I am thinking of switching to another ISP to save a bit if cash as I have been with the same one for a long time. Our current Internet account appears to be unlimited but the deals I have been looking at are all limited in some way. I have no idea how much we download each month.
We have a Netgear router which has a statistics page which shows me the length of time the router has been on and the number of packets received and transmitted. We have fairly frequent powercuts (due to a faulty iron tripping the RCD) so the current up time is about 7 days. How can I convert the number of packets to Gbytes?
Currently the router is showing 1540880 TxPkts and 916329 RxPkts for LAN and 6521255 TxPkts , 4673879 RxPkts for WLAN (and I have no idea what that al means!)
Thanks
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Best & easiest will be to install tbbmeter (its free)...
www.thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html
And then in a month you'll know for sure.
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Trouble is we have a couple of laptops, my wife works at home sometimes on her company laptop and we sometimes watch iPlayer on the TV which conects directly to the internet. Because of all this I thought looking at the router was the way to go
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Who is your current ISP? they should be able to provide the info. Talk Talk provide it in your account details page.
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What Zero said. When I called Virgin to re-negotiate my package the chap was able to tell me right away what my usage was over the past month, thus frightening me off any capped deals!!
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 29 Oct 12 at 22:38
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Currently with Orange but cannot find any info on how much we use
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Here, perhaps?
web.orange.co.uk/p/membercentre/home
As an older deal yours will almost certainly be on much more favourable usage terms than you could possibly achieve now. So be careful with taking a cheaper deal and not liking usage caps - especially the change and adption of fair use.
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Well, I have just called Orange and they do not record how much I have been using. We are indeed on an unlimited package which costs £20 per month. Plusnet have a 10Gb deal for £6.50 or £14 for 60Gb (if I switch the phone to them as well). I quite like the idea of the £6.50 as we would save a load of cash on the phone as well, which is currently with BT.
Looks like I will have to come up with my own method - maybe reboot the router (setting all counters and clocks to zero), download something of known size and maybe watch an hour of iPlayer and see how many packets I have used. Crude but maybe better than nothing.
Or look for a chepaer unlimited deal of course.
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>> I quite like the idea of the £6.50 as we would save a load of cash on the phone as well, which is currently with BT.
Ask them two questions and get a written reply:
1. Can I keep my present number?
2. If I subsequently leave you for another provider, can I take my number with me?
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Don't most ISPs now provide unlimited usages (subject to a fair usage policy)?. Talk Talk certainly does even on its basic package.
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>> www.uswitch.com/broadband/compare/deals_and_offers/?gclid=CKaGk_m1qLMCFSnJtAodo2cAvQ
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I think the price comparison sites would do better to show the first year cost and then the second year cost after all the discounts have dropped out.
I for one cannot be faffed to change suppliers each year.
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>> I for one cannot be faffed to change suppliers each year.
It's generally the only way to beat the system though. Either that or phone them up and ask to be put through to cancellations and they'll then offer you a deal to stay with them.
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"I think the price comparison sites would do better to show the first year cost and then the second year cost after all the discounts have dropped out."
If you move your mouse over the "price details" it does show exactly that.
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Unfortunately, those packet figures are for usage on your wired and wireless local network.
You need the WAN usage figures.......
Is that a router and modem in one or are they seperate? You need to be looking at the modem use.
(LAN is Local Area Network, WLAN is the wireless bit. WAN is Wide Area Network - i.e. the bit pointing out into the rest of the world.).
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It is a Netgear router and modem together, I think. One unit that plugs into the phone socket and has 4 wired connections and an aerial for the wifi
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I`m caught in this trap, I have unlimited Broadband from AOL, but pay my line rental to BT. Because I choose to pay my line rental by cash at the Post office, B|T charge me nearly £6 extra for the privilege! I had a cursory look about some of the popular providers with a view to combining my line rental in with the monthly fee, but all seem to have a 10GB lid on them! so for now I`m stuck with BT to keep my unlimited usage package.
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How much Internet do we use at home - No FM2R
