- the *tentative* conclusion is that streaming webcams are *very* expensive if you are paying on a download basis. I found 2 great webcams at the labs of the Centre for Hypersonics at Queensland University which were great resolution, pretty smooth motion, and sometimes really interesting. But apparently the constantly refreshing jpegs really hit the download log. That's what IT services tell me anyway .. it makes sense in that Queensland Uni is part of the Aust. Academic Research Network.

In hindsight I was naive not to realise this - however, I was simply thinking in terms of Real streaming or WMP streaming (where the download file is very small and the server does 'all of the work'). A very expensive way to learn, isn't it ..

I call the conclusion tentative as I'm still waiting on the complete log for the last week, from ITS. I did get a page excerpt, covering about a 16 minute interval on the webcams, and clocking up several megs. But the charges show some 1000 megs from AARNET! That would mean I had spent about 200-250 times longer on the webcams than that 16 minutes - say about 50 hours in the past few days!! I can't believe that, my calculations must be mistaken. OTOH I am told the complete log for last few days is about 4000 lines - so I will have to wait and see. It's possible that I left the browser on with the webcam window open, even when I was out. (I'm not charged by time, only by download..)

In any case I am avoiding all webcams, and will watch my account history closely from now on. - the best & simplest test of this theory .. if something comes up again I'll post again.

Thanks to all who replied, your support is appreciated.