I have posted about several tools in the past which allow you to monitor the bandwidth usage on your computer. While these work great for individual machines, what if you want to monitor your entire network? While you could install a bandwidth monitor on each computer and add up the numbers, the easist way is to just view the bandwidth totals on your router itself.
This is accomplished by using special firmware on your router which captures this information. Personally, I use the DD-WRT package on a standard Linksys router. With this special firmware, among other features, you have the ability to monitor bandwidth usage on everything passing through the router (WAN, LAN and wireless). The statics are displayed in a nice bar graph broken down by day with monthly totals.
While I use the DD-WRT package, you can find this functionality in other special firmware projects. So now if your ISP tells you that you have exceeded your allotment, you will have some stats to compare to theirs.
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