Utility keeping track of internet traffic?!...

[Bengt77]

Hey all, I have a (hopefully simple) question. At home I share an internet connection (ADSL) with my neighbour. That's all fine and dandy, but the account subscription he has, has an 8GB data limit. We're not sure yet wether that's both up- and download or only download (though the former would be stupid, if you ask me), but this month, he (my neighbour) had to pay extra, because the limit had been exceeded.

Therefore, I'm now trying to find an application or utility that keeps track of all internet and network traffic and can run in the background without bugging me (too much). It should be able to track and count both the up- and download data packages (and list them in MB and GB amounts) and ultimately warn me when reaching a certain (user-defineable) number. And, but maybe that's asking for too much, I'd really like it if such a tool would cost me nothing.

Does anybody know of such a utility? If it could help me to avoid another €70 fee (per person!), that would be great. So thanks in advance.

 

[varmit]

X Resource Graph

X Resource Graph, on the networking part, it can tell you how much has come in an out of your computer since it started, in total bandwidth. Even if you start it after your computer has been on for awhile. So I think somewhere, the information is stored by the OS.

 

[Elan0204]

I've never used the program varmit recommended myself, but since I was reading about it, I figured I'd provide a link for easier access.

X Resource Graph

 

[stoid]

Activity Viewer's Network tab will tell you your incoming and outgoing usage since you logged in.

 

[Bengt77]

Activity Viewer's Network tab will tell you your incoming and outgoing usage since you logged in.

Cool! I never really used that application before. Well, I've stared at the graph for CPU-usage before, but I've never looked beyond that. Thank you for the tip. But then, another question (which Help couldn't answer), are the numbers given for network traffic for one day or are they totals? Is it a cumulative counter?

Thanks for the tip!

 

[mainstreetmark]

on a similar topic, i've always been hunting for an application that shows which applications are doing the internet talking. Little Snitch is annoying and I could never get ntop to work very well.

 

[Stike]

I am having the same problem here with a 6000 MB limit per month.
I wish there was an app which was adding the downloads and then warns if only xyz MB would be left or something. Longer than over the period of a restart, of course.
It would help me to save a lot of money

 

[spookykids]

MenuMeters works like a charm doing just that. I recommend getting this application. It does so much more and is really handy to have.

Just so you know, the information gets wiped away everytime you reboot/shut down your machine.

 

[Stike]

Good to know, but I thought there would be something more usable - and I could turn off the machine instead of letting it sleep...

The ideal "Traffic limiter" app would do this:
- launches in the background when logging in
- count the traffic on various network ports
- compare it to a monthly limit every few minutes or seconds.. blah
- report a warning if it comes close
- save the counter if the computer is shut down.
edit: - and resets the counter at the beginning of the month, for example

Doesnt sound too difficult... heck, if I only could code this..

 

[wPod]

Activity Viewer's Network tab will tell you your incoming and outgoing usage since you logged in.

cool. i use activity monitor all the time but never took a peek a the network tab. but i became tremendously woried when i saw that my data out is about 100KB/s. and with an uptime of only three days my data out is 2.94GB while my data in is only 122.79MB. i thought someone was stealing all of my data. so i started closing all my aps to see if one of them was reponsible. ichat, no; mail, no; safari, no; a long shot. . . iCal, no; the only thing left is iTunes. . .what is itunes doing sending out 100or so MB/s ?! heh thats right im streaming to my airport express base station! so i closed it an sure eough i was no longer sending out any data. have i mentioned recently that airport express rocks?!

 

[kant]

a 6000 MB limit per month

Holy hidden fees Batman!

I go through that in a week.

 

[schmidty11]

Hidden Fee's?

Holy hidden fees Batman!

I go through that in a week.

granted this post was 5 years ago, but I use that in a day if not 3/4's of a day.

 

[sgelmi]

Surplus Meter

Look for Surplus Meter from SkoobySorft. Runs in the background, you can set set when the month starts and a warning limit alarm. Does the math for you. However it also takes into account local network traffic, but there's a pause button.

How to use it

Where to download it

update: forgot to mention it's a freeware

 

[Ashka]

+ Surplus Meter is great.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29282