Background network bandwidth sharing behind gateway devices

Example embodiments allow a local network client to access information about a shared gateway to determine its actual amount of bandwidth consumption. The client can also obtain the total capacity of such shared gateway. Using its knowledge of its own bandwidth consumption, it can determine the other local network clients' usage of the shared gateway. With all of this information, i.e., total capacity of the shared gateway, the actual usage of the shared gateway, and the usage by other clients within the local network, the client can adjust or throttle background file transfers in order to keep the actual data transfers across the shared gateway within a reasonable percentage of the total capacity available. That is, a client will give priority to other local network computing machines' usage of the shared gateway by adjusting data transfers for its own background transfer system based on usage across a shared gateway.