Monitoring net usage.

[ayjay]

I have a monthly download limit on my broadband agreement - it's 15gig at peak time and about 80gig offpeak.

I share this with my son, he downloads far more than me but it's usually off peak.

Peak time usage gets fairly close to the limit most months - and my wife has recently discovered iPlayer (so she can re-watch the things that bored her to sleep the first time around) which will eat the allowance wholesale.

I currently use a small freebie programme called NetMeter which tells me how much I've up/down loaded, but there's no way of separating this out by time.

Is there a way to run two different usage monitors but set on timers so that one records the off peak usage and one the peak time stuff?

[BillyGoat]

There are, but it gets complicated if you are trying to do it locally for each device. You've got to account for phones, desktops, laptops, games consoles (can use a fair bit when playing online games over a period of time) and anything else that uses the connection too.

Are you wanting to do this on the cheap, or is there any budget for this? Is it connected to phone line or Virgin?

BG

[Wes]

Go unlimited if pos ayjay Sounds like a right load of faffing about..

[BillyGoat]

Unlimited....pfffft. Unlimited (with limits) broadband!

Ajay, what make/model router is it you have, was it supplied by broadband provider?

I have a possible cunning plan.

Might stick one of my long ass guides up, depending on what you have..... lol

BG

[Wes]

Unlimited....pfffft. Unlimited (with limits) broadband!

Is it a load of fluff BG. I've been on unlimited broadband for ages and not had a slap of the provider yet...Was O2 now BT.

Also upgraded to supper dupper fibre optics that's 2 times slower than normal broadband for some strange reason..Slightly off topic there

[BillyGoat]

I've been capped FIVE times in the last week for excessive downloads. I say capped, I mean "traffic shaped". I'm trying to get 230GB for my work......going to have to do a 9 hour round trip and download at work, which I was trying to avoid. I'm on a 60mb connection.

Tried to do it at night, but made no difference.

[Wes]

Well, I don't think there's enough information on the internet that covers 'dwarf eats lizard and spanks a horse' which is my main search terms (it's a hobby, hate the game don't hate the player ), so I've not come close to 230GB of usage yet

[kellys_eye]

230Gb Well there's 'unlimited' and there's cor blimey! As far as the OP is concerned though, exceeding and agreed limit could be far more expensive than having an unlimited account anyway. It was for me when I first got BT Broadband (and discovered the delights of P1r@t3 B@y ) and after the first extortionate bill I immediately went 'unlimited'.

These days, especially with a LoveFilm account, it's far too easy to exceed any preset limitation no matter what it is.

[BillyGoat]

It's stupid, but I need it. It was bigger, but I've already got the first 103GB!!

230 left to go.

Office download is around 20-40MB....which is nice, depending on the time of day. (MB not mb.... )

Oh for those speeds at home.

BG

[ayjay]

There are, but it gets complicated if you are trying to do it locally for each device. You've got to account for phones, desktops, laptops, games consoles (can use a fair bit when playing online games over a period of time) and anything else that uses the connection too.

Are you wanting to do this on the cheap, or is there any budget for this? Is it connected to phone line or Virgin?

BG

Definitely cheap (NetMeter is a freebie): but I think I've found the answer anyway - I've remembered that my ISP has all the bandwidth usage figures on their on their website, and split between on/off peak.

Thanks for your thoughts/suggestions everyone.