A "Metered Connection": A reason to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10?

In the thread below (page 4) Arthur says as per subject. True or false?
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...ownload-to-users’-PCs?p=16410799#post16410799
In my opinion a "Metered Connection" is a main reason to not upgrade to Windows 10.

1. In Windows 7 automatic updates can be disabled completely with one switch.

2. A "Metered Connection" is on the RAS-type connection (old USB modems installed on the COM port). Unfortunately most of new 3G devices use NDIS interface or other sort of emulated LAN adapters (HiLink by example). All stationary 3G routers are LAN devices, they use Ethernet cable or WiFi. Ethernet connection cannot be a "Metered Connection". Better situation is with WiFi, but it is not default option and not a global one - it is an individual connection settings. In other words, you have to make connection first, and then must go to the options and change settings. If you do it slow, Windows will manage to waste couple of megabytes from your 3G cap.

3. A "Metered Connection" do not stop automatic downloads (it is another lie), it only slows it down. refer to #4 where ambiguity of Microsoft terms is discussed.

4. For Windows Home editions it is all over, no more you can do. In Windows Pro further details of "Metered Connection" paranoia are uncovered by editing group policy or using 'netsh' utility. There are three options for the cost of connection:
- Unrestricted - when "Metered Connection" option is not available or is unticked
- Fixed (metered after cap limit) - a "Metered Connection" get this attribute, see below
- Variable (charge per byte) - an ambiguous term like above, but according to resources on the Internet it is supposed to stop stealing your data. Not entirely true, as it doesn't stop built-in apps from stealing your data. By example IE has a separate auto-update option, Edge and Defender has no such option at all. Defender is not using BITS, it has its own download service, it starts download few minutes after the first connection is established and will take 50-80MB data (if not crashing - see below). On LTE connection it takes few minutes. Blink! - your cap is finished.

Lets take closer look on definition of 'Fixed' cost. If you read other way, it is "unmetered before cap limit". And what is a cap limit? Microsoft doesn't specify it. I guess, it is dynamic, depends on the specific Microsoft's needs. In other way - no user control at all.

In my experience the first connection to the internet takes average 150-200MB with Windows Automatic Updates configured to "Notify for download" in the Group Policy editor. Windows Home users can only dream about this option. What steals so much?

- Windows Defender. It downloads definition files, installation crashes, it restart download (apparently each time in an hour period it finds a new version). In one case there were two unsuccessful updates in the updates history window before it got it right.

- Flash Player. Apple is right, it is a virus. I have this things disabled on both browsers. WHAT??? This dumb Windows downloads updates anyway.

- Automatic drivers downloads and updates. It use independent mechanism to the Windows update. It can be disabled in Control Panel. Those unaware for this option will experience extensive data usage and in addition very unpleasant symptons like graphics driver rollback to the Microsoft's versions and unexpected reboots.

- Beware when you search for unknown printer driver. It is unable to download supported HP printer list for manual selection, nor definition files for automatic selection. It downloads full driver package 150MB, don't remember exactly.

I didn't finish my findings due to the cap limit - end of the month.
This is a thread you can share your experience, or ask questions, you are welcome.

BTW, I had been told that I can stop BITS. Yes, for a while - it restarts after few minutes

EDIT: Added automatic drivers updates

From the first link found in my goog (never seen this website before, but one of hundreds describing metered connection in Win10):

How To Use Metered Network Connections in Windows 10 to Conserve Data

...

Such is the dark reality of connections with data caps, which is where metered connections come into play on Windows 10. Of course, if you have unlimited internet access, then Windows 10 will use as much data as needed. But for data-capped connections, setting a metered connection allows you to scale back data usage to give you some much needed peace of mind.

...

What Does a Metered Connection Actually Do?

When you set a network connection as metered, it scales back some components of Windows to prevent them from using excessive amounts of data. More specifically, it changes the following:
•Disables automatic downloads of Windows Updates. The only updates that will be downloaded are the priority updates. This way, you have more control over updates and the amount of data they use.
•Disables downloading of app updates. Apps downloaded from the Windows Store will not update in the background, but desktop apps will download updates normally.
•Disables peer-to-peer uploading of updates. By default, these are enabled to share updates with other PCs over the internet.
•Live tiles will not update.
•Offline files may not sync automatically. This mainly pertains to OneDrive.
•Other system behaviors might change to reduce data usage—whether it's for Windows or apps.

Click to expand...

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Arthur said:

From the first link found in my goog (never seen this website before, but one of hundreds describing metered connection in Win10):

Click to expand...

And your own link will tell you that you cannot set the ethernet port as a metered connection. So if you have low cap adsl, 3g/lte router with expensive capped data, iburst etc connected via your ethernet port you are schit out of luck.

So how exactly is this metered connection 'feature' helping those that are on actual metered connections?