220-1101 Question 378
Single answerMetered utilizationA technician is preparing several Windows laptops for employees who travel frequently and use mobile hotspots with limited data plans. One user reports that Windows downloaded large updates over a phone hotspot last month, causing overage charges. The company wants to reduce data usage automatically when employees are connected to capped connections, while still allowing normal behavior on the office Wi-Fi. Which action should the technician take to best address this issue?
- A
Configure the mobile hotspot or cellular connection in Windows as a metered connection
- B
Disable the Windows Update service on all laptops
- C
Set the office Wi-Fi network adapter to half duplex to reduce bandwidth consumption
- D
Increase the DHCP lease time on the wireless network
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is to configure the hotspot or other capped connection as a metered connection in Windows. In real-world support, this is the appropriate way to reduce unnecessary background traffic on limited-data networks while allowing standard behavior on unrestricted networks such as office Wi-Fi. Microsoft documents that metered connections can limit background data and affect how Windows and some apps download content, including updates and sync activity. This aligns directly with A+ Core 1 objectives related to network configuration and metered utilization: apply the correct client-side setting to manage usage on bandwidth-limited or usage-billed connections rather than using unsafe or unrelated network changes.
- A. Correct.
Correct. In Windows, marking a connection as metered tells the OS to limit background data usage on that connection. This can reduce automatic downloads such as some updates, app updates, and background synchronization, which is the practical way to control data consumption on capped networks like mobile hotspots or cellular connections.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Disabling the Windows Update service is not a recommended solution because it can leave systems unpatched and insecure. The scenario asks for a way to reduce data use specifically on capped connections while preserving normal behavior elsewhere. A metered connection setting is targeted; disabling updates is overly broad and creates security and maintenance problems.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Duplex settings affect how a network interface communicates on certain Ethernet links and are not used to manage data consumption on Wi-Fi hotspots in this way. Changing duplex would not provide policy-based control over background downloads and would not solve the metered-usage problem described.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. DHCP lease time controls how long a client keeps an IP address before renewal. It does not control Windows background data usage, updates, or synchronization behavior. Someone might choose this if they confuse general network settings with bandwidth-management settings, but it is unrelated to metered utilization.