Stop Bandwidth Abuse

E-mail is a very powerful tool. We send messages back and forth with hardly a thought. Meeting requests, project status reports and even jokes and links to YouTube videos flow in and out of our inboxes throughout the day. However, e-mail servers can come to a screeching halt when it comes to sharing files — especially large files. Why?

E-mail messages with very large attachment files slow down your Internet connection, especially when more than one employee is using the same network connection and downloading large attachments at the same time. Sending very large files (anything larger than 3 MB) via e-mail consumes valuable bandwidth and will affect your network speed. If you are using a hosted application, don’t think you are problem-free: E-mailing very large files via Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or other Web services can cause your Web browser to crash.

As an e-mail recipient, you can be proactive in protecting your network. Most e-mail programs have a filter tool that will reject e-mail over a specified size and send an auto-reply containing instructions for your preferred method of attachment receipt. If you use Outlook, the filter can be activated from the Tools menu by selecting the Rules and Alerts option and creating a new rule.

Instead of compromising your e-mail bandwidth, check out some of the tools below. These programs allow users to send any size files back and forth without affecting Internet speed.

Yousendit.com  is a free online service that allows users to upload a file (up to 100 MB) to Yousendit.com’s servers. Yousendit.com then sends an e-mail to the recipient containing a link to your attachment and instructions for downloading your file. The service also has fee-based options for larger file sizes (up to 2 GB), long-term storage space and file delivery tracking comparable to most of its competitors, such as Xdrive, Box.net and Driveway.

HP Upline (hpupline.com) is a new online data storage service that lets users store documents in a secure online location with automatic file backup. Users have the option to password-protect shared files and share them for a limited time — from one day to six months. By default, any changes to the master file are immediately shared with your recipients, ensuring that everyone has the latest version. The small business package starts at $299 and comes with three licenses. Additional licenses are $79 each.

Egnyte  operates like HP Upline in that it does file backup, file collaboration and file sharing. What makes this program unique is that it enables users to access files through the MyComputer folder located on most desktops. The cost is $15 per month, per user.

Qwipit (qwipit.com) provides the delivery speed of e-mail with the added benefit of military-grade encryption technology. Users can send any type of file up to 50 megabytes. The service requires no software or installations.

Microsoft’s Office Live Workspace is a service from Microsoft that provides online file sharing and collaboration. This free service gives you a menu within Microsoft Office to enable you to save and/ or retrieve files from your online workspace. Save files to your online workspace and users can download the file via their shared space. You can create a free workspace at officelive.com.

If you want to go beyond just sharing files and have recipients edit documents online, services such as Google Docs (docs.google.com), Thinkfree.com and Zoho.com  provide a full suite of document management solutions.