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Bandwidth Violation

Slow Internet Due To Excessive Network Use

UITS measures each student’s amount of traffic on the internet, which is referred to as bandwidth.  Bandwidth usage is tracked by each student’s NetID. Each student is allotted 10GB of bandwidth per seven days.

If a student is using an excessive amount of bandwidth, the whole network is affected and is consequently slowed down.  Activities listed below may take up a large amount of bandwidth and if done in excess, will affect the network’s speed, which is why UITS limits it per student.

  • Videoconferencing
  • Downloading and uploading files
  • Video streaming (TV shows, movies etc)
  • Skype (Voice over IP programs)

Problem

UITS sends out automated emails for students once they approach 80% (8GB) of their allotted bandwidth. If you have gone over your allotted bandwidth, UITS will send you an email letting you know when it happened and how much you went over.

Your internet will be slowed down to dial-up speed (56Kbps) until you go back under 10GB of usage.

Solution

If users receive an email from UITS about their bandwidth violation, they will have to wait for their internet to be restored to its full speed. The process is automated so if you go under 10GB and then exceed the limit again you will be slowed down a second time.

If you believe you are not responsible for the violation, please email security@uconn.edu to inquire.

Prevention

The best way to prevent a violation is to monitor your bandwidth usage. You should frequently check the Bandwidth Monitor website (palmer.uits.uconn.edu/bandwidth/), if you are worried about surpassing your allotted 10GB of bandwidth. Once you are close to surpassing 10GB, you should limit your internet traffic.

Note:  If you have a personal router, you should limit the number of people using it and password protect it. The user who registered the router is responsible for all the used bandwidth.

Terms of Use

A student will receive a network access block for violating the University's terms of use. When a student registers a computer to the UConn network, he agrees to the following policies:

How do I receive more bandwidth?

Exceptions are only made for academic reasons. An example of this could be a project that requires the student to use videoconferencing (VoIP) to speak to another person over the internet.

A waiver (found in the basement of MSB) must be submitted to UITS detailing the academic work that needs to be done and the signature of the faculty or staff member assigning this work.

How can I monitor my bandwidth?

You can visit the Bandwidth Monitor website, which is updated hourly.  You will see how much bandwidth is allocated to you and your total traffic for the past 7 days.

The percent (%) used is the most important part, when it hits 80% you will be sent a warning email. If it reaches 100% or over then you will be sent an email and be slowed down.