Why You Might Want to Use a Metered Connection
There are a number of reasons why you might want to use a metered connection. The main one is if your internet provider limits the amount of data that you’re able to use, or if you’re charged extra for exceeding the limit. Enabling a metered connection will help stop your data from being wasted on things you don’t need or want.
A metered connection can also be handy if you have a slow internet connection because you’ll be able to stop Windows using your bandwidth on some background tasks, allowing it to focus on what’s necessary.
Finally, you can enable a metered connection if you simply want to take control over some of your system’s connected features, like forced Windows updates, which we’ll detail below.
Differences When Using a Metered Connection
With a metered connection, Windows 10 won’t automatically download updates, instead of giving you a Download button which you can click when you want to get them. However, note that the Creators Update now allows Microsoft to push through critical security updates regardless of your settings.
You might notice that some of your apps don’t function fully on a metered connection, probably because they’ve stopped automatically downloading updates. You’ll usually be able to update them manually from their settings if you want to push something through. This only applies to apps you’ve downloaded from the Windows Store, not traditional desktop programs.
Other things that’ll be different are that live tiles on your Start menu may stop updating and offline files might not sync automatically to services like OneDrive. Microsoft is non-committal on these last two, so you might find that they function like normal despite being on a metered connection.
How to Set Up a Metered Connection
Press Windows key + I to open Settings and select Network & Internet. In the left-hand menu, select either Wi-Fi or Ethernet, depending on which network connection you wish to set to metered.
If you selected Wi-Fi, click Manage known networks. Now, whether you selected Wi-Fi or Ethernet, select your connection from the list and then switch Set as metered connection to On.
You’ll need to repeat the above for every network connection that you wish to set as metered. However, Windows will remember your selection for each and you won’t need to change it each time you connect.
Ethernet for the Anniversary Update
If you don’t yet have the Creators Update, then you can make an edit in the registry to have a metered Ethernet connection. Be aware that missteps in the registry can cause problems, so follow these instructions closely.
Press Windows key + R to open Run, input regedit, and click OK. With the registry open, copy and paste the following path into the address bar at the top and press Enter:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\DefaultMediaCostRight-click the DefaultMediaCost folder and click Permissions… and then Advanced. Next to TrustedInstaller, click Change.
In the text box, type Administrators, click Check Names, then OK. Now tick Replace owner on sub containers and objects. Click OK.
Now click the Administrators group and for the permissions, tick Allow for Full Control. Click OK.
In the right-hand pane, double-click Ethernet. Change the Value data to 2, which means a metered connection. Click OK. If you ever want to go back to a standard connection, change this to a 1.
