3G newbie needs your help....

RompelStompel

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
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Location
Pretoria
Afternoon

Excuse the silly newbie questions , but I think that I'm at the right place to learn :rolleyes:

1.As I'm using 3G on prepaid - what other factors apart from firewall , automatic /WinXP / antivirus /updates will eat up my airtime? Dash states I've used 40megs in 2 days - when I have only surfed plain old HTML sites and downloading text emails. I do disconnect as prescribed- Disconnect - Mobile .

Just don't see how I could have used 40megs in 2 days . Students need money for clubbing and firewater - should not spend all my money on 3G airtime :D

2.I'm using Dash ver5.00.00.00 (earlier version than is listed on Vodacom 3G website). If I update Dash to ver5.00.17.0A will true usage be reflected more accurately ? Upgrading of Dash - download , install and Bob's your uncle ?

Biometrics replacement 3G dialer - more reliable usage meter ?

Thanks for taking time out in answering newbie questions.

Vodacom - thanks for an excellent product :)

RompelStompel (Novatel U630 user)

Humble newbie retreating in silence in awe of superior experts
 
Yikes - fast response !

Sorry for not stating my OS - Windows XP Home SP2 & using firewall that's supplied with XP Home.

Using NAV 2005 for catching the bugs in time.

Thanks :)

RompelStompel
 
disable windows Automatic Updates. You can do it by disabling the service in "Start | Settings | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services".

You get some nice monitoring software that will tell you which application used how much bandwidth. Other members might know the name?
 
I succesfullly use www.DUMeter.com which reflects the same usage as 4me.
Zone alarm for firewall and AVG for the bugs and ADAware/SPybot for the spyware etc.

Keeps me clean! and, yes, as andres101 suggested: get those auto updates swithced off ASAP.
 
Dont underestimate browsing, trust me it eats up bandwidth like crazy. I can easily use up 10MB in a mere 3-4 hours of browsing. Heck visit vodacom4me, log in, check your account and you log out, you'll be at least 1MB poorer.

Alot of sites are 200KB+ per page, then there are the script heavy pages and flash sites that easily goes above 500KB per page.

Problem is the faster your internet the less you notice the size of the websites.
 
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