Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, Prime, and more are popular streaming video services that many people love to enjoy the most in their free time. But, do you know that they all require a significant amount of internet bandwidth for smooth and high-definition video delivery?
What happens when you use too much bandwidth?
Streaming video
Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, Prime, and more are popular streaming video services that many people love to enjoy the most in their free time. But, do you know that they all require a significant amount of internet bandwidth for smooth and high-definition video delivery?
To stream video in 4K resolution, well, you need a steady internet connection with a speed of at least 25Mbps. That’s Netflix’s advice. Note that this requirement is for only 1 device. Even just streaming Netflix videos in HD resolution also consume up to 3000 MB of data per hour. What a huge number! That’s why it’s been said that streaming video is no 1 bandwidth-hogging activity.
Streaming video requires a significant amount of internet bandwidth for smooth and high-definition video delivery
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File sharing
Another bandwidth-hogging thing that you should know is using file-sharing systems, especially peer-to-peer file-sharing systems like BitTorrent. Many users often try to download and upload large files at the quickest rates possible, dominating their upstream and downstream simultaneously that, of course, results in bandwidth hogs.
Cloud applications
Well, applications like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, … must be something familiar to you, right? They are all very common cloud-based applications available on the internet these days.
Of course, cloud services provide users with great benefits but they can require a huge amount of network bandwidth, especially if not properly configured. That might result in bandwidth hogs. Some cloud storage services enable users to backup folders on their computers on remote servers automatically, treating the online storage as another folder on the hard drive. However, virus scanners can misinterpret this folder structure, downloading these file folders, again and again, to scan them during the regular virus scan schedule. Due to sending the same folders back and forth multiple times, the client will transfer a lot of data and the network bandwidth as well.
Bandwidth hogging: Online game downloads also take up a lot of data and bandwidth
Common bandwidth-hogging activities that you should know
Bandwidth hogs, well, have you ever suffered a bandwidth hog? Of course, no one of us wants to experience bandwidth hogs while using the internet. However, these are not something uncommon due to bandwidth-hogging applications and programs we use on a daily basis.
Bandwidth hogs, well, have you ever suffered a bandwidth hog?
Though there are various causes behind bandwidth hogs, using applications and programs that hog the bandwidth is a very common reason. Keeps reading on to know things that eat up a lot of your network bandwidth listed right below here.
Others things
Online games, video calling, and others might be also the causes of bandwidth hogs.
In terms of online gaming, internet speeds and bandwidths required to ensure a solid gaming experience depend a lot on different factors such as the type of game, the type of consoles, and more.
Common online games use between 40MB and 150MB of data per hour. That’s about playing the game. It’s worth noting that downloading the games tends to consume much, much more data than playing them since a lot of digital game downloads these days are massive in size. Some games are more than 100GB downloads. So, it’s best to keep that in mind to avoid potential bandwidth hogs, particularly in peak hours.
Not only are online games the potential causes behind bandwidth-hogging but also video callings. Do you know that a 30-minute call via Skype can use up to 650MB?
Conclusion
Here are some of the very common activities that might eat up a lot of your bandwidth and cause bandwidth hogging. Hope that the facts and information mentioned above here can help you limit bandwidth hogs while going online and engaging in your favorite online activities so that you will always smooth and enjoyable internet experience.
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