Usage and Bandwidth Limitations
To assist in finals preparation, ITS is providing all University of Texas at Austin students with 1 GB/week of bandwidth from May 3 to May 18, 2008.
As a user of the Public Network, you have a limited amount of external bandwidth that you may consume each week. If you upload or download too much data from the external Internet, the speed of your Public Network access will be limited. High external bandwidth usage can cause you to be moved to the slower second-class network for up to one week. Usage limits apply to off-campus bandwidth only. The amount of bandwidth available within the on campus network, UTnet, is quite large, and there are no restrictions to on-campus usage. For example, if you are using Blackboard, you are on campus and you can download/upload as much information as you need. External Internet usage limits are in place to ensure fair access for all users to the limited external bandwidth.
Students, faculty, staff, and official visitors each have a default amount of external bandwidth each week based on a number of factors (role, department or project needs, etc.).
Current allocations are shown in the table, below:
| Role | Allocation/Week |
|---|---|
| Students | 500 Megabytes |
| Faculty | 10 Gigabytes |
| Full-time Staff and Official Visitors | 2 Gigabytes |
| Part-time Staff | 1 Gigabyte |
You may purchase more bandwidth through the Public Network store in TXShop. Departments and divisions may also request an additional bandwidth allocation for certain projects.
What exactly is bandwidth? In general, bandwidth is a how much data is transmitted over the network over a given period of time – for instance, 10 megabits per second. In the context of the Public Network, bandwidth refers to the amount of data that you download to or transmit from your computer during a one-week period. Bandwidth usage is reset on your reset day.
How can I tell how much I have left? You may view the amount of external bandwidth you have available in one of three ways:
- Click Bandwidth in the Popup Window. This will show you whether you are in the 1st- or 2nd-Class service bracket.
- Click View Your Bandwidth Usage in the Manage Profile page (UT EID or Guest ID required).
- Visit the page directly at this URL: https://management.pna.utexas.edu/server/graph.cgi (UT EID or Guest ID required).
You must log in with your UT EID or Guest ID to access the bandwidth usage page.
How much external bandwidth you have available depends on how much you have used during the current week. Once you use your available external bandwidth, you will be moved to the slower 2nd-Class network.
When is my usage reset? Everyone has a reset day, the day when you receive your weekly bandwidth allowance. On your reset day, you are placed in the 1st Class service bracket. If your external bandwidth consumption exceeds your external bandwidth allocation for the week, you are moved to the 2nd-Class network, and your connection speed becomes more restricted. You can see your reset day by visiting the bandwidth page at https://management.pna.utexas.edu/server/graph.cgi (UT EID or Guest ID required).
Restrictions to external bandwidth consumption are in place to ensure that bandwidth is distributed equally among users of both the Public Network and UTnet, the campus backbone network.
How can I use less bandwidth? Please see the Information Technology Services page on file sharing for information on how to conserve bandwidth.
