bandwidth usage while idle

[Vlad]

just wondering, has anybody monitered the bandwidth usage of an idle pc (spyware free of course) but with some standard things like a a messenger service and maybe skype and some programs that occasionally look for updates?

Seeing that some providers market 'cheap' 24/7 internet with a very low cap, how much surfing could one actually do before hittinng the limit

 

[Roman4604]

Watch out for Skype ... depending on your firewall & NAT setup ... if the Skype network can use you as a relay node, they will. Has the potential to use up a lot of your cap.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

I'm also wondering about leaving MSN on permanently, it displays little adds and has too check up on your friends stats, yet this shouldnt really use up much cap. Anyone know for shure?

In general I use DU Meter and most of the time there is infact no real network activity at all, with just MSN and program updates running you should get away with like 10mb a month or something pretty much neglectable, even in this country. That is just youre PC though; there are also retransmitted packets and other small annoyances that contribute to cap even though you dont see them on youre pc, the ISP counts them. Shouldnt be a problem either really though.
How people from another country would laugh if they had to see us all countng up the kb's and worring about bandwidth usage when we arent even using our connection!