Do you know how much bandwidth you use on a daily basis? If not, it’s time to start. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transmitted through a communication link, typically in megabytes (MB). The average person uses about 2GB of bandwidth each day. So if you use 2GB of bandwidth each day, that’s 16GB in total! That’s a lot of data to carry around! If you’re like most people, you probably think that all the data we use is just for downloading music and movies. But if you take a look at websites like Google and Facebook, they use a lot of bandwidth too. They have millions of pages and videos online and they need to send all that data through the internet quickly so people can see it. So if you’re using a lot of bandwidth on your computer or phone, it might be time to start thinking about ways to save some space. Maybe you can try using an app that limits how much data someone can download at once or limit the number of times someone can access the same website at once. Or maybe you could try using an internet connection with less than 10Mbps instead of 100Mbps!

Earlier this week we asked you to share how (if at all) you monitor your bandwidth for both home networks and mobile devices. We’re back to share your favorite tools and tips.

Image available as wallpaper at ChrisHarrison.net.

Monitoring the Home Computer

The majority of readers (77%) monitor their connections in some way either at home, on their mobile devices, or both. The reasons for monitoring ranged from necessity (to avoid overage fees) to curiosity (because they liked tracking or to, for example, keep their ISP honest).

Quite a few people, thanks to a single-computer environment, were able to use a local application to monitor their bandwidth. James writes:

If you’re interested in using NetBalancer Pro check out our previous tutorial here.

Bob was one of the many readers who relied on NetLimiter:

If you’re looking for a program that you can install on multiple computers and sync the data, Travicane highlights Networx:

Travicane was but one of the many readers that loved NetWorx, Joleca started using it after a run in with Comcast:

We wrote up a guide to using NetWorx earlier this year to help out a reader who was struggling to prove he wasn’t the roommate that was causing the bandwidth overages. If you’re curious about NetWorx our guide will walk you through setting it up.

Went over Comcast’s cap once (about 3 months into having and wasn’t aware of any caps).. They CALLED me and said if I went over again, they would cut off my access for “1 year”.. Stumbled across Networx shortly after that and installed on all 3 network computers in the house.. It monitors and tracks all network computers and gives you the full report on each device (no need to add up the totals), and it will ignore the traffic within your lan.. If you have a laptop and use outside of your home network, you can set it to only track your home IP address and ignore outside traffic.

For readers with more complex home networks, router-based traffic monitoring was the way to go. Many readers used custom firmware upgrades like DD-WRT and Tomato to enhance their monitoring abilities. Krysaenaar writes:

Steve writes:

If your ISP has a report system it’s definitely wise to check your readings against their readings.

Monitoring the Mobile Device

Years ago monitoring your mobile data usage would have been silly; there was little to do on a mobile phone that would pile up overage charges. These days, however, it’s all too easy to stream video and download content that sucks up your bandwidth. Many readers reported monitoring their mobile bandwidth and used an array of applications.

For iOS, the most popular application was Consume. Every reader who reported monitoring their iPhone was either using Consume or the built-in data monitoring tools. When it came to Android monitoring things got a little more diverse. James, quoted above in the home monitoring section, kicked off by suggesting 3G WatchDog. Fireball followed up with:

Not a bad little app if you need to keep an eye on other kinds of usage (such as SMS). Jim uses a set of apps to keep tabs on his usage and whether his provider is accurately reporting it:

On my Android phone, I use Traffic Statistics and Network Monitor Pro cross checking bandwidth usage with my AT&T app. There have been time that my bandwidth usage has spiked and now I monitor it and set alarms in Traffic Statistics and NW Montior Pro.

If you’re wondering whether or not you should monitor, MrMike highlights an interesting reason to do so:

It seems like it would be worth having a monitor that logs simply so you can argue your case later when your provider insists you owe them $$$$ in data overages.

Right now, Verizon says I used 151.58 MB on my Droid X as of yesterday.

3G Watchdog Pro says I used 47.87 as of about an hour ago.

Interesting, no?

Grandfathered unlimited, but for how long?

Monitoring? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Monitoring

Finally we had the 23% of readers who don’t monitor at all—largely because they didn’t need to and thus were the envy of the readers with ISPs run by the Grinch. Among these readers were was either no cap or an extra fee for the privilege. Wayne, for example, pays extra for a cap-free connection:

Others, like Morely have cap-free services by default:

I have 25Mbps both up and down fiber at home, and I refuse to get a smartphone because of the ridiculous caps on bandwidth; so I don’t monitor bandwidth.

Finally there are the readers who, despite having a cap, simply disregard it. Jon_hill writes:

Many companies have a “cap” so they can deal with customers they want to get rid of for abusing the system or causing trouble of some sort. If you’re not degrading the quality of the service your neighbors are paying for too, most ISPs tend to look the other way. Surely they know that no one would get an expensive broadband account just to check their email!

Hit up the original Ask the Readers post to read the rest of the comments. Have a bandwidth monitoring tip or trick? Sound off here to share it.