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I have an issue. I need to connect to my office VPN. I have a USB dongle which permits 2GB data usage per month. I need to know if this amount of data is sufficient to use VPN.

Restating my question..

Whether the data transfer speeds of my dongle are affected when we connect to VPN or not?

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More info is needed. Depends on many factors. How often, how long and what are you using teh VPN to acomplish? – Dave M Aug 20 '12 at 15:49
I need it just for one night. I am using CISCO VPN, i need to login remote servers using mstsc. – imvarunkmr Aug 20 '12 at 15:53
Depending on how much data you plan to transfer, it's possible for a remote desktop connection to choke down that much data in one night. Sound, high quality color depth, large screen resolution, tracking mouse movement, and frequent copy-paste can contribute to data usage. The VPN adds a small overhead due to the encryption. Anyway, you should have some way to monitor your data usage; if not, you can either use it and risk going over, or you can not use it and do without. I'm voting to close this as not constructive because it's like saying "can I survive for a week on a cheeseburger?". – somequixotic Aug 20 '12 at 18:31

closed as not constructive by Nifle, Indrek, Randolph West, soandos, somequixotic Aug 20 '12 at 18:31

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1 Answer

This will depend on the data being exchanged. If transferring files then the size will tell you if you can use this dongle. If using applications, it will depend on the application.

In any case, you can view the statistics of the VPN connection as you use it to determine how much data is being exchanged.

Give it a try and monitor the connection.

300MB in 4 minutes seems very high. Given your concern over use, make sure you have any background apps/servcies that might use bandwidth are off. Things like Skype and any torrent should be disabled. Auto updates for Windows or AV also.

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I tried it already. Right now I am using a wifi connection and a utility to monitor the traffic. It just showed 300 mb in 4 minutes, This has created confusions in my mind – imvarunkmr Aug 20 '12 at 16:35
any recommended utility from ur side – imvarunkmr Aug 20 '12 at 16:36
It seems as if the utility that i was using was monitoring wifi router to which i was connected. – imvarunkmr Aug 20 '12 at 16:55

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