Why is BW data so important to some people?

[Hoggy]

I've been asking a question in one of the other sections about how to change things so bandwidth data isn't save to flash - or at least not as often as every 4 hours... And have yet to receive any kind of reply.

However when doing some searching, I've found some people requesting that it be saved to flash MORE often as well as people wanting it less often or directed to a network share.

So I'm curious. Why do some people want this information saved to flash so badly? If this type of information is so important to them that it should survive a power failure, why don't they have a UPS to keep their router and other devices from being affected by outages?

UPS's are so cheap these days that I just can't wrap my head around this. A decent model could go for a little as ~$65 US.

But the main thing I'm wondering is WHY this type of info is so important to them?

[buddee]

BW data is important to me because i use comcast cable for ISP and i have a 300 gigabyte cap (as do all comcast users) per month, me and my son play online games thru xbox360 and PS3, which can eat up some bandwidth (not to mention 4 to 5 other PC's in the house surfing and downloading etc), so its good for me to know when we are getting close to the cap because i have exceeded it before (very rare and only 2 times now), and got a nice little letter from comcast warning me not to continue or my line would be throttled as a first offense, second offense may mean no more service, so i love that this keeps up with bandwidth usage.

[Hoggy]

Ahh - ok, now I get it... YIKES! Remind me to avoid Comcast at ALL costs!
I'd hate to deal with a cap.

[DoesItMatter]

Unofficially - all ISP's have some sort of bandwidth limit, but you
may be getting lucky and not getting close, or your ISP has enough
low bandwidth users to offset your usage.

ISP's pay the major backbones for whatever bandwidth they use
per month. So they try and average the cost out per user.

So - for now, you may be good, but always keep in mind how much
bandwidth you use per month because one day, you may get a letter
warning you to lower your usage.

Also, the ISP is responsible for any data going through their network,
so huge amounts of data could be flagged as file sharing, etc. which
would make them responsible for allowing that data through.

Just be safe and try to keep it at reasonable limits.

[SirDrexl]

I only get 150GB, and that includes overhead so it's really more like 125GB or so.

Gargoyle is easier to check and is up to the minute, whereas the ISP's meter is a couple of days behind. I just have to remember to adjust for overhead. Even then, I managed to go over one month; I'm not sure if they start counting right on the first day of the month or what.

[zoeyku]

I'd hate to deal with a cap.