How much do I really need?

OK, I've moved premises - and now I'm told I can have 5Mb broadband (
yayy ), I've just snagged a Draytek 2600 off ebay for a song, and all
that's left is to choose who to give me money to. Sort of.

Thing is, how much speed/download limit do I really need?

I generally just send emails ( text ), I filter out the crap jokes
that 'friends' send me, I browse the newsgroups, download the odd
freeware app and updates, I maintain a small website that gets updated
every couple of months, I have a chat on Yahoo, so a spot of ebaying -
and I sometimes grab a few MP3's when someone asks me to listen to a
particular song ( I don't plan on building a collection )...and there
won't be any kids using the computer.

Having lived with a dialup speed of 31,200 for the last few years ( so
512k or 2Mb means zilch to me, I've no idea what it performs like )
and managing fine on BT's allowance of 150 hours per month, I'm
wondering whether my online habits will increase that much...or am I
likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
downloading everything in sight?

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

In response to what Stephen Howard <(E-Mail Removed)> posted in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> OK, I've moved premises - and now I'm told I can have 5Mb broadband (
> yayy ), I've just snagged a Draytek 2600 off ebay for a song, and all
> that's left is to choose who to give me money to. Sort of.
>
> Thing is, how much speed/download limit do I really need?
>
> I generally just send emails ( text ), I filter out the crap jokes
> that 'friends' send me, I browse the newsgroups, download the odd
> freeware app and updates, I maintain a small website that gets updated
> every couple of months, I have a chat on Yahoo, so a spot of ebaying -
> and I sometimes grab a few MP3's when someone asks me to listen to a
> particular song ( I don't plan on building a collection )...and there
> won't be any kids using the computer.
>
> Having lived with a dialup speed of 31,200 for the last few years ( so
> 512k or 2Mb means zilch to me, I've no idea what it performs like )
> and managing fine on BT's allowance of 150 hours per month, I'm
> wondering whether my online habits will increase that much...or am I
> likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
> downloading everything in sight?

5GB/month will be ample. You might exeed 2GB occasionally.

--
Joe Soap.

Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.

"Joe Soap" <Use-Author-Supplied-Address-Header@[127.1]> wrote in message
news:Xns986DB58BAADFAtityifvbdfgvbzdfdf@127.0.0.1. ..
> In response to what Stephen Howard <(E-Mail Removed)> posted in
> news:(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> OK, I've moved premises - and now I'm told I can have 5Mb broadband (
>> yayy ), I've just snagged a Draytek 2600 off ebay for a song, and all
>> that's left is to choose who to give me money to. Sort of.
>>
>> Thing is, how much speed/download limit do I really need?
>>
>> I generally just send emails ( text ), I filter out the crap jokes
>> that 'friends' send me, I browse the newsgroups, download the odd
>> freeware app and updates, I maintain a small website that gets updated
>> every couple of months, I have a chat on Yahoo, so a spot of ebaying -
>> and I sometimes grab a few MP3's when someone asks me to listen to a
>> particular song ( I don't plan on building a collection )...and there
>> won't be any kids using the computer.
>>
>> Having lived with a dialup speed of 31,200 for the last few years ( so
>> 512k or 2Mb means zilch to me, I've no idea what it performs like )
>> and managing fine on BT's allowance of 150 hours per month, I'm
>> wondering whether my online habits will increase that much...or am I
>> likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
>> downloading everything in sight?
>
> 5GB/month will be ample. You might exeed 2GB occasionally.

I have similar usage to you and I manage to stay within 2Gig a month

George

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Stephen Howard
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Having lived with a dialup speed of 31,200 for the last few years ( so
>512k or 2Mb means zilch to me, I've no idea what it performs like )
>and managing fine on BT's allowance of 150 hours per month, I'm
>wondering whether my online habits will increase that much...or am I
>likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
>downloading everything in sight?
Whoever you sign up with, make sure you've either got lots of disk space
or make sure the monthly price is cheap enough so you can afford more
disk space. My expereince? Since I got broadband (4 years ago IIRC) the
web has become my reference library and it's usually quicker to use
Google than read a manual to look up error codes or configuration
information, of course it's also much easier to waste loads of time
following 'interesting' trails away from the original information. YMMV
>
>Regards,
>
>
>

--
Clint Sharp

"Clint Sharp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:T$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Stephen Howard
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> >Having lived with a dialup speed of 31,200 for the last few years ( so
> >512k or 2Mb means zilch to me, I've no idea what it performs like )
> >and managing fine on BT's allowance of 150 hours per month, I'm
> >wondering whether my online habits will increase that much...or am I
> >likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
> >downloading everything in sight?
> Whoever you sign up with, make sure you've either got lots of disk space
> or make sure the monthly price is cheap enough so you can afford more
> disk space. My expereince? Since I got broadband (4 years ago IIRC) the
> web has become my reference library and it's usually quicker to use
> Google than read a manual to look up error codes or configuration
> information, of course it's also much easier to waste loads of time
> following 'interesting' trails away from the original information.

In what way does browsing the internet require more disk space?

(kim)

On 1 Nov 2006, "kim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In what way does browsing the internet require more disk space?

Given the availability of more information, downloading pages easily/fast
and thus seeing links to PDFs, software, and so on, have you not found
that if you see a reference doc/datasheet online, the first thing you
do is to download it ? (or do you use the Adobe plug-in and view in
your web browser - I download about 95% of the time)

Although the suggestion is that one won't collect mp3s etc, I now have a
few GB of materials (PDFs, software, MP3s, movies, photos, etc) off many
different sources (several of them chargeable) and will be expanding to
a further 250 GB (or greater) network store in the next couple of months
(as one small 'christmas present' LOL). Some prefer to store data on DVD
but that's used more as a backup medium here, and most materials "online"
(either to my local PCs/iMac, or via the router, if I am not here) is now
the way I'm moving. Although upload speed is limited to 488 kbps, that
is quite adequate for most purposes.

Also, with free/cheap online storage now available, it is not uncommon
to do remote backups of up to 50 GB of data. DriveHQ gives anyone a
free 1 GB store (with Windows s/w to do automated backup, either on
a regular schedule, or 'on the fly' to archive any new documents).

"NoNeedToKnow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 1 Nov 2006, "kim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >In what way does browsing the internet require more disk space?
>
> Given the availability of more information, downloading pages easily/fast
> and thus seeing links to PDFs, software, and so on, have you not found
> that if you see a reference doc/datasheet online, the first thing you
> do is to download it ? (or do you use the Adobe plug-in and view in
> your web browser - I download about 95% of the time)
>
> Although the suggestion is that one won't collect mp3s etc, I now have a
> few GB of materials (PDFs, software, MP3s, movies, photos, etc) off many
> different sources (several of them chargeable) and will be expanding to
> a further 250 GB (or greater) network store in the next couple of months
> (as one small 'christmas present' LOL). Some prefer to store data on DVD
> but that's used more as a backup medium here, and most materials "online"
> (either to my local PCs/iMac, or via the router, if I am not here) is now
> the way I'm moving. Although upload speed is limited to 488 kbps, that
> is quite adequate for most purposes.
>
> Also, with free/cheap online storage now available, it is not uncommon
> to do remote backups of up to 50 GB of data. DriveHQ gives anyone a
> free 1 GB store (with Windows s/w to do automated backup, either on
> a regular schedule, or 'on the fly' to archive any new documents).

For downloading/filesharing yes, a HD can never be too big. You don't need
to "save" an Acrobat file or streaming video to HD be able to view them on
line.

(kim)

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, kim
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>In what way does browsing the internet require more disk space?
In the way that the OP asked and I quote,
>> >or am I
>> >likely to be completely amazed by the power of BB and start
>> >downloading everything in sight?
Reading original posts in their entirety so you don't make an arse of
yourself is usually regarded as a good thing.
>
>(kim)
>
The AOL softplay area is over that way when you realise that nobody
wants to hold your hand here anymore, maybe you could try Keyword
readthef**kingpost to find out why the big boys don't want to play with
you.
--
Clint Sharp

"kim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B7-dnXnTp9-(E-Mail Removed)
> "NoNeedToKnow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...

[snip]

> > Also, with free/cheap online storage now available, it
> > is not uncommon to do remote backups of up to 50 GB of
> > data. DriveHQ gives anyone a free 1 GB store (with
> > Windows s/w to do automated backup, either on
> > a regular schedule, or 'on the fly' to archive any new
> > documents).

Hmm, but even 50GB is not very much these days, and given ADSL means
uplink is a lot slower than downlink, how long would it take to upload
that amount on a regular basis..? I do a full backup daily, I can't be
bothered messing with incremental backups, it's a lot easier to clone a
disk from a single image.

> For downloading/filesharing yes, a HD can never be too
> big. You don't need to "save" an Acrobat file or
> streaming video to HD be able to view them on line.

True, but it's always useful to have a local copy if you can't connect for
some reason. With the price of HDD's dropping like stones it makes sense
to get the largest you can afford. Then get another (external) one or two
and use them for regular backups..! I bought a 300GB Maxtor NAS drive for
less than £100 from Staples the other week, USB drives are even cheaper.

Ivor

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:41:09 +0000, Stephen Howard
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>
>Thing is, how much speed/download limit do I really need?
>
Thanks for the advice ( here and via email ). Looks like 2gB will be
plenty.
Is speed that big a factor though...is a 512k service a waste of time?

Cheers,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk