Monitoring Bandwidth usage?

[Mr__Bill]

As chance would have it today I found out that Charter caps bandwidth at 200G a month and I was just looking into NetFlix streaming movies. Charter indicates that if I go over they will either cut off internet access or charge me lots more. They, Charter, of course are no help in finding out just how much I use now or how to track what I may be using in the future. They say: 'We might call you or perhaps e-mail you if you are approaching the limit.' Personally I need to know where I stand on usage before I go over.

To complicate things I use about 50G a month just to make a living and would not like watching movies to put me out of business for a month.

I have a LinkSys WRT150N router and a CISCO DPC 2100 R2 cable modem. I would think that one of those should keep a running total of usage but have been unable to find out where it is logged. Anyone have any ideas? Monitoring per computer is out as I do a lot of file transfers and print via the local net and the software that I have found totals everything.

Thanks,
Bill
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The problem was not that I was over thinking the solution but that I tried to implement it.

[dbhost]

No clue without knowing anything about either of your devices... I am a bit stunned though. I thought Charter went under years ago... I had Charter for an isp back in the Windows 95 days...

[Mr__Bill]

No clue without knowing anything about either of your devices... I am a bit stunned though. I thought Charter went under years ago... I had Charter for an isp back in the Windows 95 days...

They did, Charter is now a part of Comcast, and that does answer a lot of questions....

[Stytooner]

Scroll down on this link.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/window...agadgetssu.htm

You can get windows gadgets to keep track. I haven't used those, but do use a local weather one and an old timer clock face.

[LCHIEN]

My router (netgear) has this page (see attachment) which gives the packets for among others, the WAN port which is what you are interested in.

You can reset it and it will get reset if rebooted (power failure). But it displays the hours for the stats.

Mine shows 235 hours and 231K packets sent, 268K packets received.
I have to check waht the packet size is.

P.S. Apparently the packet size is 1492 bytes.
Works out to about 400 MBytes? in 10 days? seems kind of low.

[Mr__Bill]

My router (netgear) has this page (see attachment) which gives the packets for among others, the WAN port which is what you are interested in.

You can reset it and it will get reset if rebooted (power failure). But it displays the hours for the stats.

Mine shows 235 hours and 231K packets sent, 268K packets received.
I have to check waht the packet size is.

Amazing, your router has the same IP as mine.
Alas the Linksys is lacking a statistic page, or at least I can't find it. I think I have entered every screen and sub screen of the router's utility. The cable modem has a log page that is not enabled and I haven't had time to work my way through Charter support for someone who can enable it. Even then I don't know if the log will give me usage.
Prior to the WRT150N I was using a software router running on a PC, that had lots of reporting.

Bill

[Mr__Bill]

Scroll down on this link.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/window...agadgetssu.htm

You can get windows gadgets to keep track. I haven't used those, but do use a local weather one and an old timer clock face.

Thanks for the link, interesting little gadgets. Problem is I would have to run them on all the computers and the usage would be for the local net and not just the internet. I backup several gig a day and that would really skew the numbers.

Bill

[Mr__Bill]

I figured out how to get into the cable modem and no joy there. It's looking like I may never know until Charter cuts me off for over usage.


Bill

[pelligrini]

You could put a PC running some monitoring software in between your modem and router.

I've been with Charter since Marcus Cable folded along with @Home. This is the first I've heard about a total usage cap. The AUP used to mention something vaguely about disproportinate usage. There's some numbers assigned in the AUP now.

I know I use a lot of bandwidth, but I've never had any warnings or anything. Between my wife constantly on netflix, the torrents I run, and just normal usage I figure my usage is pretty high. Sometimes I'll peg out my 10Mb connection for days on end.

[Mr__Bill]

You could put a PC running some monitoring software in between your modem and router.

I've been with Charter since Marcus Cable folded along with @Home. This is the first I've heard about a total usage cap. The AUP used to mention something vaguely about disproportinate usage. There's some numbers assigned in the AUP now.

I know I use a lot of bandwidth, but I've never had any warnings or anything. Between my wife constantly on netflix, the torrents I run, and just normal usage I figure my usage is pretty high. Sometimes I'll peg out my 10Mb connection for days on end.

I never knew of one either until they sent me a new modem and said that I had to install it because my Motorola modem was soon to be non functioning on their network. While installing it there is a EULA that includes the usage caps, on a 15M service it's 200 gig a month. I think the only thing the new modem does that the moto did not is have a remote locking feature they they can use if I use too much bandwidth. I rather wish that I had not swapped out the modem until the moto really did not work anymore. The new modem still tops out at about 10M, nowhere near the 15.

Bill
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waiting to fall into the big ocean, it's just a matter of geological time...

[dbhost]

Wow, with my wife doing at home work, my grabbing Linux iso images off of torrents (legit software guys, that's how CentOS distributes the package!) and my BIL watching netflix when he is doing his daily dialysis.... I KNOW my bandwidth utilization is high, but I never thought about just HOW high... No threats from Comcast yet, and I am using an OLD (1999) cable modem... 1 up, 6 down. Does what I want it to, never had an issue with it being too slow, unless Netflix running on my BILs PC, and on the Wii at the same time... Then it chokes...

[Mr__Bill]

Wow, with my wife doing at home work, my grabbing Linux iso images off of torrents (legit software guys, that's how CentOS distributes the package!) and my BIL watching netflix when he is doing his daily dialysis.... I KNOW my bandwidth utilization is high, but I never thought about just HOW high... No threats from Comcast yet, and I am using an OLD (1999) cable modem... 1 up, 6 down. Does what I want it to, never had an issue with it being too slow, unless Netflix running on my BILs PC, and on the Wii at the same time... Then it chokes...

How big a download is a Netflix movie? I was thinking like a DVD with 5 to 10 gig per movie. Is it perhaps like DVX at 700 meg a movie?

Bill

[Alex Franke]

How big a download is a Netflix movie? I was thinking like a DVD with 5 to 10 gig per movie. Is it perhaps like DVX at 700 meg a movie?

I'd heard about 1GB/hour for standard definition at Netflix, so watch one 2-hour movie a night for 30 days straight and you're up to about 60GB. I expect it's more for HD, though.

[Mr__Bill]

I'd heard about 1GB/hour for standard definition at Netflix, so watch one 2-hour movie a night for 30 days straight and you're up to about 60GB. I expect it's more for HD, though.

Thanks, that is far from what I feared it was. Makes sense tho if one is to watch in real time. Guess I would not have to worry about breaching the 200GB limit with watching movies.

Bill
over here where the sun is just setting.....