Usage & Allowances

I came across a problem the other day that I hadn't experienced before - i.e. going beyond the monthly allowance.
As a result of this, my ISP cut the download and upload speeds drastically, without any warning. And it took me a few days to discover the reason. At that point, I agreed with the ISP that they should put me onto a flexible arrangement - adding 2GB every time I went beyond the limit and being charged accordingly.
Nine days after setting up this arrangement, I received an email telling that they had added a further 2GB to my allowance. I was somewhat taken aback by this further increase and asked them for a breakdown of usage. When this eventually came, I was surprised to discover that I had used 1GB in one day.
My question is in two parts:-
1. Is there an industry standard mechanism which consumers can use to estimate broadband usage over a period of time ?
2. Are there any regulatory controls over ISPs to ensure the accuracy of their usage figures?

Wagstaff

1 - There are several small downloads that will record your usage if you have only one computer. If you have more than one computer then you can run these on each unless you pass a lot of stuff between them.

tbbMeter from the main site of these forums is quite good. Netmeter is also highly recommended by others.

tbbMeter is being developed further to handle the local network problem above but I've no idea when that will come along.

2 - Not that I am aware of.

Many thanks for the feedback, Bob.
I'll try the meters you recommend. One of the questions I asked the ISP was: "What type of usage gobbles up the allowance - e.g. 1GB in one day?" I didn't get an answer to this, but I assume that certain activities on the Internet are more costly than others.
Anyway, thanks once again for the advice.

Wagstaff

Streaming TV catchup or live sports feeds is quite heavy over a few hours. Any film downloads of course. Start getting too active on eBay and all those little pictures start to add up.

I don't know about the social websites.

Also video calls via Skype & similar uses a lot of bandwidth.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

Also video calls via Skype & similar uses a lot of bandwidth.

Not really, because the average line can't upload much more than 500kbps, although some LLU services can go up to 1300kbps, but they're still the exception rather than the rule.

e.g. 1GB in one day

P2P is the greediest type of application and most likely to account for that.

What sort of activities do you use the PC for....
That would help to point answer to your question.

Include in that anything any kids may do....

I know my daughter uses facebook a lot and if viewing pic's it can take a lot of bandwidth up.

I'm not sure what P2P is, Phil.
I've found two definitions: the "path-to-profitability" in relation to Internet startups; and "peer-to-peer" file-sharing. Neither of which I really understand, so not part of my general Internet activity.

Wagstaff

peer to peer or pirate to pirate is perhaps more accurate. Any file "sharing" software like Limewire, Bearshare, µTorrent etc etc in use ?