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[freebeerz]

Hi,

I am trying to get some stats about my internet traffic usage. I have multiple LAN and WLAN devices so I can't just use a simple bandwidth monitoring app on a PC behind the router. My ISP doesn't provide any traffic stats either. The DIR-655 gives packet numbers in the stats section, but unfortunately no indication of the byte size of these packets.

Does anyone know what size they are? Maybe the size is dynamic and traffic in bytes can't be inferred from the number of packets?

As a side note, I understand that DLINK reserves features like traffic statistics and SNMP to more expensive products, but I am rather disappointed that they didn't include at least a simple byte counter in a home product.

Thanks
-- freebeerz

[ttmcmurry]

I would assume it's 1518 bytes per packet leaving the WAN port.  It wouldn't be standard practice to spit out jumbo frames at a Cable/DSL modem.

[bluenote]

Unfortunately you can't bank on that for the purposes of calculation, since its going to be ~1500 or *LESS*.   
I could have sworn there was somewhere a better counter for this router, but Im afraid Im drawing a blank atm.

[EddieZ]

You could aslso blame the modem...An A-quality modem has this basic feature.
And by the way, what would you need a byte counter for?

[Reinvented]

You could aslso blame the modem...An A-quality modem has this basic feature.
And by the way, what would you need a byte counter for?

I would think that Motorola modems are top notch modems and very reliable.
And for those of us who actually live in the United States, our ISP's have begun implementing bandwidth caps. And some of us are heavy downloaders, and need to monitor this to prevent unnecessary charges - especially with the economy and high price broadband as it is.

That's why.

[freebeerz]

You could aslso blame the modem...An A-quality modem has this basic feature.
And by the way, what would you need a byte counter for?

Unfortunately I have no control over the cable modem as it's supplied by the ISP (Virgin Media in the UK) and completely locked down. I need a byte counter because my ISP throttles bandwidth once a certain threshold has been hit, and currently I have absolutely no idea how much I use. I have a few different devices on my LAN so I can't just run a simple counter on a single machine, and anyway I can't run individual counters on stuff like my VOIP phone or internet radio...

I am now thinking about buying a cheap WRT54 router and installing dd-wrt on it to provide SNMP stats and just use the DIR-655 as a simple switch+wifi AP behind it. What a waste of great hardware though. A pity that once again marketing triumphs over engineering...

-- freebeerz

[EddieZ]

I would be very surprised if your VOIP datastream would be throttled. A byte count on the router, how pragmatic it would seem, would also not be very reliable. Once the router is rebooted the count will disappear (reset) and locking a byte count to stay intact is close to impossible without extra hardware on the motherboard. So there would be some more practical objections towards really using this, because some settings need a reboot on the router. This ofcourse will also apply to a DD WRT-ed router but not in case you just add it for this sole purpose because it won't need a reboot. So if you want accurate/reliable data (which you wanted, looking at the objections towards packet counting)

But you can always send a feature request, asking Dlink to change packet count into byte count. Which ofcourse will also be reset once rebooted. And that cannot be changed, not even with other brands.

I don't want to spoil your fun, but I am trying to give you a realistic feedback on your requirement, since you seem to like blaming the manufacturer for things that are not realistic in the first place 

[ttmcmurry]

I realized when I hit post that someone would inevitably say the size of the packets wouldn't always be 1518 bytes.     Unless freebeerz puts a switch and a packet capturing application between his DIR-655 and modem, then there is no way to get an absolutely accurate measurement.  All you can do is make an assumption that packets received (or transferred) x 1518 = some quantity of data.  You'll always get the MAX value.

Perhaps if freeberz contacts his ISP, they should be able to give him a bandwidth usage report.  If I were a business I'd expect such a monthly report anyway. 

[freebeerz]

Thanks everyone for the useful input.

@EddieZ: the counter resetting to 0 isn't a big issue as I intended to use something like MRTG and a simple script to scrape the stats page every minute. Worst case, I'd lose only one minute worth of traffic.
I don't understand why the manufacturer thought that a relatively meaningless packet counter would be preferable to a bytes counter. I searched the forums before asking about it and I've seen that I'm not the only one who'd like this feature. I shall send a formal request to DLINK.

@ttmcmurry: Indeed, I also thought about using a managed bridge between the DIR-655 and the Cable Modem. I am tempted to get an old router that can be flashed with dd-wrt just for that, but I see it as wasteful especially when I know that the DIR-655 is perfectly capable of counting bytes except it doesn't report it! Grrr...
And unfortunately my ISP isn't willing to provide any bandwidth report: they don't cap but only throttle for a few hours once a daily threshold is reached, so I guess they don't see it as a requirement for their service...

Besides that I really like the 655... If they did a version up to twice as expensive with full SNMP stats I'd go for it!

-- freebeerz