Data Usage

The data usage mechanism passively measures the amount of data consumed on the user's broadband connection, and is what powers our cross-traffic threshold check. This mechanism does not inspect or record the contents of packets; it only records volumes. The reporting interval is set to one hour by default, though your account manager can configure different durations for you, for example to as low as once per minute. All traffic volumes are captured at the frame level, meaning that they include Ethernet, IP and TCP/UDP header overheads.

The mechanism captures traffic volumes from the WAN interface only. In other words, it does not include LAN-to-LAN traffic.

The precise mechanism used to record data usage volumes varies by hardware platform. In some devices a managed hardware Ethernet switch is present; in these cases, the WAN port counters are simply interrogated and recorded (the CPU does not even see the traffic). In other devices only a software switch is present, and in these cases the counters from the software bridge in the Linux kernel are taken.

Data Usage Metrics

The key metrics captured by this mechanism are:

• Downstream bytes received over the WAN in this reporting interval.

• Upstream bytes sent over the WAN in this reporting interval.

• The start time and end time of the reporting interval.

These metrics are not just for our own cross-traffic feature, but are commonly used by our ISP partners to validate their own counters and/or generate thorough traffic consumption reports. They can also use this capability as a supplementary data source to improve the accuracy of their billing.

Data Usage Use Case

ISPs use our data usage tests to spot any anomalies in their billing systems that record customers’ usage. They deploy the data usage test on the routers of participating households to track the internet usage of those households. With our help, they can then compare this to the data usage calculated by the their billing system. If they see any anomalies, they can investigate and rectify them.