Frequently Asked Questions - Internet Usage
1. How do I check my Internet usage?
Internet usage information is only available for students currently on campus with registered computers. You must access the website from your own computer. To view your information, visit www.cune.org and click the link for usage information. If you have registered multiple computers, you may access the same information from any of the computers, because usage information is summarized for all of the computers.
2. How do I read the usage information?
At the time this is written, a table is displayed with one row for each day of the week and a row for totals. The columns show the number of bytes received from the Internet by your computer and the number of bytes sent to the Internet by your computer. At a glance, you can see the amount of information transferred each day from and to the Internet, as well as the total amount used over the last 7 days. Note that if this is Wednesday morning, for example, the amounts for the Wednesday row include what was transferred so far this morning as well as what was transferred last Wednesday afternoon and evening. As the day progresses, the amounts from the previous Wednesday will be regenerated. If you have registered multiple computers, the display will include the amounts from all of the computers.
At the bottom of the table is a row showing the number of bytes from and to the Internet over the last 7 days for all student traffic combined. Below the table is the number of connections to the Internet that are closed because they have exhausted the amount for their Internet usage.
3. How current is the usage information?
There is a small delay from the time usage information is recorded and processed until the effect appears in the display. However, the usage information you see should be current to within 5 minutes or less of the time you view it. In any case, usage information is not updated more frequently than once a minute. You will need to refresh the window manually to see recent changes.
4. How much can I transfer to or from the Internet?
At the time this is written, Student Senate has approved an amount of 1GB over any 7-day period. You can also calculate the current amount from the percentages of your usage information. Student Senate might modify this amount from time to time in order to ensure a fair and satisfying experience for everyone. Note that this amount is for either incoming traffic or outgoing traffic, whichever reaches the total amount first. To give you an idea of how much information this is, 1MB of information is enough to hold 3 or 4 typical college textbooks without the pictures. 100MB, then, is roughly equivalent to 300 college textbooks.
5. When does my usage reset?
Internet usage is renewed on a continuous basis. The rate of renewal is dependent on your usage and is, therefore, different for everyone. A 7-day "rolling window" is used to manage your usage amounts. Whatever amount you use now is deducted from the total amount, and in exactly 7 days from now that amount is regenerated.
For example, assume that you use the Internet today from 1:00pm to 2:00pm, and in that time you use the entire amount available. After that, you would not be able to access the Internet for one week. The amount you used today would be returned in one week between 1:00pm and 2:00pm at the same rate you used it. If you use a smaller amount each day, it will be regenerated at the same rate one week from when you use it. You can always check your usage online to see the current status.
6. What happens when I have used the total amount?
The usage display will indicate that 100% (or a little more) has been used, and the status will be "Closed". Even if you use the total amount, you will still have access to all on-campus resources from your computer. This includes Concordia University's main website at www.cune.edu, email at www.cune.org, Banner, Blackboard and others. However, no resources on the Internet will be accessible from your computer. For example, email at Yahoo!, Hotmail or Gmail will not be available, Google searches will not be possible and so on. One solution in this case would be to use Concordia's computer labs to access Internet resources until usage amounts have been regenerated for your computer.
7. Why isn't 100% usage an even number?
Units of storage on a computer are usually calculated in base 2. Because of that, 100MB is actually more than 100,000,000 bytes. It is 100MB * 1024KB/MB * 1024B/KB = 104,857,600B. There is also a brief grace period when you reach your total amount, during which the totals can be exceeded by a small portion. In that situation, the display might indicate that you have used 101%.
8. Why is my Internet usage more than I expected?
There are several possible explanations. Using the Internet is like using appliances and other devices at home. There might be an air conditioner, dehumidifier, lights, oven, microwave, TV, stereo, computer and so on, all of which use electricity. While we are using these devices, we are unaware of how much electricity is being used. We simply enjoy the convenience and comfort they provide. At the end of the month, though, we might be surprised at the electric bill. In the same way, we are unaware of how much information is being transferred when we use the Internet. We might only notice that it seems slow or fast. Since this is a limited, shared resource, our choices also affect our neighbors.
The amount established by Student Senate is more than sufficient for classes and ordinary personal use (e.g., email and web pages). During normal operation, your computer will also access the Internet by itself for a variety of reasons. Many programs check for software updates, instant messenger programs check to see if your friends are online, weather or news "scrollers" retrieve the latest information to display, etc.
Very high usage (especially, sending information to the Internet) is generally the result of other activities, such as file sharing or an infected computer. By default, most file sharing software allows others to access shared files on your computer. That's like giving complete strangers permission to use your Internet resources. Theoretically, a group of determined people on the Internet could exhaust your whole week of resources in under 10 minutes.
Some questionable software that is installed from the Internet also installs "spyware" (see the FAQ at www.cune.org for more information). Uninstalling the original software does not uninstall the spyware. Your computer is fairly secure on Concordia's network, but if it was connected to the Internet elsewhere or if you read email outside of Concordia servers, your computer might have been infected with a virus (see the FAQ at www.cune.org for more information).
In either case, your computer might be under the control of a malicious program, or it might be receiving remote instructions from a hacker. If your computer is attempting to attack other computers on the Internet or relay large amounts of information, your Internet resources can be quickly exhausted.
Last but not least, if you suspect that others are using your computer without permission when you are not there, you might consider password protecting your computer. If you won't be using your computer for a while, consider turning it off. Your computer can't access the Internet if it isn't running.
9. Is it possible to add more bandwidth to the Internet?
Yes, it is simply a matter of money. Concordia University has installed a fiber optic connection to the Internet and has significantly increased its Internet bandwidth several times over the last couple of years to meet the growing demand. If students feel that even more bandwidth is required, Student Senate could ask for approval from the student body to be assessed for the additional cost. A couple of dollars a month per student would be enough to double the current bandwidth. After receiving approval, Student Senate would then send a request to the Administration to increase the bandwidth.