Extension Technology and
Computer Services

University of Missouri-Columbia   Extension Technology and Computer Services—ETCS

February 2002
 Vol. 19, No. 1

A Technology Newsletter for Extension Specialists

Bandwidth?
By John Myers

Back in September of 1998, I wrote an InnerCircuits article about bandwidth.  In the article I explained the concept of “packet collisions”.  This condition occurs when there is so much traffic on your Internet line that your data collides with another person’s data and results in you having to wait.  Culprits of this situation mentioned in the article are Net radio and Pointcast.  Programs like this are constantly sending data to your computer, and using up the limited bandwidth that you share with everyone in your office.

Newer culprits to consuming bandwidth are programs like Napster and KaZaA.  These programs are used to download multimedia files to watch and listen.  These programs make your computers distribution points for others to download from.  Every file you download in these programs is accessible to all who also have the program.  With the small bandwidth that we have out in the counties, it is very easy for the programs to consume all the bandwidth.

A new player in bandwidth consumption is a plug-in to your web browser called ChainCast.  This plug-in is required by some radio stations (Clear 99 is one) to allow you to listen to their station over the internet.  ChainCast is a program that rebroadcasts the radio station to others on the internet.  We have seen the problem in multiple locations where only one person in the office is listening, but the outgoing bandwidth is entirely consumed, both 56Kb and 384Kb lines.

To find if you have this installed in your browser, first start IE.  Then click on “View” for IE 4 or “Tools” for IE 5 and newer, and then click on “Internet Options”.  On the “Internet Options” window in the “Temporary Internet files” section click on the “Settings” button.  Then click on the “View Objects” button.  If you see “CCMPGui Class”, then you have installed the ChainCast plug-in.  To remove this program, right click on “CCMPGui Class” under the Program File column and choose “remove”.

You have to remember that what you do and what you install on your machine can effect others in your office.  There is a lot of “neat” software out there on the internet, but it can affect you and everyone else in your office.  Make sure there’s a good reason to install software on your machine before you do it.

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