One of the most important things for site owners nowadays is the bandwidth quota which they can use per month. If the bandwidth limit is exceeded, your internet provider might charge you for additional payment, or slow your Internet connection speed .
Browsing websites popular site (for example, Google or YouTube) and spending time on social media sites can badly influence the bandwidth usage. For it not to happen, you can monitor your Internet usage by means of usage monitoring software.
Bandwidth usage monitoring tools capabilities help administrators manage how that bandwidth is utilized and thus, reduce costs. Such tools give a clear, detailed picture of how much bandwidth goes into productive activities, and how much of it is wasted on useless browsing.
Using the usage monitoring software , you can detect network faults, or inappropriate access and monitor network performance, audit network usage.
Uncontrolled web activity can influence productivity, lead to malware infections, increase costs and potential legal liabilities. Thus, many network usage monitoring tools use web filtering capabilities by combining application-based traffic filtering with a website categorization functionality. This way they perform accurate control over users online activity and the applications which they are running.
Bandwidth usage monitoring tools help to control the amount of data flowing through routers, monitor CPU utilization, check disk space usage,etc.
Here are some free programs which can help monitor your bandwidth and network usage ( for example, NetWorx, BitMeter 2, Cucusoft Net Guard).
Screenshot 1 – NetWorx usage monitoring tool
Such monitoring tools let users test download and upload speeds, check network and bandwidth usage stats that can be sorted by hours, days, and months . What is great is that you will always get a notification about the bandwidth quantity you can use before reaching your limit.
Screenshot 2 – BitMeter 2 usage monitoring tool
Some users also use network interface performance tools which contain counters that measure the rates at which bytes and packets are sent and received over a TCP/IP network connection. The counters that monitor connection errors are also included.
An easy and professional tool for monitoring LAN and WAN networks, network servers, workstations and TCP/IP devices are provided by IPHost Network Monitor . The tool allows to
monitor intranet portals, ERP systems, payroll applications, ping network devices, application servers, database servers and ensure other custom applications are up and performing optimally.
Some usage monitoring tools, for example, NetWorx provide the ability to set a daily, weekly or monthly quota to track uploads or downloads, by means of their tool you will be able to monitor peak usage that some Internet providers set and you will be notified if the limit is going to be reached.
Screenshot 3 – Cucusoft Net Guard usage monitoring tool
Network usage monitoring tools also help to monitor:
- CPU Utilization
- Memory Utilization
- Errors and Discards
- CRC error
- Collisions
- Buffer statistics (Hits, misses and failures)
- Critical performance metrics provided by your router vendor
- Speeds troubleshooting, increases service levels and reduces downtime
- Monitors & displays response time, availability, and performance of network devices
- Analyzes user quality of experience using deep packet inspection and analysis
- Improves operational efficiency with out-of-the-box dashboards, alerts, and reports
- Automatically discovers network devices and typically deploys in less than an hour
- Provide quick and accurate identification of network and application reliability
Benefits of usage monitoring:
- Find out and monitor how fast your Internet connection is and how much Internet traffic you use.
- Detect a suspicious network activity on your computer
- Perform simple network tests such as ping and traceroute
- Verify whether your ISP charges your Internet usage fairly
- Getting notifications about excessive Internet usage
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