Internet bandwidth monitor

Hi is there a program that will monitor my internet bandwidth in real time and show my how much i have and be able to look back on to see trends when i have something like 3 mb and 10 mb if it reaches that much.

i am sick of paying for 10 mb but only getting 4 but sky telling me i am getting 6mb.

so i would like to track what my download capacity/strength actually is all day and all week if at all possible. then argue with them to increase it or i pay pro rata what i receive.

thanks

 

There is one that runs on Linux, you could also use pfSense, Smoothwall, m0n0wall as a router and track traffic through it, use a Linksys, D-Link, Netgear or other router that is compatible with DD-WRT, OpenWRT that will also track traffic.

For Windows, there is the same. The Asus RT-AC66U is one router that has built-in traffic monitoring. http://www.asus.com/Networking/RTAC66U/ You just have to pick your poison.

 

hi i have windows pc and will not be looking to invest money into buying items for this. i am hoping for a software/shareware will simply monitor the bandwith and not worry about the traffic. as in from min to minute if i have 2mb or 7 and have this on a graph

thanks

 

Not going to happen. The only way to properly monitor Internet traffic is at your router, which is either purchase one, or get a $99 Desktop from Tigerdirect.com, along with a second NIC and a Wifi PCI card if you wish to also have Wifi; load either pfSense, Smoothwall or m0n0wall on it, to monitor all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic. You could do QOS on just about any router out there, if you want to throttle users. But again better at using a Linux Router project to do it, and that way you have better control over the users.

If this is the only computer that you use in the household, you would need to use a Pro version of Windows; to monitor and control bandwidth, through QOS.

 

Netmeter may be enough for a single PC, if there are multiple PCs, Networx will be better.

How accurate they are - or how accurately they tie in with your ISP's calculations - I don't know.

 

jaruler...

This isn't a program, but it might work for you. Never have tried it myself:

http://testmy.net/auto

Here is a program that does the same thing:

http://www.gmwsoftware.co.uk/

Hope this helps...

 

Ah yes, I got that wrong, that'll teach me to try to follow what browniz is saying.

Jaruler, what make/model router to you have? There should be a way to tell from it what your connection speed is and compare it to the ouptut from the software suggested by AtlBo and/or your results from speedtests, such as the one at Thinkbroadband.com (also a very good forum there for problems such as yours).

Once you have the stats from the router, you can estimate what you should be getting on ADSL here.

 

Hi all

thank you all for your input. Internet and networks is where i find most difficult in understanding.

I am with sky and they gave me a sky wifi box, it is a white thing that plugs into the wall and serves as wifi also. my computer is direct cable with it but i have a wifi card in my pc also if i want to use it.

there is one other laptop in the house that sometimes is on. but i do not want to restrict people. Just want to see what my strength is as i pay for 10mb but seem to only get 4mb, even though sky say i can get 6. i want to see when it goes down and when it goes high and see trends, if indeed its always lower then i might think changing providers.

but i really am interested in knowing what i am getting because i have a point to make to sky, and need this to prove it.

many thanks

 

To find your router stats, type http://192.168.0.1 into your browser then log in with admin and sky and click on show statistics.

Basic Sky speed check/fixes here: http://help.sky.com/broadband/problems-with-your-connection/fix-a-slow-broadband-connection

 

The problem is, when monitoring wifi strength, you are measuring what the wifi device in the computer is doing, not the actual router. If you can get on the SamKnows program, you get a "bridge" that will monitor how your provider performs, and also send a report back to your provider.

This is a thread from 2010 that this exact issue was discussed http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=251828 This is a very good guide in rewiring the BT telephone wiring, http://www.rob-r.co.uk/other/UKphonecatwiring.htm He has updated it in the past couple of years, by adding some info, but for some that have followed the guide, it has improved their connection. Another guide http://www.jonathanen.com/pages/Help/BT/Rewiring_BTLine.html

 

@ brownizs - read this once again

 

Yes, I read it. So what is your point. Sky is a DSL service, so maybe you should go back and read the whole thread, instead of picking it apart as usual, to find issues with what I, along with others post on this site.

 

@ browniz: take your time, re-read the topic a few times - especially try to get to grips with exactly what jaruler wants/needs do do.



Jaruler, I checked my potential download speeds with both Sky and BT - Sky gave 10.9 to 17.something, BT reckoned about 7.5 (5.5 - 9.5 ish).

My actual download speeds average around 6.8, maximum being a little over 8. If I could get hold of an Openreach engineer easily, I reckon I'd max out at close to 10, averaging 8+.

 

I have, and what they are wanting to do, there is no way to get a real reading of what the router is doing, with a wired connection to it, or using a laptop or tablet to measure wifi speed.

The problem is with the hardware on a tablet or laptop, that unless you are using an adapter, device software, OS, and computer hardware that will give you a real reading of performance, you have to use other methods to see what wifi is doing, or invest in equipment that will give real world readings.

As for the wired portion, it can be done through a bridge or proxy, that would pull info off of the connection, and give output what is going on, but again, you run into the issue of adapter, device software and OS.

The SamKnows White boxes or Bridges, is about the only way to get a real time feel of what is going on with your connection, but first you need to make sure that the BT telephone connection is up to par. That is why I posted the two links that give info on how to fix and check any incoming telephone jacks, which will also help to make sure that the OP is getting what they are paying for.

They can use a Smoothwall, m0n0wall or pfsense box to watch data, and give them a feel of what is going on, from wired machines or wireless, as it goes into the Sky router, and also can give you info as to what is coming through the Proxy, also can do a "Smoke Ping", to make sure that you are not seeing any outbound or inbound issues into your connection to the ISP.

Majority of the issues that are found with users complaining about slow or poor ISP speeds, is usually narrowed down to at the Premise, or from the Premise back through the lines to the CO or Data Terminal for the ISP. Those can usually be Bridge Taps, wet connections, old Lead & paper wrapped telecom lines, etc..

This is really no different than what we dealt with; in the age of dial-up modems. We have been dealing with this issue of poor quality data speeds ever since people were able to purchase modems for use in their homes or businesses, to connect to mainframes or a bank of modems, that would allow users to connect to a network, say Fidonet, Compuserve, etc..

The algorithms may have been refined over the years, along with the hardware; but the basic process of how data comes and goes from a person's connection, back to the ISP has not changed.

 

It's to do with download speed, wifi has nothing to do with it.

As I tried explaining, the router stats should give enough information for an educated guess on what the download speeds could reach.

The information given so far by the OP do not indicate any inherent problem with the internal wiring.

The Whitebox can take many months to arrive - if the connection/ISP is what they're looking for to fill gaps in current usage. It's actually close to impossible to get any info from it directly, even checking times that speed tests were run seems impossible. It does not have direct access to the line stats for comparison purposes anyway.

 

Ok

lets see if we can avoid any biting please. most of what is discussed there i have no clue what is being said.

I am using jackdinns auto speed tester now, set at 10 min intervals. so far max is 4.78mb and min was 3.34mb. so not the 10 mb i am paying for.

Is this a sky issue or BT? as there using bt phone lines of course.

I read somewhere that it is possible to get what i paid for as it supports the speed but we have to share whats available. This gets divided up. Because we have just put up for so long with crap speeds and not challenging it. it remains, and not invested in to save money to increase profit. But they are "able" to give you higher speed. hence when 10 years ago the options where 1 or 2.5 & 5 mb speeds, a switch or something is flicked to increase the speed if you upgrade, without need to have new hardware!

Now i want to get the most of my connection and isp. rewiring my phone ports sounds a bit too technical for me however as i would not know what i would be doing on that side.

1, Anything that can monitor the incoming speed that i have in real time (better than 10 min intervals) is something i desire to see.

2, if i can do something myself to get better speeds, what are these? contact open reach? doing something with router?

Thank you all again

 

The only way to find out, is to go through one of the two links that I posted, regarding how to make sure your BT telephone wiring is in good working order, and if not, follow the instructions in one of the two links, to fix it.

If that improves things, then you know that it is a Premise wiring at your home, and not something back through the telephone network, that is causing the issue.

Here in the U.S., a lot of people do what is called "Home Run" DSL lines. What that is, is that you have a dedicated phone jack from the terminal on the side of the house, that is only for the DSL modem.

What we also have found out through speaking with users on various forums, for those like myself that deal with troubleshooting problems like this, along with fixing them, is that a lot of times it is the DSL filter that is the problem, but also a lot of times it is bad quality or old telephone wiring, or the old Lightning Carbon protectors are still wired in at the house.

A bridge tap (a large bundle of wiring located between your home and the Central Office for the telephone company) can be the culprit also. Only way to fix that, is to get BT off their butts and check the line from your house all the way back to their office that serves your home, for the "Bridge tap".

I grew up around this stuff, due to my father worked for the telephone company, and my rate in the U.S. Navy dealt with telephone systems, both shipboard and shore phone lines to the ship. I also have been around networking and Internet, going on now at 36 years, so I know a little about this stuff, when it comes to how all of this works, and what can cause issues.

Trust me on this. Check out one of those two links regarding the rewiring of the BT telephone jack, then we can go from there about if there is still issues with speeds and latency, etc..

 

Regardless how they are using their modem, if it is a issue with the jacks at their house, going through the process that is spelled out in one of the two links I posted, regarding how to rewire BT telephone jacks, that can eliminate a possibility of having bad wiring or old Carbon Lightning protectors in their house.

As for the White box, yes it can take months to get, but it also will allow them to report back to BT any problems, by having the info right there, in the Report card.

I have been around this stuff all my life, going on 46 years, and have physically worked on telecommunications and computers for 36+ years.

 

Router stats will show any anomalies that might occur, whether they be from a natural cause or by some line/earthing fault.

Connecting directly to the hidden BT main socket would completely rule out any internal 'phone wiring interference.

 

jaruler...

I know very little about this subject, so I may be wrong, but I have always had the impression that the switch you mentioned is a switch inside the router that is flipped remotely rather than some sort of allocation switch on the ISP side. I mean that I somehow developed the belief that a switch inside the router was responsible for setting the bandwidth allocation and that that switch is what is flipped...

I appreciate the thread. I have always used speedtest.net to test my net speed, and it magincally hit the download and upload speeds I pay for every time. The thread got me started, so I decided to take a look at another speed test here:

http://testmy.net/

This test reported the connection at a full 8 mb below the 18 mb I am supposed to be getting from AT&T and that Speedtest.net seems to so consistently report.

I suspect the JD tester software should be more reliable, so I am going to give it a try...

Anyone know of a guaranteed to be reliable test for internet connection speed?

Thanks again

 

Apologies if I am stepping into your thread Jaruler. I have a side question or two if anyone is interested in the testing process and testing validity.

Results from running JD tester...

16.2 MB download
4 MB upload (this is varying from 1 MB to 5 MB with each test using JD)

Speedtest reports 18 MB download and 1.5 MB upload, which are the correct numbers for the account. Kind of leaves me stuck in limbo over the upload speed in particular. There are probably alot of considerations I need to take into account here, such as the fact that the location of the Speedtest test is about 30 miles from home. I should think it would be reliable. I have no idea where the JD test is run from.

The thing I am grasping to understand is why the meter on my desktop during the Speedtest test reads around 2000-2500 KB (2-2.2 MB) for the download and 140 KB for the upload. The same numbers appear in the meter for the JD test. Could this be because the tester uses only a fraction of the available bandwidth for the test?

UPDATE: Ran a test from Nottingham, UK using Speedtest which revealed the download speed to be 7.12 MB and the upload speed 1.26 MB. I know Nottingham is a long way from where I am from in the U.S., but should the test results be so much different?

I would like to know more about this. Thanks for any help...

 

http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/odd_speed_test_results.html indicates that security software may play a part in strange speed test data. (Very useful site for ADSL.)

 

Not always, due to not every Router has robust enough logs, to dig that deep into what is going on; let alone if they are locked by the ISP to not allow users into those features.

 

As the first thing that has to be pinned down is whether this speed problem is your ISP's or your line provider's problem, or an internal wiring issue you must first do as Satrow has advised. If there is a marked improvement when so connected then the problem is definitely not their fault and calling them out (which means Outreach) could prove to be very expensive indeed. You only have to remove the two screws holding the lower half of the faceplate and the hidden socket is revealed.

Having said that, I'm not sure that there is a problem here at all. I don't know of anyone in the UK on copper who gets what their ISP advertises, and anyway they describe it as 'up to' as it is primarily a question of your distance from the exchange. It would help us to help you if you also posted a shot of your router stats, which Satrow has already explained how to do in post #9. This will reveal your line's vital stats such as your sync speed, your signal to noise ratios and line attenuation. You don't need to understand these stats but someone here can help interpret them for you.

In my own case my ISP advertises their ADSL2+ service as 'up to 20Mbps'. I'm less than a mile from the exchange and my router syncs at about 15Mbps. Speed tests over the internet usually register about 11Mbps. I have a friend who was on the same line but more than a mile further out and he struggled to get better than 5Mbps. He ended up upgrading to the new fibre service and now gets something astronomical, upwards of 50Mbps I believe.

 

Thanks Satrow. I noticed for the first time the other day how active the AV is when I use a browser. It's a huge hit on the P4 PC I have in the other room and basically means video won't run well on any setting. It's only a 1.5 GHz processor on that PC, but nowadays, with the advanced AV running for web protection, I guess more or less all the P4 chips are useless for anything but the lightest type of browsing...

Still confused as to why my rainmeter download meter reads only 2000-2500 kb (2.0-2.5 mb) during the testing. If it reads for a tenth of a second every second, I guess that would make sense, but the result should then be multiplied by 10 if so...

 

Hi i would do as per reply number 9 but i am having trouble get into the router. its sky and it asks for user name and password.

none of those that came with the box work or i have not done the right sequence. my online account username seem to not be of help either.


anyone know which username the router needs and which password?

the router came with a name of the router and a password and pin,. my online details for account are different.

thanks

 

Don't use Sky myself but in #9 satrow gave you the username as admin and password as sky. As long as you haven't changed either that should get you in.

The router config pages look like normal web pages but you are in fact looking at the router and can change settings if needed.

 

is this of any help

thank you for the login details

Modem
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 5185
UpStream Connection Speed 797
VPI 0
VCI 38


Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 5185 kbps 797 kbps
Line Attenuation 46.0 dB 27.8 dB
Noise Margin 13.3 dB 14.14 dB

 

Thanks. All your router stats are consistent with you being quite a long way from the exchange. You can check exactly how far and what speed you ought to be able to get by visiting Kitz.

After completing that test you have to go through the hidden test socket routine and then test again. If the results are similar there isn't much you can do, but if the second test is much better you need to take it up with Sky.

 

EDIT - my mind must have been somewhere else when I posted that. If the test when connected to the hidden socket is much better then you have a problem with your internal network/wiring that should be correctable. Sorry for the error :-o

 

Using kitz (#29) is a great idea, we need the following details from your Exchange Information results:
Exchange name and BT Code:
Distance:- By Road:

Status dates:-
DSL Max enabled:
21CN WBC (Broadband):

I ran your data through the online calculator (#7) and your stats are low for a 16-24Meg line: http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/calc/index.php?param=RG4gNTE4NSBEbiA0NiBEbiAxMy4zIERuIDA=#res

Your 46dB downstream attenuation equates to roughly a 3.3km line length, that should give you ~6816kbps and close to 6000 download speed: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

 

Hi all

sorry i have taken a bit long to reply. i had a dental op and was not up to doing much.

i tried the kith software.

this is my results. what is this telling us? when i put in 46.0 db on the same kith software to calculate the distance depending on the Attenuation it said 3.3km when below says 2.6
Exchange: Bedminster BT Code: SSBED
Location: Sheene Road, BS3 4EG
Distance:- Direct: 5706.16 km
(appx)* By Road: 2.6 km
Status
ADSL enabled: January 31, 2001
DSL Max enabled: March 31, 2006
21CN WBC (Broadband) Enabled
21CN due : (PSTN) info N/A
FTTC Available in some areas
SDSL enabled : Enabled
Broadband Access Market Broadband Access† Market 3
BT price band BTw Pricing Band Band A


BT Line Speed Estimation
Fixed ADSL: 1024 kbps (1 Mb)
DSL Max: 2500 kbps (2.5 Mb)
21CN WBC : 3500 kbps (3.5 Mb)


RAG Test Results
Fixed: Long line green for 1Mbps, Red for 2Mbps
radsl: 512Kbps and 256Kbps available
MAX: ADSL Max is available
TPON: No info in database
Check: No info for Postcode only search

 

That's close enough to confirm that you are indeed quite a way from your exchange, but more significantly the sync speed estimate is just 3.5Mbps. These estimates are usually a bit conservative so your 4Mbps sounds about right. Other than upgrading to fibre, if available, there isn't anything else you can do, and switching ISP won't change the situation.