For quite a while I've been looking for an add-in to Microsoft ISA server 2004 that allows me to share the internet bandwidth evenly between my housemates. On the Telstra 20GB standard cable plan, after the 20gb is used I get charged 15c/mb. That's an excessive amount considering that 20gb can be wasted in a matter of a few hours and then I can be charged thousands of dollars before I even realise that it's happened so I needed to find a way to restrict the amount to 2.5gb per person. I already had ISA server 2004 installed and the reports are a great way to keep track of usage but it has a delay of up to a day which is too slow for internet this speed. That's where Bandwidth Splitter came into play.

The site is http://www.bsplitter.com/ and all the information is available there along with the download. There is a free version that supports up to 10 users which should be enough for a home user setup like this one. An easy install later I was adding quota rules that cut of each user at 2.5gb each month, and there is also the ability to cut off a group of users when their combined total usage (also allowing you to seperate downstream and upstream), reaches a set value. In the shaping section I added a rule to restrict PC users to 192kb/s upstream, allowing 64kb/s for VoIP and other dedicated services that require pseudo QoS. The last main feature from the BNTC Software people that I used from the Bandwidth Splitter package was the client monitor. Run it from each user's PC and they are given a simple little window that tells them the number of current connections, bandwitdh usage (up, down and total), and the amount of quota remaining.


That little snap-in has just saved me a lot of time and if it manages to stop us going over 20gb a month then it'll save me a lot of money too. I'll update at the start of next month and let everyone know how it goes.
Maz