ajax chatroom

[boeing747fp]

ive made a few ajax chatrooms and they constantly are doing refreshes in the background and because of that the internet connection icon on the bottom right of the computer screen is constantly on.... however, Meebo.com and other similar chat sites use ajax and they dont have a constantly in use internet connection icon... how do they perform the chat stuff without constantly needing internet connectivity? (im trying to reduce the amount of bandwidth it uses on the networks the users are on but i still want the chats to be as instant as possible)

[A1ien51]

Use a tool such as fiddler or firebug and watch what is happening.

You will see that they hold the connection open longer on the server.

Eric