You have to install a special os on your router to be able to track usage.... the two most popular ones are dd-wrt and tomato.

But it really is worth it... you can also get realtime usage so you know exactly when somebody is using it and can go figure out which person is actually on the computer at that time.

Log into your router as administrator. Sometimes it's "root", sometimes it's "admin". You should have done this at some point when you setup your wifi password.

Then look for a tab that says something about status or bandwidth. Depending on the firmware, you may or may not be able to look at real time stats.

I had to download a third party firmware for my router that allowed me to watch a real time graph of bandwidth. There is a firmware version out there called "tomato" or something like that that also has the ability to log bandwidth based on individual IPs on your network. That way you can see who is using the most data in your house. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that work, but I've kind of given up on it now that I figured out that youtube was the biggest drain and I implemented a "watch videos on low res or you lose your device" rule.

According to Wikipedia, Netflix is 5Mb/s.
So 1 hr mean up to 18Gb steaming data (unless my math is wrong).

That is not right.... megabits don't directly convert to megabytes.

Here is what netflix uses... http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2012/08/ever-wonder-how-much-bandwidth-netflix-streaming-uses.html

Thanks.

If you heavily use Netflix, you can adjust the data usage settings to medium quality (0.7 GB/hour versus 3 GB/hour with high quality). We primarily use our iPads rather than TV to watch Netflix (family of 3 with wildly different tastes) and medium quality is fine for us. We've watched a couple of movies on TV as a family and they've been fine at that setting too. The other nice thing is that the quality settings are settable per profile too. I actually have my daughter's profile set to low quality. I guarantee you little kids can't tell the difference and cartoons compress very well.

Another option is to get the 50 Gb/s service which also increases your data cap from 250 GB/month to 350 GB/month. I've only hit the cap once and we're a family of 3 so our data usage isn't terribly high but it was only an extra $10/month for me to upgrade from 30 to 50 and I just wanted the higher cap.

Wonder if some people hitting their caps actually have infected machines serving spam or porn on a botnet.

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Wonder if some people hitting their caps actually have infected machines serving spam or porn on a botnet.

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I know that isn't the case for me.

I monitor my usage regularly through my router, and when netflix and youtube are not being used in the house, my usage drops to near nothing. I also monitor outgoing traffic at the same time, which is always very low.

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Thought this thread was about dropping Viacom. Not SL's bandwidth caps

I for one, welcome not being able to see that trash on MTV anymore.

Spike is the only one of those I watch.

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Because normally when SL provides that channel, you have no choice but to watch it.

Viacom is preventing Suddenlink internet users from watching, say, Comedy Central videos on the CC website.

Yep.

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If I had grandkids, this might get me to read to them more often





nah, we'd just bond by watching the SEC network

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Ars Technica (big tech news site) story on Suddenlink/Viacom spat

From the story:

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Cedar Falls Utilities in Iowa last month complained that ESPN channels just got more expensive because of "forced carriage of channels we don't want," namely the SEC Network and Fusion.

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So BioBio - you're on notice.

Nope, I just cut the Cable cord a while back. Everything worth watching (imo) is available to stream or will be available to stream eventually. It's not worth paying for 150 channels when I watch 4 of them.

Maybe? If they can restrict you from viewing videos on Viacom's channels websites because you're using Suddenlink internet service, who's to say they won't disallow you from viewing the same things through Netflix or other outlets?

quote:

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Ars Technica (big tech news site) story on Suddenlink/Viacom spat

From the story:

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Cedar Falls Utilities in Iowa last month complained that ESPN channels just got more expensive because of "forced carriage of channels we don't want," namely the SEC Network and Fusion.

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So BioBio - you're on notice.

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Not sure what I'm on notice for... beware Iowans unhappy about the SEC network?

ESPN/Disney and Viacom are doing the same thing, and in both cases its just a business strategy. As content providers they choose what is in the bundle and their customers can take it or leave it. The strategy is working for ESPN; its too soon to say if it will work for Viacom. If there's enough loss of subscribers due to loss of Viacom viewers, expect Suddenlink to cave. Or Viacom might lower their prices. Otherwise those who care a lot will move on and the rest of us will muddle on until better options come along..

I'm not that sympathetic to the "forced carriage" complaint, though. They aren't forced to carry anything, they just don't like their options.

So if 20 plus channels have been dropped and only a handful of inferior no name networks to replace them can we expect a refund from Suddenlink?

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Who is going to tell my 4 yr. old granddaughter that she can no longer watch Peppa Pig at MawMaw's house?

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So if 20 plus channels have been dropped and only a handful of inferior no name networks to replace them can we expect a refund from Suddenlink?

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Nope

If you call and threaten to leave, they might take $10 off your bill per month for an undetermined period of time.

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Total BS. They should be required to at least give us the same number of channels back.

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Why? You're not in any kind of contract.

A monopoly inherently implies a psuedo-contract. It is not surprising for people to be upset.

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A monopoly inherently implies a psuedo-contract. It is not surprising for people to be upset.

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A monopoly? There's multiple options for TV in this area.

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A monopoly inherently implies a psuedo-contract. It is not surprising for people to be upset.

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A monopoly? There's multiple options for TV in this area.

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This is neither the time or place for logic and reason.

Yeah, when I was a student here, it was either cable (I forgot who it was back in the early 90's) or KBTX and maybe channel 13 out of Houston. And that was it.

Now, people in this town have a host of options to choose from.

Took all my equipment back to SL's office this morning. "But don't you like our new channels." I laughed as I walked out.

75AG, I's sure they were joking when they asked you that. Suddenlink employees aren't happy about this either. Most of the new channels suck.

Also does anyone know what is keeping another cable company from entering this market? I know they have to invest in the infastructure, but what else is keeping a company like AT&T Uverse from coming here?

Lastly, speaking of things that just went away, I know Mybcs was supposed to be getting worked on, but is it ever coming back now? its been a while.

I was told when moving back to town that (at least the City of College Station) the people of the city had actually voted for and established Suddenlink to be the only choice for cable in the area. I was told this by a Suddenlink rep circa 2011. This was in response to my question of why Suddenlink was the only choice for my rental off Baron rd at the time.

That being said I do not trust one rep from another but it seemed very believable. Just like big business cable all around the country the evil sodomites get inside city gov and do what they need to to get unsuspecting powers that be to vote a certain way to establish bullshyt policy.

Its the 'Murican way, baby.

But yes we need to end that shi right now. At least in the mean time I get Oprah again.

Has anyone else seen the new suddenlink commercial talking about all the new channels that they added. They make it sound like they did it based on customer feedback of what people want to watch.

Dunno. Switched to Dish right after. Suddenlink informed me that everyone wanted the hallmark channel. I Informed them that they were idiots. Long story short I am no longer paying them 170 bucks for the hallmark channel and the game show network.

#dropsuddenlink