Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


turneg01

78 posts

Master Geek


#165860 23-Feb-2015 09:00
Send private message

Hi all

I will be living in Tauranga but connecting remotely to a computer in Auckland via VPN and Remote desktop connection. I will be working on it quite alot, 8.30am-5pm

Would i use alot of data doing this? How much data?

If i download a file would the data just be used from the Auckland computer connection?

Thanks

View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2
freitasm
BDFL - Memuneh
79309 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

  #1244588 23-Feb-2015 09:01
Send private message

Please use correct subforum when creating discussions.






Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSync 




gehenna
8520 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1244592 23-Feb-2015 09:09
Send private message

It's not a lot of data really.  All you're doing is refreshing an image on your screen, not actually transferring anything from the remote computer to your local computer.  You might end up using a few hundred MB a day if you're constantly connected.  If you're transferring files through the remote disk sharing then just add the size of those files to the estimates of 8 hours remote image refreshing.

  #1244593 23-Feb-2015 09:09
Send private message

if you use the computer in auckland to download the file from the net to its desktop then it would use the auckland internet connection

the only thing you are really doing with the Remote desktop is sending the screen picture and the keyboard/mouse/sound information. And the data used all depends on what you are doing on the computer.

but i would suspect it would use a bit, from playing round with remote desktop on my home network, even just using the mouse (not doing anything else) it uses a bit of data



timmmay
20589 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1244600 23-Feb-2015 09:25
Send private message

I can't recall exactly but it was less than I expected. Depends on what you do I guess.

littlehead
214 posts

Master Geek


  #1244604 23-Feb-2015 09:38
Send private message

I had to do a calculation on this after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake after our 40-50 office based staff all worked from home. It was around data usage and requirements for reimbursement/stipend etc. Using the Citrix ica protocol, rather than rdp, for 7.5 hours of work a day, including printing to a local printer that had to be downloaded, it worked out to no more than 40Mb a day. This was split between 88% download and 12% upload. Ica can be more efficient than rdp depending on the settings/circumstance, so you could double this and still get no more than 80Mb.

This usage was based on an "Administration" staff person, so someone potentially doing a lot of constant typing and more printing than average.

Interestingly when I was working out how much this would cost a home user at the time, on the most expensive home plan I could find in 2011, looking only at data and disregarding the cost of the connection, it worked out to only $0.48 per month.

networkn
Networkn
32358 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1244610 23-Feb-2015 09:45
Send private message

It will depend on a number of factors including screen resolution, the type of work (images take more bandwidth even over RDP), the smallish overhead of vpn etc. From memory the last lots of tests we did was 100MB a day average. Printing would be on top of that as the file actually does get downloaded to your computer if you use redirection.

Either way it's not significant. I use RDP for at least 6 hours a day 7 days a week and it's never been noticeable even when I had an 80GB plan. I have a 300GB plan now. 


deadlyllama
1264 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1244688 23-Feb-2015 11:54
Send private message

The obvious question is what will knowing how much data you will use change what you do?

If you copy a file you use data at both ends.  Anything you do will use data at both ends.  But as the other posters say, not that much in the scheme of things.

If you want peace of mind to avoid getting a large bill, several companies will sell you unlimited internet and a phone line for $85/mo, some with no long-term contract.  If you're choosing an internet plan, unlimited is quite affordable.  Certainly much cheaper than a daily commute :-)

 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

gzt

gzt
17159 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1244704 23-Feb-2015 12:12
Send private message

turneg01: If i download a file would the data just be used from the Auckland computer connection?

Yes. If you download a file from the internet or another network when using the auckanld computer, it will not use any data over your rdp or VPN.

gzt

gzt
17159 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1244708 23-Feb-2015 12:16
Send private message

turneg01: I will be working on it quite alot, 8.30am-5pm

Would i use alot of data doing this? How much data?

No idea, but as above if you are not editing a/v ; )

nathan
5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #1244715 23-Feb-2015 12:27
Send private message

How long is a piece of string as other commenters have mentioned

Some other things to consider is which version of RDP you are using and if you're doing multimon etc

The utilisation will be far less than it sounds like you expect.

Ragnor
8223 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1244988 23-Feb-2015 16:36
Send private message

How much bandwidth RDP uses depends on the settings used: color depth, resolution, themes on etc etc

On your home PC end you can check how many Bytes/sec the rdp client is using in Resource Monitor > Network, look for the process named mstsc.exe (Note: values show are in B not KB /s)

Example

Settings: 32bit color, 1920x1080, single screen/monitor, font smoothing on, desktop comp on, visual styles on, client win7, server 2008R2
- Idle/Minimized = nothing
- Browsing folders/files in Windows Explorer = <3KB/s
- Editing text/doc in Notepad = <5KB/s
- Using Qnap or Synology NAS admin in web browser = 10-40KB/s



nathan
5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #1244996 23-Feb-2015 16:46
Send private message

Ragnor: How much bandwidth RDP uses depends on the settings used: color depth, resolution, themes on etc etc

On your home PC end you can check how many Bytes/sec the rdp client is using in Resource Monitor > Network, look for the process named mstc.exe (Note: values show are in B not KB /s)

Example

Settings: 32bit color, 1920x1080, single screen/monitor, font smoothing on, desktop comp on, visual styles on, client win7, server 2008R2
- Idle/Minimized = nothing
- Browsing folders/files in Windows Explorer = <3KB/s
- Editing text/doc in Notepad = <5KB/s
- Using Qnap or Synology NAS admin in web browser = 10-40KB/s




would also be worth while saying which version of MSTSC you are using ;)

The Win7 inbox or something newer

networkn
Networkn
32358 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1244997 23-Feb-2015 16:47
Send private message

Would be really nice if on top if getting a kb/s beside each process, you could click and ask for a recorded total, so you could say start accounting, stop accounting and it would give you a total of bandwidth per process over that time frame. 


qyiet
454 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

  #1245000 23-Feb-2015 16:56
Send private message

Things that require entire screen redraws, or have looping animations are the worst for eating your bandwidth.

We had a couple of users try to use AutoCAD remotely, and fail miserably as their workflow as to zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on their mouse.   This caused a screen refresh for each zoom step.  Not fun, and using a lot of data.  (there was also an issue with how AutoCAD liked to draw it cursor).

Other things that will potentially slow your connection to a crawl are animated ads in webpages, and little animated characters like clippy/the search dog thing (thankfully now dead with winXP)

However our admin and accounting users have been using RDP and similar with low colour depth since win9x and two dialup modems with PC Anywhere was the only way to go.. so that was running on a MAX throughput of 33kbps.




Warning: reality may differ from above post

nathan
5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #1245001 23-Feb-2015 17:02
Send private message

networkn: Would be really nice if on top if getting a kb/s beside each process, you could click and ask for a recorded total, so you could say start accounting, stop accounting and it would give you a total of bandwidth per process over that time frame. 



perfmon

 1 | 2
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.