measuring internet usage

Is there any way to measure total internet usage for all machines in a household. I already run bitmeter on all our pc's but that doesn't help me keep track of usage with our ps3 or wii. Now that ps3 is going to work with streaming movies on netflix i'm concerned with going over my isp's total usage total. Is there any good hardware that can track every machine hooked up to my internet. Just chatted with comcast for awhile and having them inform us of our usage appears to be a dead end.

the best thing to do is use ur isp's website(if available) to check since that's what they bill u by anyways.

comcast will not give me that information, but they expect me to not go over the limit. Right now i'll accept any solution, even if it is a pain in the ass.

Simple solution: cancel Comcast.

Stop supporting ISPs that violate net neutrality by using throttling and placing caps on bandwidth.

I ditched Comcast for Bellsouth, which as no monthly cap.

the best bandwidth monitor i've found is this and it's free:

http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

however, i don't think that is what you need. you need bandwidth monitoring from within the router itself. you can do this with Tomato firmware..if your router supports it.

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

dd-wrt might work too..not sure

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

the best bandwidth monitor i've found is this and it's free:

http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

however, i don't think that is what you need. you need bandwidth monitoring from within the router itself. you can do this with Tomato firmware..if your router supports it.

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

dd-wrt might work too..not sure

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

rock_solid

Both are great firmwares, but I prefer DD-WRT. Tomato is more user friendly, but DD-WRT can really unlock the full potential of your router and has far more options.

Anyway, like i said before, I think people need to stop supporting ISPs like Comcast that violate net neutrality. Send them a message by taking your business elsewhere.

You shouldn't have to worry about having your connection shut off because you watched too much hulu or played too many games. This kind of thing is just scummy on Comcast's part.

Pain in the ass time :D Do you have a spare computer? Does it have 2 ethernet ports? If not make sure it does, it can even be a pentium 2. Install http://www.pfsense.com/ This is pfsense, a freebsd distrobution, it is a hardware firewall, and the BEST open source firewall. It's meant for corporate use, but that didn't stop me! General stuff is the same as any router, well mostly the same anyway, there is a general setup wizard, which surprised me. Pfsense offers a bazillion things, vlan, trunking, very extensive port forwarding, (Oh and if you do port forward make sure you well, ask me or google around, it isn't like a normal router, you have to configure static ports, this is a safety feature, which to me is more pain, so I disabled it, but it's a bit lenghty) (Also upnp is disabled by default, I enabled that immediately)

But that is not what you are interested in, under the packages, there is something called bandwidthd, installing them is relative straight forward, click install bam. Here is what it looks like

Also if you are new to networking and wondering how pfsense goes in your current network. Internets > modem > (wan)pfsense(lan) > ethernet switch > computers. This is a very basic setup that works.

bandwidth caps and net neutrality are 2 different thingsrock_solid

No they aren't. Traffic shaping is a major issue that falls under the heading of net neutrality.

Don't Support Comcast. They suck. They limit you!! If you support it, other will follow! That's not good!

Don't Support Comcast. They suck. They limit you!! If you support it, other will follow! That's not good!

Berserker1_5

[QUOTE="Berserker1_5"]

Don't Support Comcast. They suck. They limit you!! If you support it, other will follow! That's not good!

JigglyWiggly_

How fast can they be? After 15 mps, it really doesn't matter unless you really need that speed for crazy stuff

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="Berserker1_5"]

Don't Support Comcast. They suck. They limit you!! If you support it, other will follow! That's not good!

Berserker1_5

How fast can they be? After 15 mps, it really doesn't matter unless you really need that speed for crazy stuff

I've noticed people get confused between megabits and megabytes.

A 15 megabit connection isn't really all that fast. It translates to a peak download rate of around 1500 kilobytes a second, which isn't much.

I've noticed people get confused between megabits and megabytes.

A 15 megabit connection isn't really all that fast. It translates to a peak download rate of around 1500 kilobytes a second, which isn't much.

AFraud

comcast is my only cable option around here, and the people around here with verizon dsl aren't happy with it. I have a d-link dir655 router, i would have to check to see if its compatible with those firmware updates. I really don't have room for a spare computer just to monitor my internet usage. Do they make a router with a screen that shows total usage?

comcast is my only cable option around here, and the people around here with verizon dsl aren't happy with it. I have a d-link dir655 router, i would have to check to see if its compatible with those firmware updates. I really don't have room for a spare computer just to monitor my internet usage. Do they make a router with a screen that shows total usage?

pdkkbarnes1

[QUOTE="pdkkbarnes1"]

comcast is my only cable option around here, and the people around here with verizon dsl aren't happy with it. I have a d-link dir655 router, i would have to check to see if its compatible with those firmware updates. I really don't have room for a spare computer just to monitor my internet usage. Do they make a router with a screen that shows total usage?

JigglyWiggly_

might be worth upgrading then, but do you know if they make any kind of router with a display that would show the information I need

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="pdkkbarnes1"]

comcast is my only cable option around here, and the people around here with verizon dsl aren't happy with it. I have a d-link dir655 router, i would have to check to see if its compatible with those firmware updates. I really don't have room for a spare computer just to monitor my internet usage. Do they make a router with a screen that shows total usage?

pdkkbarnes1

might be worth upgrading then, but do you know if they make any kind of router with a display that would show the information I need

[QUOTE="AFraud"]

I've noticed people get confused between megabits and megabytes.

A 15 megabit connection isn't really all that fast. It translates to a peak download rate of around 1500 kilobytes a second, which isn't much.

JigglyWiggly_

Sorry, I just move the decimal place for a rough estimate. It's easier than actually calculating what it equates to and much faster.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="AFraud"]

I've noticed people get confused between megabits and megabytes.

A 15 megabit connection isn't really all that fast. It translates to a peak download rate of around 1500 kilobytes a second, which isn't much.

AFraud

Sorry, I just move the decimal place for a rough estimate. It's easier than actually calculating what it equates to and much faster.

comcast is my only cable option around here, and the people around here with verizon dsl aren't happy with it. I have a d-link dir655 router, i would have to check to see if its compatible with those firmware updates. I really don't have room for a spare computer just to monitor my internet usage. Do they make a router with a screen that shows total usage?

pdkkbarnes1

Your router isn't supported. Here's the list: link

It's actually broadcom chipset based routers that are supported. Linksys and Buffalo are the two main companies that use Broadcom.

I kind of lucked out in this regard because I have a rare, older version of the WRT54GS that has 32mb of RAM, whereas most routers have 8mb or if you're lucky 16mb. It takes any firmware you give it. Someone would have to give me a fair chunk of change to part with this thing.

Thanks for the info, sounds like the easiest way to deal with comcast will be to just replace my router with a linksys. Anyone want to buy a perfectly good working d-link.

I know its an old topic, but I just found out that for any of us using comcast, they now provide your total usage for the month on their website under your account. Its about time.

I know its an old topic, but I just found out that for any of us using comcast, they now provide your total usage for the month on their website under your account. Its about time.

pdkkbarnes1

[QUOTE="pdkkbarnes1"]

I know its an old topic, but I just found out that for any of us using comcast, they now provide your total usage for the month on their website under your account. Its about time.

JigglyWiggly_

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="pdkkbarnes1"]

I know its an old topic, but I just found out that for any of us using comcast, they now provide your total usage for the month on their website under your account. Its about time.

Duckman5

I've noticed people get confused between megabits and megabytes.

A 15 megabit connection isn't really all that fast. It translates to a peak download rate of around 1500 kilobytes a second, which isn't much.

AFraud

15Mb/s is a lot in my books. I can hardly pull 1.5...

Gaming while someone else is DL'ing something FTL :(

K I get it. :P Why on earth do you have a maplestory server if you don't use it? I remember wasting so much time in that game. It feels like a giant waste of time looking back at it. :cry:Duckman5

[QUOTE="pdkkbarnes1"]

I know its an old topic, but I just found out that for any of us using comcast, they now provide your total usage for the month on their website under your account. Its about time.

JigglyWiggly_

I have it under the users and settings tab