Bitcoin Wallet Bandwidth Usage Issue And Its Solutions
By Lawrence
Some people who installed the standard Bitcoin wallet find that it is taking up a lot of bandwidth. In fact, it eats up so much bandwidth it flooded their internet connections. This problem is one of the major bottleneck issues that will affect the survival of Bitcoin going forward. For now, I will simply provide solutions to the affected users so that they can keep their Bitcoin wallet running.
Windows Version (Config File Method)
By changing (or adding) a configuration file to the Bitcoin wallet, you can limit the number of simultaneous connections it make to the Bitcoin network. Using this method you can be sure that your Bitcoin wallet always launches with the limitation imposed.
1. You need to close Bitcoin wallet (bitcoin-qt).
2. Open the folder Bitcoin inside your AppData directory. It is usually located inside your user data folder,
c:usersyournameappdataroamingbitcoin
One easy way to locate the AppData directory is to open either Internet Explorer or your Windows Explorer and type %appdata%bitcoin at the address bar. It should take you there at once.
3. Add the text file bitcoin.conf if it is not there yet.
4. Add the following line to the file
maxconnections=10
5. Now you can start your Bitcoin wallet again. It will use the new setting from now on.
Windows Version (Shortcut Method)
Some people prefer to keep the choice open to launch their bitcoin wallets with default settings.
In that case you can create a shortcut of the Bitcoin wallet application on your desktop and add a parameter to the shortcut to limit the number of connections.
1. Close the Bitcoin wallet
2. Create the Bitcoin wallet shortcut
To create shortcut on Windows, right-click on the application icon and drag it to the desktop. You will then see a popup menu giving you a bunch of options. One of them is create shortcut.
3. Right-click on the shortcut icon and choose properties
4. In the target field, add the following to the end of the line,
-maxconnections=10
5. Launching Bitcoin wallet through this shortcut icon will impose the limitation.
Summary
The default maximum connection setting of the Bitcoin wallet application is set to a very high number (greater than 100). If your internet connection is not one of those with high upload capacity, it can easily overwhelm your internet usage experience. Worst yet, some internet service providers would charge you for bandwidth usage beyond your plan limit.
You may have to experiment with the maxconnection setting to an acceptable value. I was told by a friend of mine whose uplink limit at 1 Mbps has to reduce the maxconnection setting to 5 to make it cooperative. If you let the Bitcoin wallet running at the default and that your internet connection can handle it, last time I checked it eats about 120G traffic a month. Thus, if your internet service has a total capacity limit you better check to make sure it will not use up all your allowance quickly.
You can support the Bitcoin movement and enjoy your internet service as-is without being penalized by the Bitcoin wallet’s design issues. It just takes a moment of your time to take care of the problem.
