Bug 571774

I note that System Monitor 3.0.0 shows network session totals, which I can use to estimate usage instantaneously, in conjunction with my provider's tools that show usage several times a day. I can post these manually to a spreadsheet to keep track of how much I use the Internet when not connected to my main provider. It would be nice if the posting were automated, for the data can be lost if I have a system crash before being able to see the statistics in the System Monitor.

(to Peter Jones)
Hi Peter:

I just saw your comment here, and, knowing a bit your habits and mobility, it occurred to me that the usage it appears you would like to track and integrate might well initially be stored on a small USB stick until you can either back it up on your systems at home or integrate it with something online.

That way, if the system crashes, you will have a copy of the latest bit of usage data for long enough to recover and/or back it up independently elsewhere as needed.

For all:

I have no real way of knowing if this would help others' needs, however, given the large number of users, I would guess the odds are strong that it will help some, even if only a minority.

Best regards,
Bruce Martin

I'd like network manager to show session usage statistics etc too. I'm using mobile broadband and it's really helpful to know how much I've used and how much remains etc :)

This package has changed ownership in the Fedora Package Database.  Reassigning to the new owner of this component.

Closing this, it's not likely we're ever going to do this.

We now provide an API for device traffic accounting [1], but persisting the counters and associating them with particular connection or network falls outside the scope of NetworkManager.

[1] https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/1.4/gdbus-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device.Statistics.html

This information is better tracked on a hardware independent device between the ISP and the user.

For Land bound connections, this can often be done by the firmware of a router.

For mobile connections, there are several possibilites:

1) It is possible that if the user is tethering from a smartphone or other device, that may be a possible way to account for consumption. My android device will do this for one.

2) If the user is tethered to a mobile type router such as Mofinetwork, the firmware in that may well be able to do the same, as much of those devices is similar to a router with an RJ-45 for the WAN connection. Note the newest versions of Mofinetwork's devices no longer require a USB stick to accommodate the SIM. They will do so directly. The older models required a USB stick with as registered sim, but would handle the windows-specific firmware that those sticks would automatically download into the device to which they ware connected. some years back, I bought one of these as my laptop did not use Windows, It was capable of taking the burden ofthe backloaded code and its LAN side was as a 300 Mb. router.

(Note: Mofinetwork is/was located in Brampton, ON, Canada.)

This situation is progressing fairly rapidly, so in behooves one to keep an eye on the changes.