<center>![ethernet.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfCMuj9noN6VQi4pnz7kkwr7Gmfs8Am25c4vGYWQ9A53a/ethernet.png)</center>

I'm relatively new to Steemit and over the past week or more I've been having issues with bandwidth so I went searching for answers. I found several articles like this one: [Answering Common Questions: What is Bandwidth? Why does it keep me from doing anything?](https://steemit.com/steem-help/@sykochica/answering-common-questions-what-is-bandwidth-why-does-it-keep-me-from-doing-anything)

These articles are quite informative and please read that first and then come back here.

<center>![purple-blue-dot-divider.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUervdHJVUgpv62vfXGUcrn761RKVSX1o5egYEEM24KVc/purple-blue-dot-divider.png)</center>

Welcome back. The article answered a lot of questions but for me it missed some details, like, "does bandwidth regenerate?" Or "what do I really need to do to fix this?" Stop doing this and stop doing that wasn't helping me.

<center>![purple-blue-dot-divider.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUervdHJVUgpv62vfXGUcrn761RKVSX1o5egYEEM24KVc/purple-blue-dot-divider.png)</center>

In my quest for answers, the first thing I did was frequently visit https://steemd.com/ for my user name. A couple of things caught my eye on this page. Near the bottom of the left column there are two fields: _Bandwidth used bytes_ and _Bandwidth allowance bytes_.

As we have learned from the other post, the _bandwidth allowance_ fluctuates based on network traffic and your share of this is related to your Steem Power. Your bandwidth available is calculated as `available = allowance - used`and if used is greater than allowance you can actually go negative.

My next question was, "how is _bandwidth usage_ calculated?" As the other articles have mentioned, all actions that you perform on Steemit use bandwidth. However, I was noticing that this number was also changing so I started asking around.

I ended up on https://steemit.chat and I asked my questions in the #help channel. I got a very quick answer from @timcliff and it was quite simple:

> Your usage is averaged out over a 7 day period

So if you're having bandwidth issue, wait for 7 days and you should be back to normal. And always keep in mind that all of your actions on Steemit use bandwidth and the longer your post the more bandwidth will be used.

<center>![purple-blue-dot-divider.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUervdHJVUgpv62vfXGUcrn761RKVSX1o5egYEEM24KVc/purple-blue-dot-divider.png)</center>

### Q: How is bandwidth usage calculated?

Each action you perform on Steemit uses bandwidth. Your overall _bandwidth usage_ is averaged over a 7 day period. 

(Source: @timcliff)

### Q: Does adding a photo to a post add to my bandwith usage?

 No

(Source: @drakos)

<center>![purple-blue-dot-divider.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUervdHJVUgpv62vfXGUcrn761RKVSX1o5egYEEM24KVc/purple-blue-dot-divider.png)</center>

<center>
#### Please follow, upvote, and resteem if you found this helpful. Thanks!
</center>