Geek question - measuring bandwidth

[Ben]

Here is one for the techies amongst us: does anyone know if there is a free app that I can put on our laptop to measure in and outbound bandwidth? I have just got a 3G mobile pcmcia card so that we can connect to the net from anywhere, but it comes with a 1gb monthly bandiwth limit, after which you pay heavily. I want to know if there is a way that I can keep track of all the bandwidth going in and out over the card when it is in use. Any ideas?

[gary]

Cant help with that but it is interesting to note that if I connect through my mobile via bluetooth O2 doesnt seem to monitor my useage, I one uploaded 13Mb of pics etc to a site over 2 days and never got a sniff on the bill. A gig is a hell of a lot of bandwidth to get through in a month for one bloke!!

The only thing I can see on the net that looks close is this (http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/netflow/monitor-bandwidth.html?adwords33bmot&gclid=CL-8lfb_7YcCFRZLQgod3DbKwg)

[Brian]

Agree with Gary. Unless you're uploading and downloading a lot of video or music, you won't touch the gigabyte limit. Normal surfing shouldn't even come close to it.

[Ben]

Thanks guys. We needed the card for this weekend as we are off to the coast for a couple of days for the bank holiday weekend, but in the end it didn't come through in time. Internet Cafe hunting time!

[Brian]

One further comment- Can you check to see if your bandwidth usage is posted on your online account? You can do that with your cell bill to track usage. I would think that you should be able to do the same. Otherwise, what's to keep them from charging you through the nose without proof of usage?