When your Internet operator charges you based on the amount of data consumed by you, such connections are called used Metered Connections. They may offer you a fixed rate up to a certain data usage figure and after that, they either charge you extra or reduce your connection speed.
Metered Connection is one of the many new features introduced in Windows. This feature is quite helpful in limiting the data usage so that you don’t get shocked while billing the data consumed payments. Many operators have provided the plan which can be supposed as Metered Connection. Especially talking about 4G and 5G unlimited plans, after a certain limit, you’ll observe that your bandwidth is reduced to a lower rate; this is generally known as the FUP limit.
Theoretically, Metered Connection is the condition when your operator charges you with direct proportionality of the amount of data used so far. As soon as the data is consumed and bypasses the predefined limit, the operator charges you extra or reduces the Internet speed. If you have a Metered Internet Connection, setting your network connection to metered in Windows can help reduce the amount of data you send and receive.
Like it was in Windows 8.1, if you set your Windows 11/10 network connection to Metered Connection, you will be able to save data costs, as some data usage activities get curtailed. Let us see how to set Wi-Fi or a wireless connection as a metered connection in Windows 11/10.
Setting your network connection to ‘Metered’, can also stop Windows 11/10 from automatically downloading the Updates. You can do it as follows – Settings app > Network & Internet > WiFi > Advanced options. Move the slider to On position for Set as metered connection.
Set your network connection to Metered in Windows 11
If you enable Metered Connection on a network, your Windows 11 computer won’t automatically download the update when connected to that particular network. Follow the given steps to do the same.
- Open Settings from the Start Menu.
- Click Network & Internet > Properties.
- Now use the toggle to enable Metered connection.
Now, your computer will download updated automatically when connected to that network.
You can also use CMD to set metered Connection in Windows 11/10
You can also use the Command Prompt to set a metered connection. TechNet has listed the commands that can help us here.
To see the list of Wi-Fi profiles on your computer, copy-paste the following command and hit Enter:
netsh wlan show profiles
Note down the name of the Wi-Fi connection here which you wish to set as a metered connection. Here I am using the example of Airtel.
Now type the following in the CMD windows, replacing Airtel-WRTR301GN-8897_1 name with your connections name, and hit Enter:
netsh wlan show profile name="Airtel-WRTR301GN-8897_1"
This will show the details of the selected connection.
Scroll down till you see Cost settings. Here against Cost, you see Unrestricted in my case. This means that the connection is un-metered or unlimited. To change it to metered, you have to set it to Fixed. Use the following command and hit Enter:
netsh wlan set profileparameter name="Airtel-WRTR301GN-8897_1" cost=Fixed
You will see a command executed successfully message and the connection will be set as a metered connection.
You can also make this work for mobile data broadband plans. You have to just replace wlan with wbn in the above-mentioned commands. This will also work if you are tethered to your mobile phone’s Wi-Fi hotspot.
Read: How to Manage the Data Usage Limit on Windows.
Read: How to remove Metered connection warning in Outlook
How to set Metered Connection in Windows 10
To set a Wi-Fi network connection as metered:
- Open Windows 10 Settings
- Open Network & Internet settings
- Select the Wi-Fi tab.
- Click on the Wi-Fi network name
- Scroll down to Metered connection
- Turn on Set as metered connection.
Open Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi to open the following window.
For the desired network connection, click on the WiFi name itself to open the following panel.
You can see a section named Metered connection. Move the slider to the On position. If you have a limited data plan and want more control over data usage, setting it to On will help.
If you wish you manage or set other WiFi networks as a metered connection, click on the Manage known networks link to open this panel.
Select the WiFi > Properties, and you will see the desired setting.
When you set a connection as a metered connection Windows Update will not download automatically. Now, will updates for Windows Store apps. Live tiles will also not update in order to show the latest information. Offline files will also not sync. Some Windows Store apps will however work with limited functionality in the background when you set it so.
Data usage high? This post will show you how to limit and monitor Data Usage.
