NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Traffic stats
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:45:29 -0500
From: Ben Kamen <bkamen@benjammin.net>
To: lauren@vortex.com
Subject: Good (and free) Traffic Monitor -- and some of my own results.
There's a really nice SMTP monitoring tool that for windows can be
installed free.
It's called PRTG at www.paessler.com.
The free version limits the user to 3 "sensors" although usually only one is
needed to SMTP monitor a port on a firewall should it support SMTP.
For people who connect with only 1 computer, PRTG can be configured
as a packet sniffer (and count) on the local machine as well.
For the last month with my moderate (mostly because Comcast has been
the equivalent of a T1 every since the bought out Insight (the
previous local cable co)), I have 66% coverage (I've been fiddling
with my net. It's what I do!) telling me I've used 18GB or so of
bandwidth with modest usage.
Expanding that to 100% coverage via math, that puts me around 30GB a month.
However, right now, I can say my usage has been less because the
speed is so crappy. 10Mb/s? Right. Sure. When Insight was still my
provider, I was getting 5-6Mb/s of that 10. When comcast took over,
overnight I dropped to 1.5Mb/s.
Unfortunately, I wasn't tracking like I am now, but I do have graphs
out the wazoo to show me the horrible advertised/actual performance
ratio I get. (If I was buying 1.5Mb/s service and getting it, I'd be
thrilled. Let's face it though, if you tell me I'm buying 10Mb/s
speed and 90% of the time I only get 15% of that, I will not only be
unimpressed, but also feeling a little ripped off.)
There's a lot of things I DON'T do over my VPN tunnels always seem
throttled. Is it legal? (under 250GB and not downloading copyrighted
material) --- sure -- but it's Sooooo slow - So I just don't do it.
Anyway -- I just thought I would provide you this email -- and let
you decide if it's NNSquad worthy for people's interest of someone's
results.
Best Regards,
-Ben
------- End of Forwarded Message
[ PRTG can indeed generate all sorts of interesting stats, tables,
and graphs. It's colorful, too!
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]