Thanks to Michael who contacted me to let me know there was in fact a better solution to the one I first provided regarding bandwidth monitoring in OS X. And that solution is SurplusMeter. This brief tutorial will get you started using SurplusMeter.
- To get started, download and install SurplusMeter.
- Launch it from your Applications folder. The main interface will appear, and you’ll need to make a few adjustments before you’re done. First, select the Connection type: – as the default is PPP modem, and hopefully you have broadband via your Ethernet port or Airport wireless.
Because SurplusMeter was actually created with the idea of tracking exactly how much you use the Internet, you can even set a Month starts on date (ie. the first day of your billing cycle) – since that’s how most ISP’s who limit your bandwidth will monitor it. If you don’t actually have a “set in stone” download limit, you can ignore the Download limit: setting, but you may want to make it higher than the 3GB that it defaults to. I set it to 500GB.
- And once the Connection type: change is made, you’ll see your total downloads/uploads since SurplusMeter was installed. Click the green button in the upper-left corner.
- SurplusMeter will go into ‘mini-mode’. You can also quit SurplusMeter entirely, and it will still keep track of your usage. When installed, it actually puts a small program in your start-up items, and it’s that program that really does the monitoring.
- If you open your System Preferences, select Accounts and then when your account is highlighted, click Login Items, you’ll notice that SurplusMeterAgent has been added to your start-up items. SurplusMeterAgent is what tracks your usage.
- Tip: if you do use Ethernet or Airport, and transfer files across your local network – use the Pause Monitoring button. That will stop SurplusMeter from ‘tracking’ your usage until you un-pause again (and it does track local-network traffic the same way it does Internet bandwidth, which could artificially inflate your usage stats if you don’t use the Pause button).
SurplusMeter is a very useful prog. but I’d love to see an Upload and Download real time Speed monitor incorporated to track service speeds.
Best wishes, keep up the good work.
Dominic.
Thanks Ross, this is just what I have been looking for
I am excited to find this software but have encountered a problem..when I try to change the connection from default PPP to Ethernet Port, I get the warning window, click close on the warning window, and then the SurplusMeter window switches back to PPP..hmmm..any suggestions? Thanks!
Great product! One caveat, I’d love to see it in widget form.
And don’t be a silly head like me and freak out when you see all your bandwidth being eaten up… if you’re connecting remotely… doh!
I have a question, does this monitor the usage download amount from your computer only, or for ALL the computers connected to the network?
In other words, is this a useful tool for determining who is using how much in our household, thereby monitoring if we are dividing the cost of the internet plan fairly?
i have to wonder how to tweak this for my hughesnet account, to measure daily usage to avoid FAP. Be nice to have an alarm feature as well. I’ve downloaded the source but I’m not an experienced programmer by any means. we shall see.
I’m using a Time capsule and Mac and sharing with my neighbour who is using a PC. Will this program allow me to just monitor my computer use? Will it also allow me to compare this to the overall use, or even his computer use?
Okay… following up the comment I just left on the original HOWTO you did on this… I see you found SurplusMeter. Nice one.
I know this is a HUGE deal to ask, but I would love a tutorial overview of the codebase (maybe as an addendum to the README.) The problem is OS X is so vast (like any modern GUI-based system) that it’s a lot of work to even get your foot in the door. I’m not exactly a neophyte; I’ve been writing UNIX-based code since the late 80’s and getting paid for it. I started writing Mac-based stuff when it was still the old Pascal-based Inside Macintosh books – 1986 or so. Had a furlough from that in 2001 and got rusty. Got back into writing for Mac a couple of years ago. But now it’s so big I’m overwhelmed. I also went the SYSVR4 route (i.e. Solaris) rather than BSD a long time ago, thence Linux, so I’m more used to /proc/net and /sys than the BSD/Darwin way of doing networky stuff.
But anyway, lovely bit of code, just what I was looking for. I built it straight out of the tarball on Leopard. Nice job. I’ll figure it out its inner workings come what may and will learn a ton.