# How do I know my Internet usage on an always-on cable connection? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770 "2006-08-07T22:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/1 "2006-08-07T22:45:15Z")
Currently I have internet via cable provider. I will be moving to the country where it is not available. However I have signed up for a satellite connection. The satellite provider allows a limited amount of download per month after which the company throttles your connection to 128K. I am trying to get a general idea of my usage, but when I view my current connections status, Windows reports in packets received/sent not bytes received. Is there any way to convert the number of packets into MBytes of data? Or is there some way to have the connection status report back in bytes instead of packets like the dial-up status connections do? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/2 "2006-08-07T23:58:31Z")
Install the 30-day trial of [BWMeter](http://www.desksoft.com/BWMeter.htm). ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/3 "2006-08-08T01:00:22Z")
Thanks, yoyodyne. I’ll give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/4 "2006-08-08T01:02:21Z")
You can use [PRTG](http://www.paessler.com/prtg) and let it run for a week. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/5 "2006-08-08T05:55:52Z")
From [The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities:](http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm#35) > [@](#): > > **35. Best Free Download/Upload Meter** > NetMeter [1] shows upload and download speeds, along with cumulative weekly and monthly volumes and projected values. The program reminds me in many ways of Hagel’s excellent $20 shareware product [“DU Meter.”](http://www.dumeter.com/) It’s freeware and works with all Windows versions. In essence, everything you really need for nix. A good second choice if you have the Microsoft .NET package already installed on your PC is BitMeter II from Codebox Software [2] . It’s a little more feature rich than NetMeter but uses a tad more of your PCs resources to deliver those features. > > =\>index > > [1] [http://readerror.gmxhome.de/](http://readerror.gmxhome.de/) (601KB) > [2] [http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2](http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2) (806KB) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/6 "2006-08-08T13:07:06Z")
Who’s the satellite provider? I have WildBlue, and they have an admin page where you can track, among other things, your bandwidth over the last three months. I’ve never even come close to the limit (but then again, I’m not a big downloader). ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-know-my-internet-usage-on-an-always-on-cable-connection/367770/7 "2006-08-09T19:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] Who’s the satellite provider? I have WildBlue, and they have an admin page where you can track, among other things, your bandwidth over the last three months. I’ve never even come close to the limit (but then again, I’m not a big downloader). [/QUOTE] I haven’t moved yet, but I will have WildBlue —it’s already installed. I wanted to see what my current usage averages. How is WildBlue? I’m looking forward to checking it out this weekend.