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Old 04-03-2009, 11:22 AM
 
322 posts, read 746,165 times
Reputation: 204

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Quote:
Originally Posted by intmd8r View Post
I don't really know a lot about this stuff, so maybe you could help me out.

We have two computers and 2 gaming consoles that connect to the internet.

Is this NetMeter thing I just installed going to only monitor MY computer usage and not take into account my hubby's computer or the Wii and Xbox 360?

Thanks!
That will only monitor the usage of the PC it is installed on.
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Old 04-03-2009, 11:42 AM
 
2,185 posts, read 6,411,371 times
Reputation: 698
How much bandwidth do you need to just browse and get email?
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Old 04-03-2009, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Cypress, TX
587 posts, read 1,414,218 times
Reputation: 199
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mdlx View Post
That will only monitor the usage of the PC it is installed on.
Thank you.

I guess there isn't any free way for us to figure out how much we use since our company doesn't monitor it (well, they may, but they don't share the results with us)!
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Old 04-03-2009, 11:54 AM
 
362 posts, read 1,040,210 times
Reputation: 170
Quote:
Originally Posted by intmd8r View Post
I don't really know a lot about this stuff, so maybe you could help me out.

We have two computers and 2 gaming consoles that connect to the internet.

Is this NetMeter thing I just installed going to only monitor MY computer usage and not take into account my hubby's computer or the Wii and Xbox 360?

Thanks!
The netmeter that you've installed is only good for the computer that it is installed on. The gaming consoles and other PCs have their own pipes that are not tracked by a local metering utility.
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Old 04-03-2009, 11:56 AM
 
362 posts, read 1,040,210 times
Reputation: 170
Quote:
Originally Posted by llkltk View Post
How much bandwidth do you need to just browse and get email?
This really comes down to what you're browsing.. With the richness of multimedia in today's websites, it's quite possible to rake up gigabytes of data without even realizing it. The constant refreshing of data on a website like ESPN may seem like nothing, streaming of your favorite radio station, or even those HD videos of the grand children. It can add up quickly, and Time Warner is going the wrong way to try to fight the online content providers. This will only deter companies from being innovative and bringing better content through the internet.
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Old 04-03-2009, 12:56 PM
 
Location: Dripping Springs , TX
786 posts, read 2,752,054 times
Reputation: 238
I would recommend sitting back and see what happens before losing it.

Rogers Cable in Toronto went this route last year and it was met with a large uproar from everyone. When it went on line most people did not get impacted. Rogers put a usage meter on the home page so you could see what you were using. I never even got over 50% and we had three laptops going almost constantly with a combination of web surfing, email, videos, music downloads, music streaming, and a lot of VPN access to work transferring a lot of files back and forth. I cannot remember what the limits were set at. The only person I heard that had an issue was a buddy of mine who was running a video production company from his house. He was running a full sales server on his account and went over the limits.

In the article link posted by McDavis, it sounds like TW is taking the same approach. They will monitor for three months before the billing starts. They will add a gas gauge to your home page so you can monitor the usage for the entire household.

My only concern will be with whatever levels they set, and whether they will be realistic.

The stated target of these ideas is to target the high volume users. These are normally people who are actually running a business using a residential internet hookup. The author is the article is a good example. He admits to using a residential account for journalistic purposes, and is also a film maker. Yet he wants to pay the same price as Aunt Sally who uses Turbo because she want fast connection, but only uses it a few hours a day to surf the web.

If the limits are set to levels that are consistent with normal family usage, we should not have a problem. I just hope this recognizes the latest way people use the web including streaming video, music, downloads etc.

I will be monitoring my usage when they install the monitor. If they decide they have to charge me extra, I will view that as breaking my price lock guarantee which should leave me free to search for alternatives.
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Old 04-03-2009, 09:53 PM
 
575 posts, read 2,489,337 times
Reputation: 149
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceshots View Post
I would recommend sitting back and see what happens before losing it.
On the other hand, I am not a journalist, I am not running a business out of my home, but I do watch TV on my PC now because it is on my schedule. I know for a fact that I will go over 40GB between TV via PC, and working from home a few days a month. Does this make me a heavy user? I don't think so, and the fact I don't clog up the roads a few days a week should be a plus, that doesn't cost me extra. Oh, I have two kids, and a spouse who use the internet too, it is part of life, and this is just a way to increase prices with TWC having a valid response of "just use it less..."
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Old 04-04-2009, 01:27 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
1,280 posts, read 4,273,708 times
Reputation: 677
I've been wanting to switch to AT&T since I hate Time Warner so much. Now I finally have the motivation I need.
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Old 04-04-2009, 06:58 AM
 
Location: Cypress, TX
587 posts, read 1,414,218 times
Reputation: 199
I've seen FIOS mentioned a few times in this forum - is Verizon FIOS available in any areas in Austin? I know we looked into it a few years ago here in Phoenix and it wasn't available then and it isn't available now.

I went to the availability web page and it was not available for a couple random addresses we chose in Leander and Liberty Hill, but when I put one in for Georgetown it came back with something like "you cannot place an order online", making me think it might actually be there.
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Old 04-04-2009, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,839,394 times
Reputation: 9477
Quote:
Originally Posted by llkltk View Post
Does anyone know how much our bills will go up? If we just simply use the internet to access email and check websites, is it really that big of a price difference? I want to switch to ATT but found out they will be doing it as well.
For the low usage you describe you could even get a reduced price, based on what I read in the Statesman. There will be a 3 month trial period during which TW will advise you regarding what your usage level is, before rates are changed.

The article http://www.statesman.com/search/content/business/stories/other/04/02/0402timewarner.html (broken link)

Quote:
Under the plan, customers will be charged on a tiered system based on the speed of their connection and how much they download. The tiers would start at 5 gigabytes a month and top out with a "super-tier" of 100 gigabytes per month. Customers will be asked to pay between $29.95 to $54.90 for up to 40 gigabytes, Dudley said. The $29.95 price would be lower than most Central Texas customers currently pay for the service.

A gigabyte is about 250 digital songs, and one high-definition movie download can represent 4 to 8 gigabytes.
So the lowest tier of 5 gigabytes per month would be equivalent to downloading 1,250 songs.

This discussion from another website may help put it in perspective

Quote:
http://www.broadbandreports.com/show...ctober-1-97294


250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis. Currently, the median monthly data usage by our residential customers is approximately 2 - 3 GB. To put 250 GB of monthly usage in perspective, a customer would have to do any one of the following:

* Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
* Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
* Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)

Last edited by CptnRn; 04-04-2009 at 12:28 PM..
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