see is an indicator for your computer's network connection to the device it is connected to and that's it. It does not show what the connection quality and amount of traffic that is occurring after the device you've connected to. That device could be slowed down by several things including other computer network devices connecting at a slower speed.

I hope this helps.