How to Set Network as Metered Connection in Windows 10?

What is Metered Network Connection?

In today’s age, everyone is connected and everyone is plugged in. Most people have some form of social media, or look online for information, in one form or another. What do we have to thank for this? – the internet. Now, typically, when you get your internet connection, whether it be for personal or business use, the connection will likely be capped – with the only exception being an unlimited connection. This means that, you can only go up to a certain amount of downloaded data before the connection is either shaped, disconnected or extended for extra cost.

This is referred as metered connection which essentially will restrict the ability to use internet based on the data download limit. It’s important to note that all data that is exchanged is essentially downloaded, as this is quite often forgotten or misunderstood. This is why all data plans are based off of downloaded data, as it is basically the only trackable thing about internet surfing that can be metered. For example, If you visit a website, the computer will automatically download all the related data for that website, so that it can display it for you on the screen.

The non-metered connection is not necessarily be an unlimited plan. It is simply not metered or measured in your device but it can still be a restricted metered plan.

How to Set Network as Metered Connection?

Data usage can be directly metered so that you pay for however much data is used. However, there is a function in Windows 10 that can help you out with your capped or metered connection.

To start with, open the start menu, either by pressing the Windows button, or by simply clicking it. Navigate to “Settings” menu and then to “Network & Internet” option.

It should open a window that looks something like below. Under “Status” section, you will see the current network connection status of your PC. You can see whether the PC is connected through Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Also you will see an indication, you can change the connection to metered if you have a limited internet plan.

From this point, you’ll need to click on the “Change Connection Properties”, which will then bring up further settings for the network adapter.  You can also click on the Wi-Fi or Ethernet section in the right sidebar and the double click on the active internet connection you want to change to metered. The window should look like below.

From here all you need to do is click the “Set as metered connection” to switch on the “Metered Connection”. Now that you have successfully changed your active network connection to a metered one. Remember, you have only changed the active connection – when you switch the connection different network or change from Wi-Fi to Ethernet then the connection will be changed to unmetered again.

Windows 10 by default uses metered connection only for mobile data connection. For all other ways of connections like Wi-Fi, Ethernet and hotspot, by default non-metered connection is used. You should change each network separately to metered connection if you want. Once set, Windows 10 will remember the settings and keep it as default for further usage.

Impact of Metered Network Connection

The metered connection should inform you of how much data you are using. It will also limit some applications that use a lot of data regularly. This will drastically help to reduce internet costs if you have a metered connection with your internet service provider, as you will more easily be able to keep an eye on it. You can disable this at any time by going through the same process.

On other hand, metered connection will affect some of the apps especially on data usage aspect. For example, the Windows 10 update which normally runs automatically will not run with the metered connection. People also turns on the metered connection just to disable the automatic Windows 10 update.

Troubleshooting Metered Connection

If you are having problems with the metering, it is recommended that you check your active and passive usages of the internet connection. If nothing is found during this search it is recommended that you contact your internet service provider. Problems with it could include it not functioning correctly, the amount metered on your computer not matching up with the amount that you are being billed for as well as certain apps not functioning correctly due to the lack of internet availability.