How to use less bandwidth on steemit to avoid the bandwidth limitation problem

in #steem-help7 years ago (edited)

Since a lot of people are running into this problem, I thought I might help out and mention some ways you can avoid running into it yourself, or prevent running into it again or as often, etc.


This problem mostly applies to people with very little SP, where breaking these guidelines can get your account temporarily limited, so it may be worth your time to read.

bandwidthlimitation.png


So here is a list of things that can keep your bandwidth usage small:

❖ #1 - avoid editing a post multiple times
my testing shows this uses about the same bandwidth as if you made another post of the same size as the one you're editing. Do yourself a favor and proof read before posting, and if you must edit later try to do it all at once. Editing out one typo at a time 10 times in a row is probably the best way to destroy your remaining bandwidth.

❖ #2 - avoid editing a comment multiple times
this is basically the same as #1, since steem treats comments roughly the same as normal posts they also have the same behavior with bandwidth usage during edits, so again you should try to edit comments as few times as possible.

❖ #3 - try not to vote too much in a single day
I break this rule all the time, but if you have very little SP and have been dishing out $0.00 votes 100 times a day chances are you're inching closer to that bandwidth limit without even knowing it, so try cutting that number in half until your votes are worth a little bit more, it might even help your curation rewards to be more critical of what you vote on.

❖ #4 - don't follow more people than you can keep up with
If you're brand new and start by following a thousand people the odds of you being able to interact with any of them after are very small because you used all your bandwidth on the follows. If you can't justify voting a hundred times per day, you should also wait to follow a thousand people or more. Once you have more SP you can support more people, be patient until then.

❖ #5 - don't claim rewards every time you have 0.001SP pending
I know it's tempting to hit claim every time you see that box, but each claim also takes some bandwidth to do, so if more are coming just distract yourself for a while and claim rewards once or twice a day at most to cut down on the number of transactions.

❖ #6 - don't resteem everything you see, your followers don't like that anyway
My testing shows a resteem uses a large amount of bandwidth, and as a general rule you shouldn't resteem more things than what someone might post in a day. 4 resteems in a day is plenty to expect your followers to read, don't go into the double digits resteeming 20 posts a day trying to get a curation bonus or you might find yourself hitting the bandwidth limit.

❖ #7 - don't add giant signatures to your posts or comments
Some people like to add some huge premade signature area with links and pictures and their life story along with everything else they can think of for you to do to help them. My version of this is very small, because this signature thing also has the problem of raising the size of each post you make. Double trouble if you have a giant signature and go to edit the post a few times later.

❖ #8 - only comment when you actually have something to say
How many times have you seen spammy comments on people's blog where they clearly didn't read the post but comment anyway? I understand this is basically TLDR.com , but there's a difference between glossing over something and talking about the topic in general, and simply having nothing to say. This is realistically the best example of something the bandwidth limit exists to prevent, so don't go around to every post you see saying something generic in hopes of getting an upvote, people don't support that anyway, you're much better off commenting on topics where you actually have something to say!

❖ #9 - POWER UP
Once you hit the bandwidth limit, you can't do this and have to wait for recharge, so stay ahead of the curve and power up each time you're able. If you win some contest or have a pile of SBD laying around, take at least half and put it into SP, there's already a lot of reasons to do it and avoiding bandwidth limitation is just an icing on the cake.

Hope this helps you guys, if there was something you didn't already know in the list or you think it will help your followers consider using some of that bandwidth you got to RESTEEM ^_-


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thanks for reading


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It's funny how all one's questions seem to almost answer themselves here on this platform. Thank you for the time you invested in making this post. This really is some great helpful information for the newcomers such as myself.

Keep up the good work!

Seriously not trolling or nothing lol but the easiest way is to switch plans/ carriers. Every carrier these days randomly offers unlimitted plans when they are looking for more customers. If you get in during one of those deals, then ur locked in at that price and that data cap. This works even if ur already with that carrier. Just catch the deals and call in telling them u wanna change ur plan to that, or else ur gonna switch lol. It has worked so well for me and a few fam members on tmobile and 3 friends on verizon.

right, but the problem is tied to the platform where it limits bandwidth usage on the steem blockchain based on how much SP you have, so that new accounts can't come in spamming and crash everyone out of using steemit. It's also a way to ensure sybil/ddos attacks are pretty much useless here, but the side effect is that sometimes normal people run into the limitations, so these tips are given to help minnows avoid that.

Just to reiterate: you could have a 1tb/sec connection with unlimited data and still run into this problem after using a few mb of bandwidth on the blockchain, so you either need more SP or an understanding of how it works in order to avoid the problem, at least until it gets changed some more, which is another story.

Ahh i see now. Ya my bad im pretty newbish still. So is that what that number with the tiny arrow is for? Cuz it keeps going down the more I post. When would it get renewed?

A Strong women looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink
Cheer for world cup final for Team INDIA @aaravm and upvote post

ahaaa...now i understood it..i was thinking the same as @thefeetofpete and i was asking myself "wait,i have unlimited internet and high speed...why should i suffer?"..lol...great suggestion most of us didn't know that.

One way of saving a tiny bit of bandwidth that wasn't mentioned is to use Markdown instead of HTML. Making a level 2 header with markdown takes 3 characters, while it takes 8 with HTML for instance.

Thank you! I'm brand new and been frustratedly by the bandwidth thing. I also really knew nothing about how SBD and SP worked. I wish all of his was more intuitive. However, if it were too easy, there'd probably be 10x more spam and useless content. Great advice. Glad I followed you!

Very good insight! Sharing this with my crowd!

thank you ^_^

A Strong women looks a challenge in the eye and gives it a wink
Cheer for world cup final for Team INDIA @aaravm and upvote post

Nice ;)

@alphacore
Oh ... thank you my friend
I 'm new in this world , and i have just encountered this problem a few minute ago , and I did not understand why
It's much clear now ;)
Thanks
@geemo-from-paris

I'm glad to help ^_^

great post!

Upvoted and RESTEEMED!

thank you ^_^

Thank you for the post, I've experienced it yesterday and I have not found the answer yet, I was wondering why this could happen,
It is such a coincidence
you showed up to post about the issue,
so my curiosity has been answered,
this post is very useful for me especially and for Other beginners in general so they can avoid this problem, thanks again.
@mahdie