Especially useful if you share Internet connection with devoted gamers and you prefer to stay safe when they play CS;)

# limit rsync bandwith to 500 KB/s
rsync -avz --bwlimit=500 remoteHost:remoteDir ~/localDir

I have noticed rsync is using double --bwlimit (in this case 1000 KB/s), so if you truly want to limit the bandwidth to 500 KB/s, use --bwlimit=250.

Inspired by HowToGeek.