Fears Windows 10 Will Blow Data Caps

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So the latest Windows 10 complaint is that Microsoft's new OS is blowing through people's data caps.

Consumer groups have slammed Microsoft for its policy of forced updates for Windows 10, which is hitting customers in remote locations with massive bill shocks by blowing out their data caps. EFA executive officer Jon Lawrence said EFA was "very concerned" about reports from internet users in remote locations whose bandwidth had been "completely swamped" by forced updates.
 
Windows 8+ has a feature for literally this exact situation. Set your connection as a metered connection. Done.
 
w4ffles said:
The real issue is the existence of data caps.
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Exactly. Data usage is going to increase, and continue to do so. There should be a push against them, but what are you going to do? Go without? There's no alternative.
 
It's understandable in Australia since each packet has to travel with a fox and chicken and you know the horrible logistics that come with that.

lol, what amazingly low caps:
Bluesky, the monopoly telco in the Cook Islands, charges $NZ49 ($43) a month for 3.5GB of data on its broadband service, plus 4 cents per megabyte thereafter. The service is mainly delivered by satellite through a partnership with 03b Networks.

By comparison, Telstra, Australia's largest telco, charges $35 a month for a 4GB data cap 4G mobile broadband plan, and an excess data charge of only 1 cent per megabyte. Telstra's basic plan on a faster fixed-line broadband service is $75 per month, but includes 100GB of data.
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That whole thing with Windows 7 downloading the instal junk for Windows 10 is soooo very annoying. I have two netbooks with 7 and they both insisted on downloading 10 even though I never did the "reserve a copy" thing (the tech preview of 10 turned me off from using it). So basically this motivated a pretty big change in how I do computing since college is ending for me soon anyway and I don't need MS Office which is the only reason why I even have Windows still. It isn't so much about data caps as it is about Microsoft going to Google levels of creeper with 10 that bugged me.

I've moved back to unnetworked Vista on my big laptop that I use for playing some games. I've got one netbook still left on 7, but the other is on Mint and has been for a while. The other one that was on 7 is now on Knoppix with its hard drive having been replaced with a 32GF compact flash card on a SATA adapter just like the Mint netbook. I might only keep running the last copy of Windows 7 until the end of this year and that'll be it.
 
" I have two netbooks with 7 and they both insisted on downloading 10 even though I never did the "reserve a copy" thing"

You must have reserved it for it to download. I reserved it and then cancelled it later and it never downloaded it.
 
Absolutely accurate. I have a 6 Gb data cap on my mobile phone. If I am using it as a hotspot at my cottage, I can easily blow the cap with updates. This was a bad plan from Day 1.
 
Microsoft and others sells these things as "Easy to Use, Just Install and Enjoy" gizmos, not the complex pieces of hardware and software that they really are. Automatic updates causing large data bills has been a problem at least since Apple released the first iphone. More than one person had thousand+ dollar phone bills when their iphone would auto wake and download updates while the owners were on vacation across a pond. Since this is a long known problem, Microsoft should have built a better set of initial setup screens to warn end users of these issues. Of course, that is contrary to the just install and enjoy warm and fuzzy Microsoft wants to sell.

Many gizmo users probably have no idea what 'metered' data is or why they should care. Auto updates and monetizing gizmo user's usage info at the end user's expense just makes the problem worse. I am guessing that the countdown to class action lawsuits has already started.
 
Hackers can turn your phone on remotely too and not just Apple. Security holes here, security holes there, security holes everywhere.
 
If you're smart enough to set up a hotspot with your phone you're smart enough to figure out you needed to set your connection to a metered one, you would have ran into this same issue with windows 8 which auto downloaded updates but didn't auto install them always.
 
Win8 has the option to turn off auto downloading updates just like Win7 so wtf you talking about? I am on 8.1 and check for updates manually only
 
I just thought of the data rate lulz that would happen when users learn they were charged crazy rates for the 10+ data collection dumps being sent to MS every night. Gold.

Semantics said:
If you're smart enough to set up a hotspot with your phone you're smart enough to figure out you needed to set your connection to a metered one,
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That's not really the same. One is running an app with defaults and maybe setting a password and the other is really digging deeper.
 
It just jammed up my htpc trying to force itself on me like a drunk hornballer. My tv broke and I just replaced it. Fired up the htpc for the first time since 6/7 and it worked fine until I rebooted for security updates for Win 7. Now all I can do is boot in safe mode. Might have to reimage the damn drive bc sys restore and startup repair are no joy. Awesome.
 
I can't get into the argument that downloading updates, once a month, are going to blow data caps. If you're security isn't worth a few hundred MB a month then you should probably just disconnect your machine from the internet now.

I expected this to be about the peer distribution of Windows Update. If you open up Windows update and go to Advanced > Change how updates are delivered, you'll see an option that, assuming I'm reading the description right, enables your machine to send and receive parts of updates to PCs on the internet.

Now that I can see getting pissed over...
 
rezerekted said:
" I have two netbooks with 7 and they both insisted on downloading 10 even though I never did the "reserve a copy" thing"

You must have reserved it for it to download. I reserved it and then cancelled it later and it never downloaded it.
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I didn't reserve a copy on either netbook so unless my cat is totally messing with my stuff when I'm not home, they each pulled down a copy without me saying they could.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
I didn't reserve a copy on either netbook so unless my cat is totally messing with my stuff when I'm not home, they each pulled down a copy without me saying they could.
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I think mine did the same. Had to do a sys restore and some pleading to get things working again, First thing I did was turn off updates.
 
glad i don't have a residential data cap

and if i tether my phone, i just set it as a metered connection
 
Same thing with Amazon Fire devices the TV ones, they suck up caps like nothing, i went through almost 80G in 3 days because Amazon like to cache what it THINKS you are going to watch next based on your browsing....

Good job companies, you operate in a country where there are some of the worst ISP's with Data caps, did you NOT do your research ahead of time of how this could affect some?
 
rezerekted said:
" I have two netbooks with 7 and they both insisted on downloading 10 even though I never did the "reserve a copy" thing"

You must have reserved it for it to download. I reserved it and then cancelled it later and it never downloaded it.
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The nag factor is legion. The most annoying is a pop-up reminder its available big enough it cannot be ignored and you have take time to dismiss it. I was getting that about every 10-20 minutes on one laptop.

I've committed a few thing but some things are going to be wait and see. So I've had to uninstall the offending update and hide it to make it stop.
 
I uninstalled it and hid it in WU but they installed it again anyway. Mine has never popped up anything, it just sits there in my system tray pissing me off that it is there. Microsoft claimed it was a critical update but all it really is is adware.
 
skiboysteve said:
Windows 8+ has a feature for literally this exact situation. Set your connection as a metered connection. Done.
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It is in Windows 10's conrol panel under devices:

2m7awiq.jpg
 
rezerekted said:
" I have two netbooks with 7 and they both insisted on downloading 10 even though I never did the "reserve a copy" thing"

You must have reserved it for it to download. I reserved it and then cancelled it later and it never downloaded it.
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every computer in my house has Pre Downloaded a hidden windows 10 preload waiting for me to reserve it or agree to install it in windows update (goto folder options and turn on show hidden files folders and you see a $windows.bt folder there in C: using about 5.4GB of sapce)

note each download is 3 to 4.3GB in size that i never gave it permission to preload it on any of my system (they are all in asking to reserve state or i hidden the GWX update in windows update)

RIP users who are using mobile Wifi hotspots as windows 10 Preload will rinse your data
 
Do not install or uninstall KB3035583. This is the update responsible for windows 10 install update on a pc.

I uninstalled Windows 10 from the 2 machines that I put it on. It just isn't worth having. Also, it's not any faster than Windows 7 except maybe the bootup.
 
and most people are not aware of the metered connection option (windows 7 does not have that option) and unlike windows 8 and higher (most windows updates don't blow your data cap, unless you have windows 8 with 800mb mega updates)

but people on capped connections should have windows update set to manual or notify

but even that's not enough as this update is a stealth preload as part of the GWX install (that is only 10mb) once installed it will without your permission download a 3GB preload of windows 10 in the background (so you would do all your updates say on wifi you go back to your hotspot/limited data internet and windows 10 preload would wipe your data out) and some people have Satellite broadband so 1-4gb of cap is quite normal
 
tikiman2012 said:
Do not install or uninstall KB3035583. This is the update responsible for windows 10 install update on a pc.

I uninstalled Windows 10 from the 2 machines that I put it on. It just isn't worth having. Also, it's not any faster than Windows 7 except maybe the bootup.
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The changes between Windows 7, 8.x and 10 are definitely worth having. You may not recognize that immediately...or ever if you've stubbornly clung to Windows 7 this long when everything that was wrong with 8.x (Metro interface and start menu being removed) was easy to fix. Granted instilling a new OS then having to "fix" it should've never been necessary.

Windows 10 is what Windows 8.x should've been + several more years of development + focus on universal apps across platforms (phone, tablet, PC) + Microsoft having a CEO that is actually focusing on some things that matter now. It's HUGE and it'll still be there when you figure that out, if you haven't converted to a Mac by then. ;)

Here's one of many articles you can find about why you should go from Windows 7 to Windows 10 - and you can poke fun at all the poor slobs who "suffered" with Windows 8.x which you totally skipped if you like. That I'll just soak up and not reply to - but "isn't worth having" I *had* to reply to. :D
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/o...ows-7-vs-window-10-comparison-review-3617974/
 
likeman said:
every computer in my house has Pre Downloaded a hidden windows 10 preload waiting for me to reserve it or agree to install it in windows update (goto folder options and turn on show hidden files folders and you see a $windows.bt folder there in C: using about 5.4GB of sapce)
Click to expand...

Just checked and I don't have it.
 
How is this even a thing? really people complaining about data caps... W...T...F...
 
Demon10000 said:
I can't get into the argument that downloading updates, once a month, are going to blow data caps. If you're security isn't worth a few hundred MB a month then you should probably just disconnect your machine from the internet now.

I expected this to be about the peer distribution of Windows Update. If you open up Windows update and go to Advanced > Change how updates are delivered, you'll see an option that, assuming I'm reading the description right, enables your machine to send and receive parts of updates to PCs on the internet.

Now that I can see getting pissed over...
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I stay up to date, and last month over 170 updates got pushed to my Win 8.1 machine.

It's not a few MB people are bitching about here.
 
LanceDiamond said:
+ focus on universal apps across platforms (phone, tablet, PC) + Microsoft having a CEO that is actually focusing on some things that matter now. It's HUGE and it'll still be there when you figure that out, if you haven't converted to a Mac by then. ;)
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OMG, the app store is suddenly fixed now? Forcing apps to function across Phones to PC's will really improve app creation. Boards of Directors and Magazine Writers are equally gullible.

Instead of giving a superficially common interface, the phone should have been a compliment to the PC. This is the Mac approach, and they hardly sell any phones at all, do they?
 
rezerekted said:
I uninstalled it and hid it in WU but they installed it again anyway. Mine has never popped up anything, it just sits there in my system tray pissing me off that it is there. Microsoft claimed it was a critical update but all it really is is adware.
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The update that activated the nag app on my pc's was a 'security update' but the nag app itself was pre-loaded a another generic update sometime prior.
 
jpm100 said:
Instead of giving a superficially common interface, the phone should have been a compliment to the PC. This is the Mac approach, and they hardly sell any phones at all, do they?
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It's not that simple. There is a legitimate market reason for the common app approach that has been demonstrated by the how well Windows RT devices did compared to Windows x86 devices, most notably the Surface RT line versus the Surface Pro line. Surface RT was a failure in large part because it didn't have x86 Windows compatibly. The Surface Pro line and other x86 Windows tablets and hybrids fared much better because they were x86 compatible and at least had some tablet and touch friendly software that didn't exist in the x86 world. And one big difference between the common UI approach between 8 and 10 is that UI is much better at adapting to the input and device at hand.
 
LanceDiamond said:
The changes between Windows 7, 8.x and 10 are definitely worth having. You may not recognize that immediately...or ever if you've stubbornly clung to Windows 7 this long when everything that was wrong with 8.x (Metro interface and start menu being removed) was easy to fix. Granted instilling a new OS then having to "fix" it should've never been necessary.

Windows 10 is what Windows 8.x should've been + several more years of development + focus on universal apps across platforms (phone, tablet, PC) + Microsoft having a CEO that is actually focusing on some things that matter now. It's HUGE and it'll still be there when you figure that out, if you haven't converted to a Mac by then. ;)

Here's one of many articles you can find about why you should go from Windows 7 to Windows 10 - and you can poke fun at all the poor slobs who "suffered" with Windows 8.x which you totally skipped if you like. That I'll just soak up and not reply to - but "isn't worth having" I *had* to reply to. :D
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/o...ows-7-vs-window-10-comparison-review-3617974/
Click to expand...

I don't have a need for Windows 10. Too much B.S. with the privacy concerns. Lack of Media Center. Mandatory updating. Automatic updating, the driver updating particularly, has broken many machines in the past and rendered components unusable until the offending driver update is tracked down. Lets be honest, a lot of Windows update drivers suck. I like to have more control. I don't like to be spied on by a company. I like Media Center. Honestly, I won't switch to Windows 10 until there is a Media Center option like Windows 8 has. I have 10 computers in my house. Okay 8 computers in the house with 2 garage computers. One for each garage. With the exception of the backup server, I like having Media Center on all of them.

I couldn't care less about windows phone integration. We don't have cell phones in my house. I hate cell phones. People annoy me with their cell phones.
 
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