Author Topic: IDEA: meter my bandwidth during specific daily interval each month (Read 34013 times)

nudone · « **on:** May 11, 2006, 04:00 PM »

i'm in the UK. a current trend here is for internet service providers to limit the download/upload limit you have each month - you pay more to transfer more or sometimes pay a hefty amount for truly unlimited (i.e. Zen).

my isp has decided that they are going to monitor the hours of 4pm to 12midnight - during this period the bandwidth is monitored and if you exceed a certain amount during the month then restrictions are enforced on your account. (currently they are actually monitoring from 8am to 12 midnight so it's even worse.)

the download/upload limit that is set on my account at the moment is 30 gig max (email warnings are sent at 24 gig). this isn't so terrible as i can download things through the night without any bandwidth restrictions but i have once exceeded their 30 gig limit and don't really want to do it again - they will expect me to upgrade my account - i pay £23 a month already so it's not on the cheap side here in the UK.

anyway, enough introduction, what i'd like is just a little meter running in the system tray that displays how much i've uploaded and downloaded - combined, during the hours of 4pm to 12midnight. this would need to start at zero each month and then accumulate until it was reset again the following month (or could be manually reset).

i'm hoping this could be done using autohotkey so that the script could be easily changed or included inside another ahk script. if possible, if the script could also output to a txt file i could then set samurise to read the output data into a meter i could create - i have a tiny samurise display running at all times that's on top of all other windows that would be just right to show the bandwidth level.

i've already checked to see if samurize could do the task i'm requesting but the problem is the accumulative specific interval monitoring.

hope that is enough info. a DC credits reward is on offer, of course.

thanks.

Cpilot · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2006, 04:45 PM »

As much fun as it would be to write one, maybe you can try this one out and see if it works for you.
ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter 1.0 (Freeware)

(btw I got unlimited dsl for 21.99 U.S. a month

)

jgpaiva · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2006, 04:49 PM »

(btw I got unlimited dsl for 21.99 U.S. a month )
-Cpilot (May 11, 2006, 04:45 PM)

Gerome · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2006, 04:51 PM »

Hi,

I got a 8 Mb DSL unlimited band for 15 Euro per month ( between $17 to $20 )

Cpilot · « **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2006, 05:16 PM »

I got a 8 Mb DSL unlimited band for 15 Euro per month ( between $17 to $20 )

About 4 years ago when I first got dsl it cost me 35.00 U.S. a month, then cable got into the act and other plans by other companies were offered. The competitive pressure caused the prices to drop. Cable internet here is still high in comparison even though it's faster. But I believe that it will feel the pressure shortly and have to offer cable access cheaper.
I would pay a little more if the phone company would unbundle dsl and telephone service. It seems like a waste to pay for a land line and cell service.

nudone · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2006, 01:20 AM »

thanks for the link, Cpilot.

the problem is with the current bandwidth meters is that they monitor the whole period that the computer is online.

i need it to monitor between specific hours - outside of those hours i can download/upload an unlimited amount without penalities from my isp.

maybe instead of writing a little program to do what i originally asked for, i only need a util that will turn on a typical bandwidth monitor at a specific time - and then turn it off at a later set time each day. providing the bandwidth monitor keeps a running total it would work the same as my original request.

any suggestions for a little util to run other apps by specified times?

thanks again...

edit:

just tried 'ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter' - very buggy on my system: strange output and won't unlock itself from its screen position.

Cpilot · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2006, 01:32 AM »

just tried 'ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter' - very buggy on my system: strange output and won't unlock itself from its screen position.

Well it was a stab in the dark.

Let me do some research.

What OS do you have?

brotherS · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2006, 01:56 AM »

the problem is with the current bandwidth meters is that they monitor the whole period that the computer is online.

i need it to monitor between specific hours - outside of those hours i can download/upload an unlimited amount without penalities from my isp.

maybe instead of writing a little program to do what i originally asked for, i only need a util that will turn on a typical bandwidth monitor at a specific time - and then turn it off at a later set time each day. providing the bandwidth monitor keeps a running total it would work the same as my original request.

any suggestions for a little util to run other apps by specified times?
-nudone (May 12, 2006, 01:20 AM)

Hi nudone,

you need to get NetMeter! It's an excellent free tool with a 4.8/5 FF/BN rating! Get it at http://fileforum.bet...etMeter/1058844763/1

If you can't find an app to run it only while your ISP makes you suffer, AHK would be a possible solution for that problem.

nudone · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2006, 07:34 AM »

thanks for the suggestion, i've used 'netmeter' in the past but i'll try it again and see if it has the cumulative bandwidth feature i'm after.

brotherS · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2006, 08:26 AM »

thanks for the suggestion, i've used 'netmeter' in the past but i'll try it again and see if it has the cumulative bandwidth feature i'm after.
-nudone (May 12, 2006, 07:34 AM)

It does. Just right-click its GUI or tray icon --> Totals --> Monthly Reports

nudone · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2006, 08:50 AM »

ah yes, so i see - just installed it.

all i need now is the ahk script to only let 'netmeter' run at the required times...

brotherS · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2006, 09:01 AM »

all i need now is the ahk script to only let 'netmeter' run at the required times...
-nudone (May 12, 2006, 08:50 AM)

Skrommel or jgpaiva should be able to whip something up in no time

Something like "check if NetMeter is running; if time = X to Y make sure it does; if not quit NetMeter/don't start it" probably...

skrommel · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2006, 04:14 PM »

Try this one!

OpeningHours - Runs a program when inside a certain time interval, and closes it when outside.

- Command line:
OpeningHours.exe <part of program path> start=<start time HHMM> end=<end time HHMM> [ checkdelay=<time between checks in ms> run=<0=Don't run, 1=Run> close=<0=Don't close, 1=Close> kill=<0=Don't kill, 1=Kill> killdelay=<time to wait before killing a task in ms> hide=<1=Hide from the tray, 0=Show in the tray> ]

- Example:
OpeningHours.exe \Notepad.exe start=1200 end=2400 checkdelay=1000 run=1 close=1 kill=1 killdelay=5000 hide=0

You'll find the downloads and more info at 1 Hour Software by Skrommel.

Skrommel

KenR · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2006, 04:31 PM »

It's not free (or wasn't when I bought it), but dumeter (www.dumeter.com) is very good.

nudone · « **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2006, 01:18 AM »

thanks, skrommel, that looks perfect.

thanks for the link, KPR, i'll try it but 'netmeter' look pretty much the same and IS free.

mouser · « **Reply #15 on:** May 13, 2006, 01:45 AM »

skrommel that looks very useful.

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IQLover · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2006, 04:46 AM »

Hi cpilot,

I downloaded the free ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter, but I don`t think that it is very useful since I couldn`t find an option to RESET the measured values!!!

Regards
Arturo

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2006, 04:50 AM »

the download/upload limit that is set on my account at the moment is 30 gig max (email warnings are sent at 24 gig). this isn't so terrible as i can download things through the night without any bandwidth restrictions but i have once exceeded their 30 gig limit and don't really want to do it again - they will expect me to upgrade my account - i pay £23 a month already so it's not on the cheap side here in the UK.
-nudone (May 11, 2006, 04:00 PM)

I'm amazed - what on earth are you downloading ?? I have a 40Gb bandwidth account and never managed to get close and I thought I was getting pretty bad (there seems to be something downloading a lot of the time on my system!).

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #18 on:** May 24, 2006, 05:00 AM »

You could use DUMeter (www.dumeter.com) which is a download and upload monitor. You can set it to give you a warning when a certain amount has been transferred (up, down or both) this day, week, month so by using a scheduler to start the program at the right time it could warn you when your bandwidth restriction is looming. Only drawback is it $19.95

(Sorry just noticed someone else has already mentioned this - I have only read this thread today and skipped through it)

nudone · « **Reply #19 on:** May 24, 2006, 06:35 AM »

my isp has now changed the 'peak time' interval so now i just need to monitor my bandwidth between 4pm and 12 midnight. they provide a webpage that displays my current usage - with amounts broken down between what types of network traffic it is, so i don't really need a special util anymore to monitor things.

i sometimes don't download anything at all - the most i think in one month was 80 gig. sometimes i just get the urge to download everything i can find (to justify to myself what i pay my isp). it's easy to get the gig downloads going when you download tv series and game demos/videos, etc.