Concerning File Sharing

[Elli]

I was wondering ... I live in a small country called
Iceland, and since it´s such an isolated and deserted
place, international download/upload costs extra money
(but domestic is free). Since it costs, i have to think
twice before downloading or uploading something big to
someone or something out of Iceland. Now because of this
i have to know:

Does MSN Messenger use peer-to-peer to send/receive files
(that is, straight between users) or do all transfers go
through some server at microsoft or some such thing. Or
in cases of firewalls/routers do they go through a server
outside Iceland and in case of no such thing do they not ?

I have to know this since everytime i send my friend here
in iceland a file or receive one, i dont really know if
it´s free for me (peer-to-peer) or if it is costing me
money (by taking international download).

Sorry if it´s too long, wasn´t supposed to be but it can
be hard to explain

Thanks in advance,
Elli from Iceland

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Elli,

MSN Messenger 6.x does attempt to directly send/receive files (so from you directly to your
contact -- peer to peer), but if it fails to connect, then it does infact send it through the
Messenger server (which would be considered 'international' judging by your description).
Besides the speed of the connection, you can't really tell if it's going through the
server -- although if you see something similar to "If you are experiencing slow speeds,
click here" in your Messenger conversation window, it's usually a good indication that it is.

Previous versions of MSN Messenger and all versions of Windows Messenger cannot send files
through the Messenger server and as such, transfers will simply fail if a direct connection
can't be established.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

I was wondering ... I live in a small country called
Iceland, and since it´s such an isolated and deserted
place, international download/upload costs extra money
(but domestic is free). Since it costs, i have to think
twice before downloading or uploading something big to
someone or something out of Iceland. Now because of this
i have to know:

Does MSN Messenger use peer-to-peer to send/receive files
(that is, straight between users) or do all transfers go
through some server at microsoft or some such thing. Or
in cases of firewalls/routers do they go through a server
outside Iceland and in case of no such thing do they not ?

I have to know this since everytime i send my friend here
in iceland a file or receive one, i dont really know if
it´s free for me (peer-to-peer) or if it is costing me
money (by taking international download).

Sorry if it´s too long, wasn´t supposed to be but it can
be hard to explain

Thanks in advance,
Elli from Iceland

 

[Don C]

Really............
Any idea if this functionality will be brought to Windows Messenger?

Don

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Don,

I'm afraid I really don't know at this point.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com