I’ve been getting repeated emails from my ISP about “exceeding my bandwidth cap” and they feel very incorrect.

My current router is a Cisco RV260, and it doesn’t have a great way of tracking traffic. (There’s a port traffic screen that does give tx/rx bytes, but no way to see any date ranges).

Is there anything out there that can give an accurate account of Internet traffic? It would be nice if I could see destination domain/IPs, just for kicks and giggles, but an overall traffic count is all I really need.

Thanks!

  • Naate@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I’m already using my own modem, none of that locked-down rental nonsense from my isp.

    What hardware do you use for pf/opnSense? All of the recommended stuff I’ve seen is almost prohibitively expensive for my home networking budget.

    • towerful@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      My home network has one of those fanless 4 port doodaas from Amazon/eBay if you search for pfSense.
      Never had an issue with it, I’m on 300/100mbit broadband tho.

      For another project for 10gbps networking, I used a refubed single-socketed dell r630. Probably massively overkill. Also, never saw traffic anywhere near 10gbps… So can’t really comment on that.

      • Naate@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, those little micro units are what I had seen recommended. $300-400 is definitely pushing it for me. Especially when I would also want a bigger switch to accompany it.

        Guess I need to stop eating avocado toast.

        Edit: how is the stability/uptime for those little machines? Historically, I’ve always had problems with my routers needing to be rebooted at least once a month after they’ve been in service for 18-24 months. Even my current “business class” cisco router is crapping out on me every month.

        • towerful@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          My home box ran for a few years with no issues, until I started having DNS issues. I’m fairly certain that was unbound and the blocklists I had selected, tho.
          I set up a Cron job to update the block lists every night, and give unbound service a restart.
          It’s been solid since then, and my DNS issues have disappeared.

          Now, I am checking for updates and installing those every few months. So it gets a restart when that happens.

          You could get a refurbished SFF computer that has a low profile PCIe slot, and put an Intel 4 port network card in it.
          Would probably cost $150 tops. And its a solid entry! Certainly, that’s what I used before I bought one of the fanless network appliance type things.

          • Naate@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            I have my old Athlon fx lying around. Needs a case, psu, and the nic… Hmmmm

            • towerful@beehaw.orgEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Might be a little old? Not sure, you would have to research it.
              I’m not well versed in what pfSense/opnSense needs, which is why I threw r630s at a project that mattered.
              Some cheapo refubed i3 with an Intel NIC card would do. I just suggested the SFF refurb because a lot of people like low power (and SFFs are generally low power)