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Having multiple websites open should have no impact on your internet bandwidth usage, unless those sites are actively uploading or downloading data.
My brother complains to my dad that his video games are slow because I have tabs open on my browser (formerly, Internet Explorer, now Firefox 4) and I am "chewing up the bandwidth". Usually, one is Facebook and others are miscellaneous blogs. I am not the most computer-savvy person, but I know from computer-savvy friends that bandwidth doesn't work that way. How can I explain to my dad that that's not how bandwidth works and therefore, I don't have to shut down tabs?
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Usually, that's not how bandwidth works. I'll certainly agree that it's extremely unlikely that tabs in your browser have anything to do with your brother's video game speed.
But (and there's always a but), there are scenarios where what you're doing in your browser may have an impact.
It's more likely that other things are happening on your system or your network.
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Most Web Pages and Bandwidth
Bandwidth is all about data transfer. Your internet connection can only transmit data at a certain rate, so if you're doing something, like playing a game, which requires continuous data transfer, other things which are also transferring data at the same time might impact it.
For the most part, once a web page has been shown in your browser, there's no more downloading going on. There are no file transfers, no ongoing internet activity - the page is just sitting there in your browser looking pretty, waiting for you to do something with it.
The act of browsing to a page and causing it to be displayed causes internet activity, but once it's displayed, that's over.
So, no, those multiple tabs of web pages aren't likely to be impacting anyone's gaming experience.
Some Web Pages and Bandwidth
Some web pages actually do maintain some small amount of data transfer while they're sitting there "doing nothing".
Facebook is actually a good example. Every so often, the web page re-connects to Facebook and looks for updates to whatever it is that you're displaying. It may then download updates to your wall, or just update the unread message count icon. Either way, the web page in the browser on your computer had to talk to the mothership - facebook.com - to ask it if there were any updates and get them if there were.
Other sites, mostly feature-laden sites and services, like Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, Twitter, and others, will all do things like this to some degree.
And to be clear, it's a very small amount of bandwidth in comparison and it's not going to impact anyone's gaming experience.
Obvious Web Pages and Bandwidth
You probably already realize this, but if the tabs that you have open are all downloading files, or if you are viewing YouTube videos or streaming online video from sites like Hulu or Netflix, then yes, those are continuous uses of enough bandwidth that they may very well impact other users on your network.
Naturally, if you're playing an online game at the same time, that would also have an impact.
But these are obvious: they're transferring large amounts of data continuously.
What Else Might Impact Others
The trick, the key, to understanding what might impact others on your network, like your brother playing an online game, is that the impact must be an ongoing data transfer of some sort.
As we've seen, just having a lot of browser tabs open doesn't do that.
But other things might.
What tends to impact me the most often is Windows Update.
I have several computers that are all set to automatically download updates when they become available. That typically qualifies as a "large ongoing data transfer", and I've seen it impact other things that I'm doing. (Same for my Mac and Linux machines that also have an automatic update facility enabled.)
I'm certainly not saying that what your brother is experiencing is due to Windows Update (which could be his machine or yours), but simply use that as an example that other things which you might not be aware of could be using bandwidth that you hadn't expected.
And yes, that could slow a game down.
Article C4805 - April 28, 2011 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
May 4, 2011 9:03 AM
Can the source of the bandwidth be an issue? I understand cable TV source can be slowed by the number of users on line. I use to notice this with my old cable provider, about the time kids got home from school or when late TV news was over the internet seemed to slow to a crawl. Where as DSL is based upon distance from the relay station. The further away the slower the speed. Don't know if this is an issue anymore.
May 6, 2011 8:44 AM
Can't he open his Task Manager and click on the Network tab and see if he is eating up network bandwidth? Also - I tried running a neat little program that created 2-D cars that tried to travel down roads, and they would evolve and be able to travel farther and farther. Simple little program that I thought wouldn't take much of my computer's resources. After running it for a few hours (to watch what they evolved into), my computer started really dragging. As soon as I got out of I-explorer, my system perked back up to normal. Some of those little programs can really bog down one's system if you keep tabs open. But check your Task Manager - that is what it is for, and it will show you if anything is happening. You can take a snapshot of the bandwidth used with 2 tabs open, and then show with many tabs open (but look back periodically to see if you have one of those "the longer I leave it open the more resources it takes" type of tabs open.
June 3, 2011 4:15 AM
First step would be to get your brother to run a connection speed test, such as speedtest.net, and log the results. Then you can all see if this is the root of the problem.
Having said that, Windows and Security software updates are essential functions which can slow down internet speed, but which should be left on if possible. However, a browser can easily be set to start up with all of your favourite sites loaded, so why not reach a deal with your brother to close it when you are not actually using it? Seems to be the diplomatic solution.
January 24, 2012 4:20 PM
Thanks for this article now my brother can stop anoying me about leaving tabs open...
October 17, 2012 6:38 AM
What if you open a streaming website, and it has already finished buffering. Like as in the bar is completed. Will it slow down the internet?
17-Oct-2012
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