How to find the bandwidth my wifi is using?

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linuxwannabe
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How to find the bandwidth my wifi is using?

#1 Post by linuxwannabe »

Hi,
I'm new here and new to linux. I'm running puppy wary 5.3 off a dvd, I don't understand much but I've managed to connect to the internet with a hauwei data stick. My question is, how do I see how much bandwidth I'm using? My provider is Wind Mobile if that makes a difference.

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Flash
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#2 Post by Flash »

Do you mean bandwidth as in MB/sec, or do you mean the total data downloaded during this billing period, as in GB?

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#3 Post by linuxwannabe »

Yes I mean MB/sec so I can keep track on how much I'm using during a connection.

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Flash
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#4 Post by Flash »

I don't know the answer to your question, but I don't think it matters. I don't think there's any need to monitor your bandwidth because the mother ship does that for you. You get what it will give you, and your transmitter sends at whatever speed the mother ship tells it to. I could be wrong.

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Barkin
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#5 Post by Barkin »

Flash wrote:I don't know the answer to your question, but I don't think it matters ...
You can use more than your contract allows within a specified period of time, and have to pay a penalty , e.g. £5 for each 5Gb, (or part thereof), over your agreed limit.

The magic phrase is "bandwidth monitoring tools for Linux" ...
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=490582#490582
Last edited by Barkin on Sun 03 May 2015, 04:03, edited 1 time in total.

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#6 Post by linuxwannabe »

Yes, I know that but I need to monitor my usage so that I don't use it all up before my next billing cycle begins. You know what I mean?

Thanks for that link barkin, I'll check it out. Hope it's not over my head.

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Flash
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#7 Post by Flash »

So you really wanted to determine the total data downloaded over a given period, not the instantaneous bandwidth usage.

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#8 Post by linuxwannabe »

I want to know how much bandwidth I'm using as I'm connected to the internet so I'll have enough to get me to the next billing cycle.

The data stick has a management utility for checking daily, monthly and yearly usage. Would there be away to get it installed on puppy? The stick only gives windows installation instructions so I'm assuming not, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

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#9 Post by starhawk »

WINE (the Windows Emulator) is available here --> http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=88711

You probably want version 1.6.2...

I know a little of how you feel, though. Mom & I have Verizon. We're lucky to have an old, grandfathered unlimited plan...

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Barkin
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#10 Post by Barkin »

starhawk wrote:WINE (the Windows Emulator) is available here --> http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=88711
I don't think a bandwidth-monitor will work properly on WINE.
You'd have to have WINE running all the time while using Linux, and I'm not sure the data would be survive a reboot, [ i.e. it would "forget" your previous usage and start counting from scratch again after a restart ].

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bigpup
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#11 Post by bigpup »

What do you see if you hover the mouse pointer over the network icon in the taskbar?

Mine shows me this, but I am not too sure if you can trust what it says.
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mikeb
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#12 Post by mikeb »

If memory serves that usage monitor stores the info in /var so if thats preserved then it is...depends on yer puppy setup....don't quote on that one i only looked briefly a while ago and i doubt wine would work for the windows monitor since its a hardware device function.

I have a network monitor in XFCE4 so not much use to you but if I log into my 3g account which I use for mobile broadband then they tell me how much data I have used...is that not available with your provider?

mike

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#13 Post by linuxwannabe »

Yes_I_can_log_in_to_my_provider_but_that's_too_cumbersome.
What_does_Rx_and_Tx_mean?_I_see_that_when_I_hover_over_the_network_icon.
How_do_I_do_a_printscreen?

Sorry,_I'm_on_a_laptop_with_busted_spacebar.

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#14 Post by rcrsn51 »

If you are using Wary 5.3, those RX/TX numbers are not going to be reliable. There was a long-standing bug in the usage monitor once the values got large. It was only fixed in very recent Puppies.

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Moat
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#15 Post by Moat »

Conky, on it's own, can monitor network data totals transmitted/received per session - but the data gets tossed when rebooting.

For saving that data between sessions/reboots, apparently conky with vnstat can work.

Since Pwidgets config files are really conky configs, a bit of added code to an existing, working Pwidgets config should do the trick. Here's a couple of threads that might get you going...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1682010

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1801366

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=52649

Hmm... this has me thinking - a conky w/vnstat and a simple little script to flush the totals at the end of the month (looks like vnstat --rebuildtotal - either via cron or triggered manually by an associated .desktop file, so available from the menu) - would be pretty slick...

I'm on Precise 5.7.1, and vnstat appears available in the repos (quite small with no dependencies).

Bob

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bigpup
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#16 Post by bigpup »

RX - Received data

TX - Transmitted data
rcrsn51 wrote:If you are using Wary 5.3, those RX/TX numbers are not going to be reliable. There was a long-standing bug in the usage monitor once the values got large. It was only fixed in very recent Puppies.
Remember how big before they start reading wrong?

He may not be dealing with really big amounts.
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#17 Post by rcrsn51 »

The discussion about network_tray is here. IIRC, the critical number is 2 GB.

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#18 Post by bigpup »

So, do you think this pet would fix his version?
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 923#807923
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linuxwannabe
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#19 Post by linuxwannabe »

Thanks very much everyone for the helpful info, I only get 1 gig per month so I guess the tray stats will be fine for me. ("she" by the way).

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#20 Post by bigpup »

Just make sure it starts the count over (resets to 0) at the beginning of the new month.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
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