[ILUG] Problems with Three Mobile-Broadband Router

[Michael Watterson]

Niall O Broin wrote:
> On 21 Jul 2009, at 13:43, Michael Watterson wrote:
>
>> On my home Broadband I switched from a Dlink Router to a OpenWRT 
>> based Router connected to the cable modem
>>
>> On the Luci Interface I setup Monitoring and fiddled with the WAN
>> Accept / reject / Drop settings
>>
>> Before on Dlink I was getting small traffic overnight  apart from email
>>
>> With the OpenWRT and adjusting the Drop/Reject etc the amount of 
>> packet arriving hasn't changed (about 300 per second), but traffic 
>> from them is now near zero (flat line overnight).
>
> Your playing with the words "traffic" and "packet" is puzzling, 
> really, as internet traffic arrives in packets.
Yes this is true.
> Perhaps you're defining "traffic" as data you're interested in, and 
> "packets" as all incoming data, and as you now use a router which 
> drops more "packets" you're getting less "traffic". However, from the 
> POV of the OP this is all irrelevant as he's being billed by his 3G 
> provider for every arriving "packet", not just for "traffic". Hence 
> Kenn's information about O2's two different APRNs is quite useful,
Yes, it is useful. Especially on Windows or other OS that gets attacked 
and you have no Firewall. This is why I recommend people use a separate 
HW Firewall. Unless they are running Linux *AND* know how to configure a 
SW firewall.
> as unwanted "packets" are dropped by O2 using the 'internet' APRN, so 
> all of the incoming "packets" presumably contain "traffic". Sadly the 
> OP isn't using O2, but perhaps his provider has a similar option.
There are two options on 3 here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055442502

A suitably configured native firewall or separate CentOS or OpenWRT 
could be a solution too.
>
>> Packets and Traffic are not the same thing.
>
> To enlighten me (and possibly others) could you maybe clarify the 
> distinction as you see it?
>
>
>
> Niall
>
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_(information_technology)
Packets can have varying amount of payload.

*Network traffic* is data in a network. In computer networks, the data 
is encapsulated in packets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_traffic_measurement

However I'm not entirely sure what OpenWRT statistics relate to.
but I have a link to the last 24 hrs.
http://www.radioway.info/images/traffic.png
You can see that while the "packets" received remain at over 30% 
overnight there is no associated traffic.

Perhaps what OpenWRT is "measuring" as  Packets are infact  connection 
attempts?

No-one gets charged for "packets" but you get charged for "traffic".

My ISPs traffic Monitor totals and graphs over last 24hrs / last 7 days/ 
last 30 days closely agrees with my OpenWRT monitor.



-- 
Mike