Many ADSL modem/routers do not provide a means to continuously monitor their
statistics. Of particular importance are the statistics associated with the
incoming telephone line - generally referred to collectively as
Line
Stats. Since the advent of ADSL-Max, line stats of special relevance are
the
Downstream Noise Margin and the
Sync Rate.
Both of these terms are often referred to by other names. The Downstream Noise Margin
may be called
simply the 'Noise Margin' or the 'Noise Ratio' and it represents the amount of
'elbow room' the router has available to cope with unwanted noise on the telephone line.
Its value is measured in Decibels - usually abbreviated to
dB.
The Sync Rate is often called the 'Connection Speed' or 'Line Speed' and indicates
the speed which the router and the remote telephone exchange hardware have 'negotiated'
and agreed on to represent the maximum possible speed that data could be transferred
over the telephone line. Note that, for a variety of reasons, the actual data speed is
often much less than the sync rate. It is usually measured in
Kbps.
Because these two values can often change while the router is unattended (for example,
while downloading at night), it's sometimes useful to be able to monitor and record these
values and that's where RouterStats comes in.
RouterStats monitors both the downstream and upstream Noise Margin and Connection Speed values and plots
them on graphs. RouterStats also
provides two additional user-defined graphs for monitoring any other two values that may be available on your
router's "stats" page.
With the Netgear DG834, DG834G and DG834GT series of routers, RouterStats is also able to automatically establish a Telnet connection for access to additional statistical data.
How it Works
Please note that RouterStats is NOT Plug and Play! (But see below for a version that is!)
All routers are
different and you will need to do some detective work and have some understanding of how
to display the router's pages in your browser and RouterStats may not even work with your router.
RouterStats is configured, ready-to-run, with versions 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Netgear DG834, DG834G, DG834GT and DG834N .
With any of these routers,
you should only need to enter your own username and password to be up and running.
(Please note that RouterStats won't work with the DG632).
It should be possible to configure it to work with other routers provided their
"stats" are accessible as a simple HTML page - ie without Frames - in your web browser.
RouterStats incorporates its own fully up-to-date Help file but you can
view a copy here if you want to
look at it in advance. (Note that this online file isn't always kept up to date - the latest version will always be
included with the program).
The Help file provides details of the following additional routers (thanks to feedback from other users):
Belkin F5D7630-4A (UK)
Draytek Vigor 2600G
Linksys WAG54G
Linksys HG200
Linksys WAG200G
Orange Livebox (Inventel)
Speedtouch 510 v4 (Firmware 4.3.2.6) (Works partly. Rx Noise and Rx Sync OK)
Speedtouch 585 v6
Voyager 2100 (+ probably 2110 and possibly 2019)
Zoom X5v
Although I have absolutely NO experience with Linux myself (so please don't ask :)), apparently RouterStats and RouterStats -Lite
can be coaxed into running under Linux: kitz.co.uk - Linux Forum
RouterStats incorporates a simple webserver so you can keep an eye on the graphs online. View my own router's stats here if my server is
switched on).