Bandwidth Usage

[Moonshine]

Hi.

Could someone please tell me if there has been an overnight issue with BT or something, that hasn't updated the RSS Feed?

I've just checked my broadband usage this morning, and after three days it's showing if I continue at same rate, by the end of the month I will have used over 42GB, yet contradicts with the daily breakdown figures (as follows):-

I am almost certain I will not have used that amount of bandwidth at the end of the month!

Any help would be much appreciated to put my mind at rest.

Many thanks.

Moonshine.



During the time period 1 August 2008 to 3 August 2008 your bandwidth use was:

1.59 GB Download - (Peak: 1.16 GB | Off-Peak: 0.43 GB)
0.04 GB Upload - (Peak: 0.03 GB | Off-Peak: 0.01 GB)


These figures cover 2 days. If the same rate of usage continues for 31 days then the total for the month will be:

42.54 GB Download - (Peak: 35.84 GB | Off-Peak: 6.7 GB)
1.24 GB Upload - (Peak: 1.07 GB | Off-Peak: 0.17 GB)


* Peak times are 9:00am to midnight - Off-Peak times are midnight to 9:00am

* Bandwidth allowance is calculated from the 1st day of the month i.e. the allowance covers the calendar month rather than your 'Billing' month (Billing Month being 30 days from the date that you pay for your subscription).

Download bandwidth figures



August 2008July 2008June 2008





Bandwidth Updates via RSS

Monthly Graph
Monthly Bandwidth Graph




August 2008July 2008June 2008





Daily Breakdown
Day
Download (GB)
Upload (GB)
Peak (GB)*
Off-Peak (GB)*

1
0.78
0.02
0.44
0.34

2
0.81
0.02
0.71
0.1

3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

Total:
1.59
0.04
1.16
0.43



August 2008July 2008June 2008

[Rik]

My figures are fine, the maths in yours look off by a considerable margin. If they're not 'normal' tomorrow, let support know, they may need to kick the calculator.

[Moonshine]

Thanks Rik, will do.

[Simon]

TBH, the bandwidth monitor does seem more accurate as the month goes on.  As we're only on the third day, I would guess this to be a knee-jerk reaction, which will settle down over the next few days, and is nothing to worry about.  Of course, if you are concerned that something unknown is using your bandwidth, you should contact IDNet to get them to check it out. 

[Inactive]

I agree Simon, mine always looks out of balance on the first couple of days of each month, it seems to sort itself out in time.

[Moonshine]

Hi

Thought I'd give an update.  The figure being shown as the total for the month has now decreased to just over 20GB - which I still think is very high, since I don't usually use more than about 15GB per month.  Since we're now in day 5 of the month, I thought this would have settled down by now.

I have emailed support with my concerns a couple of times, but they seem to think it's the time of checking.  I don't recall it being this high so early on last month, which is why I'm a bit worried.  Seriously, I have barely used the internet these last few days, for fear of the bandwidth usage increasing even more so!  Maybe my understanding of this whole bandwidth monitor thing is pretty minimal, but I'm wondering when I am likely to see it balance out.  What I really don't understand is that I am not even using anywhere near 1GB per day, so how it has worked out a monthly usage of over 20 is beyond me.  For example, the last couple of days, I've only used about 0.20GB per day (according to the daily breakdown).  Yet it still says if I continue at this rate, I will have used over 20GB for the month.

Does anyone know exactly how they work it out?  Is it an average taken from a few days, or is it just taken from the first day of the month?

I am really confused!  I know people keep telling me not to worry, but I guess "worry" is my middle name, and I really think it should be much lower!!  I don't have a wireless connection, so think it's unlikely someone is hacking my router.

Any ideas, anyone??!!!

Many thanks.

Moonshine.

[Rik]

If the actual usage looks OK, don't worry about it. I don't know exactly how they calculate the projection, but it's always off in the first few days of the month, mine was way out yesterday. If you have one 'high' day in the period, it seems to get a higher weighting in the calculation from what I can see.

[Glenn]

I think it takes how much you have downloaded in total for the month, divides that by the number of days that have past then multiplies the result by the days in the month, if that makes sense.

Amount of data downloaded/days in to the month x number of days in the month

So if you download say 3Gb on 1st August then 3 x 31 would be a predicted download of 93Gb in the month, but if on the 2nd you download nothing then it will drop to 45Gb/month

[Steve]

I would just keep a check on your daily usage each day and see if that equates to your perceived usage. As previous posts have stated the monthly estimator can be way off the mark at the start of each month. There was an issue recently when part of the BT network failed and the usage monitor was clearly wrong but the evidence was clear to see in the daily breakdown figures.

I do find the predictor somewhat restrictive (as I do worry about excess usage) and find myself trying to reign back the figures during the first part of the month which as a consequence often leaves me well under the limit at the end of the month

[Rik]

I'm not sure it's that simple, Glenn. I've just picked up today's RSS feed:

0.28 GB Download - (Peak: 0.28 GB | Off-Peak: 0.0 GB)
0.03 GB Upload - (Peak: 0.03 GB | Off-Peak: 0.0 GB)


These figures cover 4 days. If the same rate of usage continues for 31 days then the total for the month will be:

2.93 GB Download - (Peak: 2.89 GB | Off-Peak: 0.04 GB)
0.3 GB Upload - (Peak: 0.29 GB | Off-Peak: 0.01 GB)

If the data is for four days, then 0.7*31 = 2.17GB. On top of that, the upload figure doesn't increase, but does show an adjustment between peak and off peak.

[Moonshine]

Thanks again for all your responses.

These are the most up to date figures, which seem to have changed slightly again:

Current Usage
During the time period 1 August 2008 to 5 August 2008 your bandwidth use was:
2.11 GB Download - (Peak: 1.68 GB | Off-Peak: 0.43 GB)
0.06 GB Upload - (Peak: 0.05 GB | Off-Peak: 0.01 GB)
These figures cover 4 days. If the same rate of usage continues for 31 days then the total for the month will be:
20.69 GB Download - (Peak: 17.33 GB | Off-Peak: 3.36 GB)
0.65 GB Upload - (Peak: 0.56 GB | Off-Peak: 0.09 GB)

Day   Download (GB)   Upload (GB)   Peak (GB)*   Off-Peak (GB)*
1   0.78   0.02   0.44   0.34
2   0.81   0.02   0.71   0.1
3   0.21   0.01   0.21   0.0
4   0.31   0.01   0.31   0.0
5   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
Total:   2.11   0.06   1.68   0.43

Does this make sense to anyone, and does it look normal upon comparing the daily figures to the total for the month??

Should I be alerting support again, or am I just worrying for nothing?

Thanks for all the input.

Moonshine.

[Rik]

The total is right, I make it about 16.5GB for the month on that basis. On the first couple of days alone, it should have averaged to 25GB.

[Moonshine]

Thanks Rik.

16.5Gb for the month sounds much better!  I'm assuming that the first couple of days' figures have meant that the estimated total has been thrown out then.  Hopefully, I'm worrying for nothing after all, and it will all sort itself out eventually.

Thanks again for all your support.

Moonshine.

[Rik]

NP. I never take much notice of the projection for the first week. After that it seems to become reasonably accurate.

[Sebby]

Exactly. If you download heavily(ish) for a couple of days, it's potentially going to look like you may go over your allowance if the same kind of usage applies to the rest of the month.

[vitriol]

I never take much notice of it, it's always wildly innacurate especially at the start of a month.  You could always install a bandwidth monitoring tool if it is worrying you that much.

[Inactive]

  I always ignore it, I have yet to go over my allowance.

[vitriol]

A quick google has revealed a freebie one you might want to try.  It's very basic showing graphical representations of you upload / download speeds.  The logs keep tabs on your download / upload use.

Bandwidth Monitor Lite

[Rik]

Nice find. 

[Ann]

Mine is rubbish too.  It seems to take more notice of the last day or so rather than the whole.  It doesn't seem to know that my housemate has Mondays and Tuesdays off so usage always goes up then, I don't understand why it doesn't know that.. computers know everything!

[Rik]

It knows, Ann, but it's trying to be discrete.

[Simon]

I always ignore it, I have yet to go over my allowance.

Same here, In. 

[vitriol]

With my last isp (Nildram) I could set up email notifications so at a predetermined limit set by me an email would be sent to a mail address of my choice.  Not sure if IDNet do something similar, had a quick look in the portal but couldn't see anything.  Is it a part of the RSS feed?

[Simon]

I don't know for sure either, but I think it's doubtful.  Can't comment on the RSS feed, as I don't use it.

[Rik]

With my last isp (Nildram) I could set up email notifications so at a predetermined limit set by me an email would be sent to a mail address of my choice.  Not sure if IDNet do something similar, had a quick look in the portal but couldn't see anything.  Is it a part of the RSS feed?

It happens regardless of whether you have the RSS feed selected, Vit. You don't have to set it up, though, it's automatic.

[Lance]

IDNet don't offer anything like that. I'm not sure how often the systems checks on projected usage, but you'll get an email whenever it checks and it projects usage higher than your allowance.

The RSS feed gives the information Rik posted in reply 9, as well as a daily peak/off peak usage.

[Moonshine]

I appreciate all the responses, and am thankful there appear to be so many knowledgeable people to help out here.  It's very refreshing knowing there's always the forum to turn to when I haven't got a clue what I'm doing (which is often!).

Cheers all.

[Rik]

We're glad to help.

[Sebby]

Ditto.

[esh]

If you did 1.59 GB down from 1st to 3rd of Aug (that's 2 days) that would mean strictly that the mean download per day was 1.59/2.0 = 0.795 GB/day. So your prediction would logically be 0.795*29+1.59 GB = 24.645 GB down in 31 days. Clearly it shows 40GB odd. Interestingly if it treated the time lapse as 1 day, not 2 days then the sum is 1.59*30+1.59 = 49GB in 31 days.

Later on you show between 1st and 5th of Aug (4 days). 2.11 GB / 4.0 days = 0.5275 GB/day. So I would expect 0.5275*27+2.11 = 16.35 GB in 31 days. If it treated that as 3 days, not 4 then you end up with 21 GB or so, which again is closer to what it is predicting on there. Is it off slightly? Perhaps. If you think about it, a sum of the form v/(x-1) means that the difference of 1 day becomes negligible as x (the total number of days) grows larger. So I agree with the others on the fact it's probably assuming a slightly different time lapse to what we think it is. Just guessing, though.

[Rik]

I'm sure you're right, Esh - the only day on which it's really accurate is the last day of the month.

[Inactive]

I'm sure you're right, Esh - the only day on which it's really accurate is the last day of the month.

...and then it's too late to worry about.

[Rik]

Yup. 

[Lance]

I think that some of the problem is that the radius servers are sometimes slow to pass on the information.

[Moonshine]

I think I've just decided to ignore the figures and not worry about them until the end of the month!  I lack the intelligence and know-how of trying to fathom out exactly how the figures are projected (plus I haven't the patience!), and frankly, since my brain usually resembles a bundle of tangled raffia when it comes to figures, it's best I leave them to the rest of you to ponder over!!  That said, I'll probably be equally mystified at the beginning of next month with my projected figure of 50GB+, until it decides to smooth itself out again.  I think I'll go back to worrying about how to pay my gas bill.....

Thanks again for the support everyone.

Moonshine.

[Rik]

If you are getting close, IDNet will advise you by email.

[Sukhdeep]

Spam removed.