Internet Usage Question

[Ginofan]

We are looking into getting a wirless USB modem from Sprint but I notice that there is a 5GB/month limit. We will be moving to an area that doesn't have much support for broadband internet so this is pretty much an only option.

What I wanted to do was to figure out an average of how much we are currently using to see if we were within that 5GB/month range. Is there some type of software that measures your usage that I could use?

Or maybe you guys have another suggestion as to what to do about getting highspeed internet out in the country areas?

[Drachen]

I have been researching sprint lately because I want to get new phones and coverage and I know that you can use a blackberry as your 3g modem this is called tethering (instead of buying another device), and I *think* that if you have the right plan, that it is unlimited. Confirm that though, because I am not 100% on this.

[PM5K]

If you don't have any other option, then it doesn't really matter does it?

[sabar]

Windows can show usage per session:

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/399/usage.png


Most gateways/firewalls tabulate cumulative traffic as well:

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/5443/usage2.png

5.66 GB in the past 6 days for me and 100 MB in an hour and a half of web browsing.

5 GB a month is laughable IMO, I can pass that limit in 2 hours. Web pages are around 400 kilobytes, a single youtube video is around 10 megabytes, and a DVD ISO upwards of 7.4 GB.

What OS are you running? There's a ton of free tools that can track usage (http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=bandwidth+monitor&fq[]=trove%3A150&fq[]=trove%3A152) for you as well. If you go the phone route make sure you have some sort of data plan obviously, otherwise you'll get obscene charges.

[PM5K]

I've used 17GB this month, and that's a very slow month ;-)

[Slydragon]

If you don't have any other option, then it doesn't really matter does it?

Why not change the 5 to a S already? PMSK?

[MannyIsGod]

5 gb a month isn't shit especially when its both upload and download. There have been months when we push that on our sprint data plan and thats just usage on the phones. I would definitely look for other options.

We just got comcast out here we have to worry about a 250gb cap. I'm pretty sure that on a bad month we'll come close to that (we steram a lot and use netflix online) so I'm not sure how its going to work out.

[Scola]

Try something like net meter (http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/) or some other type of bandwidth monitoring software. I survived on 4GB/month for a year when I lived on college campus. I never went over the 4GB, but I wasn't really downloading anything, I was basically just surfing the web.

[MiamiHeat]

for non-pirates, 5GB could be within limits of your usage

[resistanze]

LOL @ 5 GB. I rarely download anything of substance at home and I struggle to stay under my 60 GB limit.

[MannyIsGod]

for non-pirates, 5GB could be within limits of your usage

I promise you a non pirate can easily go past 5gb a month. One Netflix movie is about that much.

[eyeh8u]

We are looking into getting a wirless USB modem from Sprint but I notice that there is a 5GB/month limit. We will be moving to an area that doesn't have much support for broadband internet so this is pretty much an only option.

What I wanted to do was to figure out an average of how much we are currently using to see if we were within that 5GB/month range. Is there some type of software that measures your usage that I could use?

Or maybe you guys have another suggestion as to what to do about getting highspeed internet out in the country areas?

5gb is very low

where in the country are you moving? telling us the location can help us find a good deal for you

is sprint 4g not available where you r? its way faster and unlimited.
http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/action/WebImageStream4?covType=wimax&mapcenterx=-98.493329&mapcentery=29.423889&geocenterx=-98.493329&geocentery=29.423889&endlinex=&endliney=&scale=50.0&width=420&height=315&showPinpoint=T&signalStrength=F&antiAlias=T&layers=TFFFTFTTFFTFFTFFTTTFFFFTFT


also if you ar set on the 5gb 3g service go to

http://delivery.sprint.com/m/p/nxt/epc/epclanding.asp

use [email protected] and 383 in the boxes it can save you 10 bucks a month, another thing you can do is get an " Simply Everything" cellphone plan, where is unlimited everything, and then tether it to your computer for free, what you have to do is get a windows mobile phone though, the only one available that is any good is the touch pro two, then you have to unlock it, install a custom rom like mighty rom, then all you will have to do is have active sync installed in any windows xp computer, or windows mobile center in any vista or 7 computer to be able to get unlimited internet for your computer, all you do is go to programs, internet sharing, make sure sprint is chosen rather than phone as modem, click connect, and bam internet, the touch pro 2 can also work as a wi fi router and connect to multiple computers at once.

[baseline bum]

You might as well just get dial-up in that case. If you watch Hulu, go to youtube, or leave sigs on here you can crash that number easily. ESPN has automatic video every time you go to it, half the web is bloated flash, many people in this forum have animated GIF sigs in the 1-2MB range (and some have them in the 40-70MB range), and so on. A 5GB a month cap is a slap in the face and renders having a high transmission speed absolutely worthless.

[resistanze]

You might as well just get dial-up in that case. If you watch Hulu, go to youtube, or leave sigs on here you can crash that number easily. ESPN has automatic video every time you go to it, half the web is bloated flash, many people in this forum have animated GIF sigs in the 1-2MB range (and some have them in the 40-70MB range), and so on. A 5GB a month cap is a slap in the face and renders having a high transmission speed absolutely worthless.

Yeah, these caps are ridiculous. I'm getting 10 Mbps with a 60GB cap. I don't know why they bother offering 25 Mbps/125 GB cap and 50 Mbps/175 GB cap, it's pretty much useless.

Kinda like buying a Ferrari Enzo that you can only drive to the grocery market.

[Ginofan]

We ended up getting the Overdrive 3G/4G Hotspot from Sprint. I've already xnayed any downloading we might want to do and turned off all signatures.

I don't use the web that much for anything besides surfing, it's my husband that wants to download music and movies so I think it'll be a bit tougher for him. I mean if i really need to download music/video I can just do it at work and put it on a flash drive.

It is definitely going to be tough to stay under 5Gs still but there's not much else of an option. I don't have the patience for dial up and the only other option to where we will be staying is through satellite and we've seen that in action...worse than dial up I would say.


5gb is very low

where in the country are you moving? telling us the location can help us find a good deal for you

is sprint 4g not available where you r? its way faster and unlimited.

Yeah only the 3g is available where we will be (in between San Antonio & Floresville on 181). But our salesman did say if we take our hotspot into town that it will most likely be 4G anywhere and therefore unlimited. Though I don't plan on dragging my laptop into town anywhere for any reason.

We don't move till the beginning of April, so I'll keep you guys updated on how it works out.

[spursncowboys]

I have been researching sprint lately because I want to get new phones and coverage and I know that you can use a blackberry as your 3g modem this is called tethering (instead of buying another device), and I *think* that if you have the right plan, that it is unlimited. Confirm that though, because I am not 100% on this.
I have sprint and they stopped allowing people to tether for free and instead have to pay 25 more. I know there is a hack for android phones but I don't know about windows and others.

[HORNSWOGGLE]

http://www.internetamerica.com/

[eyeh8u]

We ended up getting the Overdrive 3G/4G Hotspot from Sprint. I've already xnayed any downloading we might want to do and turned off all signatures.

I don't use the web that much for anything besides surfing, it's my husband that wants to download music and movies so I think it'll be a bit tougher for him. I mean if i really need to download music/video I can just do it at work and put it on a flash drive.

It is definitely going to be tough to stay under 5Gs still but there's not much else of an option. I don't have the patience for dial up and the only other option to where we will be staying is through satellite and we've seen that in action...worse than dial up I would say.



Yeah only the 3g is available where we will be (in between San Antonio & Floresville on 181). But our salesman did say if we take our hotspot into town that it will most likely be 4G anywhere and therefore unlimited. Though I don't plan on dragging my laptop into town anywhere for any reason.

We don't move till the beginning of April, so I'll keep you guys updated on how it works out.

hopefully they will expand, they are supposed to have a big 4g rollout out this fall

[MannyIsGod]

Why didn't you go with like Verizon?

[Ginofan]

Why didn't you go with like Verizon?

First, I'll never go back to Verizon. The 3 years I spent with them for my cell service was the worst customer service experience I've ever had. Second, they have the broadband for the same price as Sprint and still have the 5GB limit. Last, I've been with Sprint for almost 8 years now and they've been good to me for the most part. Plus the monthly charge will just go to my cellphone bill so I won't have to have separate bills coming in each month.

eye8u: Where did hear about that? That would be really awesome if they expanded their 4G coverage especially since they have that HTC EVO 4G coming out!

[MannyIsGod]

Hmm, I'd figure they wouldn't have a limit.

LOL Why are you excited about 4g though? Thats just a faster speed to hit your cap!

[Ginofan]

Hmm, I'd figure they wouldn't have a limit.

LOL Why are you excited about 4g though? Thats just a faster speed to hit your cap!

Actually 4G is unlimited. Only the 3G use has a cap. That's part of the reason we got the new 3G/4G hot spot just in case :)

[MannyIsGod]

WTF Sprint confuses me. I hope you get four G coverage soon then. I'm not really worried but I am leary of our 250g cap so I can't imagine having a 5g one.

[eyeh8u]

eye8u: Where did hear about that? That would be really awesome if they expanded their 4G coverage especially since they have that HTC EVO 4G coming out!

its been a big part of what sprint has been pushing, the 4g isn't even in los angeles yet so thats a sign that they have just started to get going, just do a google news search of sprint 4g and its everywhere , now the evo news is dominated go to some older articles and youll see they are planning a big rollout, good luck with the 5gb cap, and hopefully you get the 4g soon