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Bandwidth Policy

Bandwidth is the communication capacity of an electronic pathway, such as a communication pipeline. Data flows quickly and smoothly when the amount of traffic travelling in the pipe is small relative to the size of the pipe. When the amount of traffic exceeds the capacity of the pipe, the speed at which data travels begins to drop.

Imagine the network wires as pipes - the larger the pipes, the more data can pass through.

While using the Internet, you are using bandwidth to transfer data. Bandwidth is counted for both uploads and downloads. Abusing bandwidth refers to an individual taking up a larger share of the pipe than they should.

When students on the residence hall network are sharing lots of music and movie files, the speed of the network decreases for everyone.

When bandwidth use rises, so do bandwidth costs. Increasing costs can lead to higher housing contract fees. Many people exceed bandwidth quotas because they are sharing copyrighted material without permission. Copyright violation is against the law and you may be prosecuted.

Because all residents in the University Housing share the same limited supply of bandwidth, in our Resnet Usage Guidelines we limit the amount of bandwidth any one person can use to 2GB outgoing per day (measured from midnight to midnight).

Privacy

Residents of the halls are entitled to privacy in their use of information resources. At ITS, we take the privacy of our residents very seriously. ITS monitors the quantity of your usage, not the content of your usage. We monitor bandwidth strictly to protect the quality of the network service.

Enforcement Procedures

If you exceed the 2GB limit on bandwidth usage, your network access will be limited to on-campus networks only for a period of 3 days.

If you want to know the exact amount of traffic your machine generated you can contact the Help Desk by going to this webpage.

After 3 days have passed your connection will be restored automatically.

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ITS Support Center
ITS-Kerr Hall room 60
1156 High St., Santa Cruz, California 95064