If electrum doesn't download the blockchain, what data is it constantly transferring?
it's still getting transaction data from servers. That's why it knows when you received a transaction. 
Topic: Metered connection - how much data? (Read 945 times)
If electrum doesn't download the blockchain, what data is it constantly transferring?
So bitcoin-qt takes part in the BTC network in some way when it's online? I thought it was just a wallet. Does electrum do this too? Are there any BTC apps that are just a wallet?
bitcoin-qt is a wallet. it also runs a full node, meaning it hosts an entire copy of the blockchain and relays transactions. this supports the network and all that.
electrum is a lightweight client meaning you do not have to download the entire blockchain.
if you just want to have a wallet go to bitaddress.org and print one out, send your BTC there and don't worry about your bandwidth usage.
a few months ago i was uploading like crazy, like 5 GB if i just left the client open for a few hours. today i had my client running for most of the day and i'm up to 2 GB upload. less new users downloading the blockchain i guess.
How about viewing your internet connection for bytes sent & received?
I've switched to electrum which also doesn't need the full blockchain but I've noticed it still transfers data regularly. Does anyone know if there's a way to get a handle on the amount of data transferred? Stop it, limit it, or at least monitor it so I can see how much is being transferred overall?
Quote
sadly, 99 percent of people still don't understand how the internet works
Is this supposed to be me? It's BTC I don't understand. Once the client has established the wallet's balance, what data does it upload/download? 
sadly, 99 percent of people still don't understand how the internet works
So bitcoin-qt takes part in the BTC network in some way when it's online? I thought it was just a wallet. Does electrum do this too? Are there any BTC apps that are just a wallet?
Pretty sure the bottom right shows connections.
So bitcoin-qt takes part in the BTC network in some way when it's online? I thought it was just a wallet. Does electrum do this too? Are there any BTC apps that are just a wallet?
legendary
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Reverse engineer from time to time
It used to use less bandwidth, but obviously now that it has gained more attention, there are more transactions being relayed from and to and it may end up using quite a lot over time.
Not sure about the download (shouldn't be much) but if you accept incoming connections / have ports forwarded if you're connecting through NAT, you may see a lot of upload from your side.
How much data does Bitcoin-qt download over time once it has already downloaded the entire blockchain? I'm on a metered connection so I need to keep an eye on this.
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