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bandwidth usage for antivirus, vs, upgrade versions (excluding file backup)

  • 19 June 2012
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(1) I have an ISP that limits my monthly usage to 7.5 GB. What does WSA AV add to my usage per month, for my 3 PCs?
 
(2) Excluding cloud-based file backup, what can I expect the upgrade versions to require per month?
 
(3) If I upgrade to Complete, will adding my smartphone be like adding a 4th computer?
 
(4) Am I correct in assuming that badwidth required to mainatin my phone apply against the phone's data plan?
 
Thanks,
TC
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Best answer by Kit 19 June 2012, 18:06

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Userlevel 7
1: *Pulls out the calculator*  The AV portion of WSA uses an average of 650k per day per computer for cloud communications, with a general range of 300k to 1.5mb.  So you're looking at about 58.5MB per month across three computers for the AV portion.
 
2: Specifically excluding cloud backup/sync, nothing in Essentials will increase the bandwidth use.  The current password capability of Complete uses about 20mb of bandwidth to install (one-time) and a trivial amount of data to transfer an encryped and compressed password payload anytime the toolbar is logged into or a pasword is added or changed.  That payload is generally under 2KB.
 
3: Complete specifically covers three Windows PCs and three Android/iOS devices separately.  There is no AV capabiliy for iOS though, due to limitations in iOS itself.  So three WIndows PCs and one Android smart phone, for example, would count as three and one, not four.
 
4: Partially.  If you are connected to a WiFi network at any location that does not count against a monthly cap, then it doesn't.  The definition files that are downloaded for Android's AV capability are trivial.  About 100K for the initial download and then incrementals of about 5-20k a week on average.  If you opt in to WARN data (Sending information to us regarding the threats found on your device as well as a the generic count of non-threat objects), that will only ever send across WiFi.  iOS uses no AV, so that is moot on that, as it's Browser and Sync only (Browser has about a 300-500 byte overhead on HTTP connections for checking the safety prior).  Control data for the AV Lost Device Protection on Android uses about 3KB per day at most and only in extreme circumstances.
Thanks for the informative reply. -- TC
Userlevel 1
Wow! WRSA really uses very minimal amount of bandwidth. That is amazing!