Typical Home Bandwidth Usage?

Broadband writes "With a growing number of internet service providers imposing hard bandwidth caps, I too will soon find myself with a limit. In typical Slashdot fashion I use the Internet for everything from movie streaming to online backup and just realized I have no idea how much data traverses my pipes on a monthly basis. While I have wised up and installed a bandwidth monitoring solution, it'll be some time until I have a normalized average. So my question is: What is the average monthly data usage in your household? How many people share the connection and is there anything you've found essential yet bandwidth intensive that you couldn't live without? (E.g. VOIP, movie downloads, streaming audio, etc.)"

first proust!

[harlows_monkeys]

For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between FranÃois I and Charles V. This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of a former existence must be to a reincarnate spirit; the subject of my book would separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it or no; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself in a state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, for my mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed.

Re:first proust!

[arotenbe]

You just hit the bandwidth cap. Be glad that your sentence happened to end there or else

I don't like bandwidth caps...

[RuBLed]

I always put a conscious effort to monitor my usage but

Re:I guess my ISP is responsiblee

[solferino]

I was basically two persons: one 14 year old girl watching youtube, facebook, and uploading hundreds of photographs; while I run a programming business downloading software and uploading text files.

Well, at least now we have one data point for the typical bandwith usage of a small Russian mafia operation.

My usage

[Spacejock]

It's like wages: required usage = (disposable amount) + 1

Re:No limit

[rzei]

I guess there should be a "-5 Swedish" option when talking about home network connections.

In their eastern neighbour Finland I pay about ... 0-10€ per month 1Mbps (HomePNA) line. (I'm yet to receive a bill for that connection after 9 months, no idea if they have just forgot me or if it's included in the rent.)

Sweden is not the riches country in the world but somehow they have been able to pull great stunt making Internet truly "free" for everyone.. As in you don't have to have incomes that allow you to pay 1000€ per month for a such connection.

Where I live a 10/10 Mbps (fiber) connection with no restraints costs about 1000€/month plus 1500€ installation.

Re:I use a metric buttload of bandwidth...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that's typically called a "cam whore"

Re:I guess my ISP is responsiblee

[FornaxChemica]

I was basically two persons

No, I think what we've got here is a case of dissociative identity disorder [wikipedia.org].

Re:Download caps are not as bad as they are made o

[Firehed]

They only get laid once. Then they get used repeatedly. I'm sure they pay for themselves & then some.

That phrase is the perfect description of Slashdot as a whole.

Re:I have true unlimited

[YourExperiment]

I get dsl through sonic.net. They are a AT&T reseller, but with huge advantages.

Like tech support from a hedgehog with blue spiky hair?

Re:I have true unlimited

[Khemisty]

I have to admit, I had a look at your homepage just to make sure it wasn't sonic.net ;)

Re:I have true unlimited

[ZiggyStardust1984]

"audiovisual entertainments", nice neologism for pron!

Re:Paying to view ads

[Dan541]

Not when your neighbour has Wireless.

Re:first proust!

[Anonymous Coward]

>5-10 gigs per heavy person, per day

So, what do you consider to be a "heavy" person?

Re:first proust!

[dotancohen]

Have you been saving that up in some kind of .txt file, waiting for your chance at first post?

Anyone who gets fr1st ps0t is a troll. Trolls are evil. Microsoft is evil. Microsoft makes MS Office. MS Office saves as .docx as default.

Obviously, that was save in a .docx file, not a .txt file.

Re:first proust!

[Anonymous Coward]

A typical slashdot user?

Re:Simple answer: don't tolerate caps, jump ship!

[Anonymous Coward]

'Move to a better area'! Ha, Ha, Ha!! See nothing hap.. OH SHIT! *CHOKE* *CHOKE* Help me! Get an electrician! *CHOKE*

Re:Weird ass restrictions

[jo42]

Actually, 'tubes' run from your house to the data center. "Pipes" run from data center to data center.

Re:I have true unlimited

[drcln]

I call bull poop. All you need is to download eight 1.36GB scene pr0n releases and you are over 130GB. This can easily be done in less than a day. :-p

Two points:

If you are watching 8 pr0n releases a day, you have bigger problems than whether your bandwidth is capped. You are going to get callouses where you don't want them, and your mom will be coming down to the basement to do your laundry at some point in the day. You know she never knocks.

8*1.36GB=10.88GB [google.com]