I'm sure many of you have found out the
hard way that bandwidth even existed.

You know the error message:
"...bandwidth limit exceeded. Please wait to transact or power up STEEM."

You have no idea how often I hear the questions on:

• What's this bandwidth thing? Why can't I post, vote, claim rewards...basically anything?
• How long until the bandwidth is available again?
• Why is this even happening? Can't they just do away with this bandwidth thing?
• What can be done to stop this from happening? Is there anything I can do?

So, I'm going to go through every one of these questions...right here...right now...with you! Now everybody gets to know what it's like to be a moderator in Steemit Chat's General Channel for a little while. Lol!

Q: What's this bandwidth thing? Why can't I post, vote, claim rewards...basically anything?

Think of this like your internet. You have the cheapest packet at only $20/month. So when you have 3 televisions streaming, 2 gaming computers and a tablet all using your internet at the same time...things may start to get choppy, need to buffer, lag, etc.

Steemit's bandwidth is like this in that there is only so much that can be 'using the blockchain' at one time. Obviously, more active users, means more demand for bandwidth. Now, I hear you all saying, "Ok, great...but why is it keeping me from posting and voting?"

This is because similar to how having more Steem Power makes your votes worth more...it also means you get allocated more bandwidth to use. (I.E. Paying for a better internet package.) Unfortunately, this means people that are new and have little Steem Power, have the least available to them.

Now, not long ago Steemit's daily user counts jumped almost doubled, as you can see here (check Hive account@penguinpablo's post HERE to more Steemit statistics.) This of course means...more people to spread the bandwidth across.

Sure, some of these may be bots or accounts that just sit there and don't do much. But the daily post count had the same jump in numbers...which also means more activity.

OK, OK..this all is great...but WHY CAN'T I POST?!??!!

The reason that you can't post is two fold:

1. Every action we take uses part of our bandwidth. Some actions use more than others. If you don't have enough (which you can check the % at steemd.com/@YourSteemitName) then you can't perform that action.
   
2. How much Maximum bandwidth you have is effected by how many people are actively using the blockchain at once. So during "High Traffic" times...we all have a much lower Max bandwidth. (Which has seemed to be during the daytime in the US.)

The actions we do (posting, editing, commenting, voting, powering up, etc) each use differing amounts of bandwidth. This is actually measure in Bytes (you know..like your movie file is 4GB...that kinda byte). So posts that are large DO use up MORE bandwidth than say, a meme. So trying to do many big posts, comments, or following hundreds of people....can and will quickly use up your bandwidth.

So Make GOOD USE of this Precious Resource!!

Q: How long until the bandwidth is available again?

**SHORT ANSWER: I can't give you an exact time. All I can say is give it some hours. (Again, peak usage time seems to be daytime in the US.)

Your bandwidth does regenerate over time, but remember that this is a percentage. So when it's a peak usage time and you have a very low Max Bandwidth...it can take a while for enough 'bytes' to build up. Often these users are really instead waiting for the 'site traffic' to slow down...again giving us all more Max Bandwidth.

Q: Why is this even happening? Can't they just do away with this bandwidth thing?

This system is to prevent a bunch of new accounts, especially bot armies, from being able to come onto Steemit and clog it up with worthless posts (cough...Fakebook). Though it does provide more and more bandwidth to you as your Steem Power goes up. In fact, once you get to a certain level...you don't even notice it even exists.

Q: What can be done to stop this from happening? Is there anything I can do?

There are some things you can do to reduce your bandwidth problems.

• Try to find and use 'off peak' hours (i.e. not daytime in the US)
• Build up your Steem Power
  • Power up your Steem Dollars instead of cashing them out
  • Try to win or buy Steem Power delegation
• Don't edit your posts
• Limit following people
• Limit resteeming

Choose your actions WISELY!!!

Is it really worth following 10,000 people in a day? Did I really have to publish 12 posts, each with a single photo in them today? Or 1000 comments all saying "Nice Post, Follow Me"?

As a new user, among a surge or other new users...plan out what actions are most important for you. Get's your posts published first. Maybe instead of posting 5 ok things, you spend the extra time and make 2-3 fantastic things. After all...you're trying to get yourself noticed, right?

So Why NOT Choose to be fantastic?!?!

Please Follow, Upvote and Resteem if you found this Helpful.

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Image Sources:
Fiber Optic Cable
Penguin Pablo's Post