capped broadband

[pattie21]

hi
i am thinking about getting broadband and have been looking at some that are capped at 2gb, but i cant find out what 2gb would let me do each month.
i dont download music or video or do on line gaming, just e mail, surfing
and some downloading of photos and usual windows and anti-virus updates.
any one got any ideas.
cheers

[bunny]

Pattie......
2Gb should be more than enough i think for just the usual surfing and email ect....

What company are you thinking of using as i know Tiscali has a lot of probs at the mo, i signed up for their BB and cancelled once i logged on to their support forums and saw the amount of complaints they had about capping ect.

[bunny]

pattie found this hope it helps.......

Surfing 8 hours a day
Sending photos by email 30 per week
Receiving photos by email 30 per week

Downloading music tracks 20 per week

Sending emails without attachments 400 per week

Receiving emails without attachments 400 per week

Watching videos 30 minutes per week
TOTAL 2GB/month

i know you said you wouldnt use all that but that is the nearest i could find.....maybe it will give you a rough idea.

[nick]

Looking at my details for tonight.....

I have sent 2GB of info out from my pc and received nearly 7GB

Thats just from surfing and posting on forums and using MSN....

Nowadays the pc is left on 24/7 at the weekend copying stuff.

There's no cap on mine (BT Broadband) but I think they bought a cap in with cheaper monthly rental to encourage more people to connect to BB. BT have offered me 1GB connection speed (2 times faster than what I have now - 512K) for another £11 a month. Or 2GB connection (4 times faster) for another £18.

[bunny]

I got the earlier post from wanadoo.......

9Gb seems a lot there Nick, sure you have it right?

[nick]

When I click on the little connection icon in my status bar it says:-

Bytes sent 2308470B

Bytes received 8101756B

1KB = 1024 B
1GB = 1024KB

Therefore 2308470 divided by (1024*1024) = 2.2GB
and 8101756 divided by (1024*1024) = 7.7GB

All of it useless info but nothing else to do....

[bunny]

Dont think you got that right somehow.........some people have a capped allowance of 1GB a month which in theory allows them to surf for 4 hours a day, which according to Wanadoo equalls 120 hours a month....and you say you have done 9GB in the four or so hours you have been on?
Must have done a lot of posting then lol
Are you sure that figure doesnt equate to the total time spent online since turning your computer off last?

[Daedalus]

She's right Nick, the connection properties will only display how much has been sent/received since the PC was turned on, and since the BB has been turned on in the other column.

[Gage]

aint 1 GB, 1024 MB?

anyway we signed up to the 128k aol broadband, yet my download goes as fast as 512k, but i aint complaining, quickest time i've downloaded an album is 15minutes (17 tracks) now thats what i can surfing

everyone go to aol broadband, they also throw in a free web cam

[Daedalus]

No, everyone ignore that, DO NOT GO TO AOL BROADBAND!
Sorry, had to make that clear, as AOL is THE worst form of Internet connection in history. bunny, Nick and most other people on here will back me up on this, its just not worth the hassle.
Yes 1GB is 1024MB, but thats totally different to the connection speed.
Size on your harddrive is measured in BYTES, where as your connection speed is measured in BITS. So, if you've got a 1GB connection, it does'nt mean you can download 1GB of data per second.
And I dont know what the hell your on about with your connection, you've got your facts wrong, because its impossible to download at more than the speed given by your ISP unless, like you, you've got the facts wrong.
And the free webcam? So what? BT are currently doing a free modem, no set up costs, no installation costs, 512k/bps speed for only £20 a month. Hurry up tho, offer ends 20th July.

[bunny]

I back D up on this one...i signed up for Aohell Broadband (with free webcam) and i had to sign up for the dial up first, i can honestly say it was the worse piece of software i put on my pc!!! i had error after error and the most Aohell technical support had to offer me was to contact microsoft.
Aohell restrict you in so many ways its unbelievable, and the software itself takes up so many resources on your pc that mine nearly grounded to a halt.

I could go on and on about this company and their awful software......but i wont go on.

And im still waiting for them to free up my line.

[nick]

Bunny and Daedalus were both right.

I was totally wrong about what I said....

And DON'T GO FOR AOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gage]

And I dont know what the hell your on about with your connection, you've got your facts wrong, because its impossible to download at more than the speed given by your ISP unless, like you, you've got the facts wrong.

seriously i think they've got it wrong, i can download 60Mb in just 15 minutes, with 128k connection, i think thats impossible

[Daedalus]

well it depends on:
1. The speed of the server your downloading from
2. What else your doing on the connection
3. What your connection is, and as far as I was aware they dont do as slow as 128k for broadband, thought it would be 150k, but you could be right, they may well have cocked up, which sounds just like something they'd do.
Even so, their still the worst ISP in history and you'd be mad or a total noob to use them for any longer than nessecary.

[ibyellow]

Think your being a little harsh Daedalus. I know a couple of people who have had no problems with AOL Broadband. But they did have new computers with very little software on. I think that any computer old than 6 months has some problems crop up with it.

I think your spot on about the Giga thing :) i was told that 1GigaByte should be writen as 1GB but 1Gigabit is written as 1Gb. Its a big B and little b Thing but no-one really pays any attention to it anyway... Well i never have. Wait till it gets to TerraBytes. EEEK!!! :banana:

[pattie21]

Pattie......
2Gb should be more than enough i think for just the usual surfing and email ect....

What company are you thinking of using as i know Tiscali has a lot of probs at the mo, i signed up for their BB and cancelled once i logged on to their support forums and saw the amount of complaints they had about capping ect.

Hi bunny
i have been looking at pipex which has a 1 gb limit at £19.99 mth, free modem and free set up. It has had a lot of good wright ups.
Also plusnet where you can choose your gb limit, 3 gb is £17.99 mth, you have to pay for the modem and there is a £70.00 set up fee.
If the the wannadoo calculation is inclusive of all those activities listed , 3 gb would be ok for me.
I have heard bad things about wannadoo and aol , so woludent go near them.
found all the replies really helpfull, cheers all

[bunny]

I have read a lot of good things about Pipex .......i was on Freeserve dial up which is now called Wanadoo and i had a lot of probs with them, mostly connection issues, which i think was down to over subscribing but i heard their broadband is meant to be dire too.

I am hoping to go over to broadband later in the year so keep us posted on who you decide on and let us know how you get on.

[Daedalus]

I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just telling the truth that I've seen.
The thing is with main stream software, everyone assumes that if theres problems or niggles then 'its the computers fault' or 'after a while they do that', which is total crap. A PC will carry on the same as the day it was bought unless you put something on there that upsets it, such as AOL or Norton (the evil 'N' word *shudder*) Antivirus. People see other people buying a using it, so they assume its good and they trust it, but in my experience (on other peoples PC's, I'd never let either program within 10 feet of my PC) they've been the number 1 cause of problems on the computer. Both of them cause more problems than there worth.
Take Norton Antivirus 2003 for example. I have a friend who told me he had it (after explaining to me he bought it because they got 4 virusess in a row) and he said "I dont know what your talking about, its been great, it stopped all my virusses" (yeah, but it DID'NT get rid of them) "Its been good as gold. I mean, yeah my PC has started locking up more and sometimes it takes much longer to do anything than it used to, but other than that its been excellent". I rest my case...

[krug3r]

I have been using the web since the days of Compuserve and in everyday life I have visited many friends/friends parents who have used AOL dial up and broadband......

The service may well work but they will take over your PC...they take all of the information that you surf, they restrict you so that you mainly see their advertising sites and they are one of the most agressive monopolies ever released onto the web.......

Honestly AOL will cause you more trouble than good...online gaming gets stuffed, you can't read emails properly...the list is endless....AOL are the only company I know that people place warnings on their websites and emails that if you use AOL you may not be able to see their content properly or read their emails.....

There are much much much better choice than America Online .....


Oh yeah and come on England :) ....and take those stupid flags off of your cars they look sooooo crap :)


PS I got another one of those damn AOL free 9 hour trials through the door again tonight ........F**K off :pissed:

[ibyellow]

Oh i dont know Krug they make good decor for the xmas tree :) Wonder if i could use them for clay pidgeon shooting Hmmm!!!

[Gage]

well i dont know, the only problems i find with aol broadband is the beta test versions but apart from that, the software runs smooth, i would never consider going back to dial up for the simple fact that it ties up te phone line & its slow as GPRS internet

[Daedalus]

I use them as mug mats :)

[Gage]

there good as freesbies

[Daedalus]

Give it time Gage, you'll see what we mean, especially when you go to use something else that requires the Internet other than the AOL Browser (bleh in its highest form).

[Gage]

yea i know what u mean about aol messing up, but i guess i just have to put up with it cause if i cancel the contract, i'll have to pay about £100 which i aint willing to pay