Monitor bandwith to help me choose ISP plan?

[adoucette]

Hi,
How should I use bandwidth monitor (or any other tool) to ascertain what my average and maximum download and upload rates are per interface over a period of time? These data could help me (and others) decide if they need to upgrade or downgrade their plans with their ISPs.
I see the "bandwidth usage" etc reports in the network group, which tell me things like the maximum usage today was a spike at 10am of approx 13Mbytes/sec, which is approximately 1/10th of what my "gigabit" connection should offer.
Is this a good / reliable indicator of total ISP bandwidth usage or should I be looking elsewhere in untangle?
Thank you,
Ari

[sky-knight]

The report you've found is the only real tool you have. You should just be aware that the tool only records traffic transiting Untangle, not the traffic that impacts Untangle itself, or the bandwidth Untangle itself consumes.

So that report is not quite all of it, your real usage is a bit higher.

That being said, I do not advocate using that report to determine internet speed. The real stat you need is how much time is a human spending waiting on the Internet to get something. If the human is waiting, they're being paid to be unproductive. That unproductive time over a month is going to be some number... that number is probably going to be far more than the money spent on a faster line.

So in general, the faster option is probably the best. Only in a home context where cost is the primary driver would I consider lower speeds to save money. But even in these cases, if you're working from home, we're right back to how much is your time worth?

[adoucette]

The report you've found is the only real tool you have.

OK, thanks. Good to know.

The real stat you need is how much time is a human spending waiting on the Internet to get something.
how much is your time worth?

Agree. If I take the highest spike in that report of today's usage, then the current connection is apparently close to 40x more than the combined usage in my house.

[sky-knight]

Maybe, but if you but the max speed, you're going to turn that spike into a curve, and while it's curving... people are waiting.

That being said, I'm in the same boat with 26 devices tracking on a home / office network that includes 6 humans worth of use inclusive of two publicly exposed web servers. My download peak today was 900KB/s, which works out to 7.2mbit. Which is why I have my 200mbit service, and keep telling my ISP to pound sand on the gigabit thing. Where I'm at, it's all but impossible to use more than 200mbit due to the inter-city links. Where you are is different.

So the data helps, but it's certainly not the entire story.

Do you need gigabit at home? At this time? The answer to both is probably no. Could you use 200-400mbit? Probably yes. Does that gigabit save you time over the slower plan? That's your question to figure out... where I am? Nope...

[balrog]

Hi,
How should I use bandwidth monitor (or any other tool) to ascertain what my average and maximum download and upload rates are per interface over a period of time? These data could help me (and others) decide if they need to upgrade or downgrade their plans with their ISPs.
I see the "bandwidth usage" etc reports in the network group, which tell me things like the maximum usage today was a spike at 10am of approx 13Mbytes/sec, which is approximately 1/10th of what my "gigabit" connection should offer.
Is this a good / reliable indicator of total ISP bandwidth usage or should I be looking elsewhere in untangle?
Thank you,
Ari

Bandwidth usage in untangle is just one angle to evaluate which ISP Plan to go. Do some research first on:

1. "Strong as the weakest link" is applicable here. On my end on the network, the weakest is the WIFI. My Netgear Orbi mesh AP has a speed 350-470Mbps via iperf3 network performance measurements. Therefore, my 150Mbps Internet plan is the best while comfortable to go for 500mpbs in the future.

2. Configure QoS in Untangle. On my end having 10 active devices regularly, changed default QoS priority to "limited more". Then tag devices bandwidth allocations from "very high" to "limited more". Example, tagged my work laptop as very high which means no bandwidth restrictions and guest devices restricted to 10Mbps. Using this, netflix or games downloads from other devices doesn't slow down my Internet access.

[adoucette]

Do you need gigabit at home? At this time? The answer to both is probably no. Could you use 200-400mbit? Probably yes. Does that gigabit save you time over the slower plan? That's your question to figure out... where I am? Nope...

That's the idea, and the answer I'm chasing. I do also have 6 humans in the house and a good number of devices. We all value our time and I don't want them (or me!) to have to wait for slow responses, slow download, slow upload.

Strong as the weakest link

Yes, agree. The main computers that need a fast connection here are wired. The others (phones and iot devices etc) will be limited by the wifi speed. When I do test speeds I do so with wired connection, and I try this with and without QOS and other apps enabled.

Configure QoS in Untangle

Yes, agree. It will be more relevant if I do end up downgrading to a lower speed internet plan from the ISP (less bandwidth to go around, so what we have will benefit from prioritization)

[donhwyo]

If they ever implement this you and the rest of us with slower internet might be better off.
https://untanglengfirewall.featureup...ncy-management

Why the reluctance to implement this? Three years and 233 up votes. Even an offer of help from Dave Taht and a follow up. Still no word from "Untangle"?

[balrog]

If they ever implement this you and the rest of us with slower internet might be better off.
https://untanglengfirewall.featureup...ncy-management

Why the reluctance to implement this? Three years and 233 up votes. Even an offer of help from Dave Taht and a follow up. Still no word from "Untangle"?

voted for it few minutes ago. We need a good alternative to fq_codel which is cake. Checked my untangle 16.3 and it already has the cake module. Tried disabling qos and insmod the cake module, but got an error message configuring it via tc and stopped working on it.

[root @ untangle] ~ # modinfo sch_cake
filename:       /lib/modules/4.19.0-11-untangle-amd64/kernel/net/sched/sch_cake.ko
description:    The CAKE shaper.
license:        Dual BSD/GPL
author:         Jonathan Morton
depends:
retpoline:      Y
intree:         Y
name:           sch_cake
vermagic:       4.19.0-11-untangle-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions

However, the fq_codel is quite good so far. Got an A+(The highest) for bufferbloat from waveform.