Internet is over the limit

Hello, I have a limited internet account, so, we can use 20 Gig in 30/31 days.
now, i am using SL of 15 day's and i allready reached 18 Gig.

Is there a possiblility to make SL download less things, or simply not that clear.
okej, all way's to give me less internet traffic are good for me

If there is some good advice (not the advice to stop SL )
it's always welcome

thanks

There's a few things you can do:

* make sure your draw distance is 128m at the most, 96m might still work depending on where you go but lower than that is going to impact your view (Edit / Preferences - Graphics tab)

* don't listen to audio streams or watch video: a 128kbit audio stream consumes 56.25Mb/hour which might not seem like a whole lot but listening to one for just 3 hours every day will net you 5Gb at the end of the month. Video will be a multiple of that.

That said if you're at a live music event you can obviously turn on the music, but just use it sparingly.

* get SL stable: every relog will refetch everything around you so if you constantly crash you're wasting a whole lot of your limit

* don't have voice turned on all the time: use it when you need it, but don't run around with it always turned on. It's not quite as bad as a music stream but it'll still add up to a whole lot

* tp rather than fly: if you currently use a vehicle to get around the mainland you'll waste immense amounts of data transfer crossing sims. Just tp to your destination instead of wandering around.

* linked to the above: staying where you are will consume virtually nothing, each tp will be a big hit regardless of how long you stick around.

* exception to the above: badly scripted objects can send out a constant stream of object update (worst one I've seen was responsible for a constant 1Mbit/s). In Edit /Preferences - General and make sure "Show search panel in overlay bar" is unchecked which will give you the packet loss and bandwidth slider in the upper right corner.

Regularly keep an eye on the right bar which shows how much bandwidth SL is currently consuming. If you've been somewhere for a while it should be entirely black (if something or someone rezzes nearby it'll spike green/red but that's normal).

You can use the View / Statistics bar and expand network to see what is being downloaded: if it's all Object Updates then use Advanced / Show Updates to track down the offending object (a flutter or even a mild constant stream of red/blue cones is fine, it's when it's so bad it obscures the entire object or that part of the screen that it's causing problems).

If it's in your own house, take the offending item back to inventory; if it's elsewhere point it out to the owner that they have a badly scripted object (not likely to gain much sympathy in most cases) although in most cases you'll just have to avoid going there altogether.

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In short: check your draw distance, stay away from video altogether, only use music streams/voice when you absolutely need to, don't use vehicles and cut down on constant tp'ing and keep an eye on the bandwidth bar.

Finally: download a network monitoring proggie somewhere which will give you an idea of how much you're consuming with each session.

You certainly don't need to be rigid to the point where it impacts enjoying SL, but it will take some sacrifices.

This is not SL related but if you listen to internet radio stations, some of them will have a number of different possible streams to connect to with a big different in the bit rate. Pick the lowest one that sounds ok, which might well be the lowest one of the bunch.

If you have a tendency to download things like mp3 files and movie files, at the very least make sure you aren't downloading stuff that you don't even listen to or watch. I know some folks that do a good bit of that.

All, thanks for the information

Okej, I checked out everything, but i have nothing like drawdistence in my Graphics tap.
Only ratio, resolution and quality preformance

but, i went ot Network tap, and there i changed some things

I made Maximum bandwith to 50kbps

And i made my disck cache size to 1000

Now the trafic bar which shows how much bandwidth SL is currently consuming is always red. so i think i am using all the 50kbps

but if that is so, how long will be the time to reach 1gig with using 50kbps?
I don't know how i need to count this

thanks for the help, all other things where working very nice

realy good help

greetings

The latest version of the SL client software hides the custom controls unless you check the custom check box next to the quality and performance slider.

Note: Most of the time I run with draw distance at 36m, using an advanced setting. I spend most of my time inside buildings, so I dont need to see further than that. It does wonderful things for my rez time after teleporting and overall stability.

To use, first get the Advanced menu active using CTRL+ALT+ letter d key combination.
Click "Debug settings" to open a small popup window
Enter "renderfarclip" in the white entry box, then whatever number you want below that.

(renderfarclip is identical to draw distance, in the convoluted language of programmers)

When you cut draw distance in half, it cuts the amount of objects and textures to download by a factor of 4-8 (area or volume withing a certain distance from you). So it has a huge effect on download time (initial lag on teleport), and bandwidth (from updating as things change around you), and memory usage.

If you go outdoors, fly, or are taking scenic photos, you can always set it higher again temporarily.

Having bandwidth set at 50kbps is not going to help your situation. 50kbps is less that dialup (56kbps), what you are effectively doing is reducing the time it takes to download textures etc into your cache, and potentially, before you can move and do anything. Leave that at 250kbps and let the client throttle the connection as needed.

Turn off Particles, although they run clientside, you still have to download every texture used.

It is one of my 'bone of contentions' when builders etc use 1024x1024 textures on doorknobs etc, totally superflous and wastes bandwidth.

If you watch a movie that is looped, it replays from your cache, not download everytime, unless its played through a broadcaster. Stay away from places that have flipping textures. Active scripts such as welcome mats, visitor counters, and TIP JARS, they continously spam your connection with Listening Scripts.

Keep your Inventory as small as possible, clearing junk in regular intervals.

Get a copy of NetMonitor or whatever suits your Operating System (Windows, Mac, Lunix) so you can see where you are using lots of bandwidth.

Also, turn off any Automatci Updaters on your system, except your Anti-Virus. Then at the begining of every month of your useage cycle, updates programmes that actually need it.

If you are using Windows, in the Control Panel, Open the Firewall Icon, Click the Exceptions Tab, and uncheck all programmes in there, except SecondLife.exe and SLVoice.exe. Some maleware can set themselves unknowingly in the Exceptions profile, allowing them to control your connection and Suck Bandwidth.

Overall, don't allow this 'limitation' to spoil using SL, simply workround it. Maybe change your ISP.