Cable router with bandwidth measurement?

Hi all,

I have been an NTL customer for a goood few years (pay dial up,
included dial up, 150k bb, fre u/g to 300k bb) now and have been
pretty happy with them so far.

I was offered the 'free' u/g to 1M a while back but have to accept a
bit of a drop in data tranfer from 30 to 3G / month, so I didn't.

The other day I got the 'we will be upgrading you if you don't
opt-out' e-mail but I'm not sure what to do.

There are three of us using the net. I do the normal regular emailing
(with the odd big attachment), n/g's, updates, and Play Pariah
(online game) now and again.

The wife does the odd email and also plays an online word game.

The daugher is always on MSN / webcam and uses Skype and email etc.

When I contacted NTL c/s they said they couldn't telll me what my
average useage was because the 300k service is effectivly unmetered.

So, I don't really want to run a netmeter on all PC's (and try to
total them) so wondered if there was an 'affordable' cable SOHO router
out there that does such measurements (or provides an interface to a
PC based easy to use front end etc) please?

All the best ..

T i m

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 08:45:08 GMT, in article <ua3aj1hjbpjn14afmehuh5br2nnnd2jaec@
4ax.com>, I saw that T i m wrote...

|
|So, I don't really want to run a netmeter on all PC's (and try to
|total them) so wondered if there was an 'affordable' cable SOHO router
|out there that does such measurements (or provides an interface to a
|PC based easy to use front end etc) please?
Not what you asked for but....

BMExtreme from www.lp23.com is a software monitor which does the totalling for you and
ignores lan traffic. Been using it since I went to the faster service. It also
graphically and numerically shows you how much you have left per day.

--
Kev
NNNN

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 10:02:01 GMT, Kevin Andreoli
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 08:45:08 GMT, in article <ua3aj1hjbpjn14afmehuh5br2nnnd2jaec@
>4ax.com>, I saw that T i m wrote...
>
>|
>|So, I don't really want to run a netmeter on all PC's (and try to
>|total them) so wondered if there was an 'affordable' cable SOHO router
>|out there that does such measurements (or provides an interface to a
>|PC based easy to use front end etc) please?

>Not what you asked for but....

Hey, I wasn't sure if the question was correct so any reply could be
good ;-)
>
>BMExtreme from www.lp23.com is a software monitor which does the totalling for you and
>ignores lan traffic.

Cool. How does the totaling work please Kevin .. I mean do the various
PC's synch their data as / when they go online?

Been using it since I went to the faster service.


Were you surprised how much / little data you were moving?

It also
>graphically and numerically shows you how much you have left per day.

Neat ..

I've downloaded it and will have a look at the basic (free) version. I
believe to do combined (multiple PC) stats I need at least the home
version at $19 / PC? (I wonder what such an equippped SOHO router
might cost by comparison)?

All the best ..

T i m

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 10:15:15 GMT, in article <ff9aj11uh5tikgg60vji9fp4if0oprr0kk@
4ax.com>, I saw that T i m wrote...

|Cool. How does the totaling work please Kevin .. I mean do the various
|PC's synch their data as / when they go online?
They connect together every (configurable) few mins and swap stats, each shows every
machine's stats plus the grand total.

|
|Were you surprised how much / little data you were moving?

A bit of both - I don't use online gaming but I do stream audio and some video content.
A complete football match commentary uses very little, match highlights can be a lot

I find that I am not using the 3Gig - but some months it is a near thing. Google Earth
is my latest discovery - boy does that use bandwidth! BMExtreme averages out what is
left over the number of days left in the month. (You can define your own start day)
This helps you monitor what is left.

|I've downloaded it and will have a look at the basic (free) version. I
|believe to do combined (multiple PC) stats I need at least the home
|version at $19 / PC? (I wonder what such an equippped SOHO router
|might cost by comparison)?

I already had my cable router before going over to the 1Meg service, so I wasn't looking
for anything other than a monitor - I didn't expect to find one that would ignore LAN
traffic, but was happy enough to pay a few quid for one that did. I bought the home
version. I seem to remember that more than one copy brought a discount.

If you do find a router with a monitor that only logs internet traffic then let us all
know!

--
Kev
NNNN

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 18:53:51 GMT, Kevin Andreoli

>|Cool. How does the totaling work please Kevin .. I mean do the various
>|PC's synch their data as / when they go online?
>They connect together every (configurable) few mins and swap stats, each shows every
>machine's stats plus the grand total.

Ah, I founf the box to config the other machine names but didn't know
how they displayed it .. so they all display the total?
>
>|
>|Were you surprised how much / little data you were moving?
>
>A bit of both - I don't use online gaming but I do stream audio and some video content.
>A complete football match commentary uses very little, match highlights can be a lot

Understood .. ;-)

Since I installed it earlier (and I've been out all day) I'm currently
running at 49MB ..
>
>I find that I am not using the 3Gig - but some months it is a near thing.

Is this just with one user Kevin?

Google Earth
>is my latest discovery - boy does that use bandwidth!

Cool though eh ;-)

BMExtreme averages out what is
>left over the number of days left in the month. (You can define your own start day)
>This helps you monitor what is left.

Handy ..
>
>I already had my cable router before going over to the 1Meg service, so I wasn't looking
>for anything other than a monitor - I didn't expect to find one that would ignore LAN
>traffic, but was happy enough to pay a few quid for one that did.

I think Netmeter does .. I had trupble with it remembering each days
totals and it didn't seem to add up right. This seems to be ok though
... ;-)

I bought the home
>version. I seem to remember that more than one copy brought a discount.

I will need 5 copies here (3 key desktops and a couple of laptops now
and again .).? ;-(
>
>If you do find a router with a monitor that only logs internet traffic then let us all
>know!

I will .. and that would still be more accurate as it would include
*everything* that was connected and using the Lan?

All the best and thanks again ..

T i m

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 19:37:02 GMT, in article <08abj19k0m5kkhluq6eqrssdnaol23lnan@
4ax.com>, I saw that T i m wrote...


|Is this just with one user Kevin?
Three machines, two users. I use the laptop as a server for my scanner and colour
printer and hence it is on the LAN, it's net use is mainly for updates being downloaded.

Herself is mainly email and online purchases. Me - I'm online a lot, mostly to various
web forums (football mostly). We tend to use between 60 and 150 Meg per day on average.
|
|I will need 5 copies here (3 key desktops and a couple of laptops now
|and again .).? ;-(
Perhaps not bother with the lapstops if they aren't permanently connected? If you know
you've got 500Meg left then a few downloads on a laptop aren't gonna matter too much.

|All the best and thanks again ..
|
|T i m
Cheers

--
Kev
NNNN