Monitor Your Monthly Bandwidth

A few months ago, it occured to me that I had been downloading quite a bit. Since I don’t watch cable TV very much, I get most of my entertainment content online, which means I’m using up more bandwidth. I live in Canada and my ISP is Shaw Cable, and with their Xtreme-I package, only offer 100GB a month. That’s tough for me to hit on my own, but with three other housemates, it’s easy, so having a tool to monitor my own usage gives me peace of mind.

I found a free tool called NetLimiter. It has everything I could possibly need and more. You can monitor your daily, monthly, and even yearly usage, in KB, MB, and GB units. and even monitors the real-time bandwidth of every application running.

There are paid verions of the program available, but the NetLimiter 2 Monitor, which is the full name, is completely free.

Internet Radio Keeps Buffering

Works fine in one room, but the Macbook Pro he set up in the kitchen is constantly buffering. He’s using a 50-foot ethernet cable. That could be one problem (although CAT-5 should go much longer than that). Maybe it’s the way Apple is handling the streaming Windows data?

If you can run a wireless network instead of hard-wired, and use either 802.11g or 802.11n, your internet speed should increase. If you use ethernet cable, the signal strength will degrade over long distances.

A possibility may also be viruses or spyware on the network, but the speed of the network is more likely the issue.

You might want to look at an Internet radio – C Crane sells a great one.

source: techguylabs.com

Concealing oneself When Surfing the Internet

The Onion Router [http://tor.eff.org/]is an anonymizing system. Also, HotSpotVPN [http://hotspotvpn.com/]can do this as well. On the employer’s premises, they are legally allowed to snoop on you.

source: leo.am

ISPs’ Unwritten Rule

Some ISPs have the “unwritten” rule where you can download too much. These companies are disconnecting people for downloading too much even though they may claim to have unlimited bandwidth. Leo would post this on broadbandreports.com. He recommends reading up on the site for a new ISP as well. You’ve got Leo’s complete sympathy.

DSL and the high-pitch buzz

It is probably a cross line inside the house. SBC or the Telco will only fix to the demarc line at the house; the homeowner is responsible for all inside wiring UNLESS they pay the monthly wiring insurance/fee. I suggest a line checker, found at electonic shack stores …. and fix the crossed line. One crossed line will effect all voice phones in the house, so it could be a tedious hunt ‘n check.