help

[nitronelly]

could someone tell me what "uncapped" means in connection with broadband internet?could u make it as easy to understand as poss pls as i aint to hot in pc jargon dept :-(?many thanx.

[wideboy]

Put simply, it means that you don't have to worry how much you use the Internet, either in time or in the amount of data that you download etc. If you use the Internet a lot, this is what you should go for if you can get a decent price per month.

[fo3nix]

as you download from the internet (by downloading, i just mean getting stuff from the internet. so this includes reading your email, browsing website, anything. including things you'd normally call "downloading", like music), the service provider (ISP) keeps a track on how much you're getting.

capped services are those that once you have got a certain amount of data, either stop working or (more commonly) begin to charge you for the extra stuff you're downloading if you go over your monthly limit.

uncapped ones, or unlimited ones (you may have seen "unlimited broadband" from AOL), are those that have no limits, or no cap. you can get as much as you want from the internet, they don't mind.

if you only want the speed of broadband, and will probably just be browsing the web a bit, checking your email, then a capped plan would probably not interfere in your daily business. but if you use the internet a lot, and do a lot of downloading (music, games, photos, or just lots and lots of internet browsing), then the cap may affect you, and you'd be best going for one with no cap.

said that, as wideboy says, it's best to try and find an uncapped service anyway.

[nitronelly]

thanks 4 the help,yes do alot of browsin so may as stay like i am,was hoping to get it cheaper but dont look like i will,never mind a lol?

[fo3nix]

browsing alone, checking email etc. may not send you over your limit. you could try running a program like this:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Bandwidth-Too ls/Traffic-Counter.shtml

which monitors your network usage. run it all the time you're on the computer, for a whole month, to see what sort of data your get through each month. if its under one of the cheaper capped prices, and you've done a pretty average month of using the internet, then you may as well switch and pay less. your usage will not be affected.