[SOLVED] Network Log-in - Data Cap thing

[brodieeddy]

Hello,
Our residence only gets 60gb peak data and 140gb off peak data a month. Is there anyway I can make a server like thing which I can run off a raspberry pi which makes each user only get a certain amount of data? Our Router is a D-Link DIR-850L. I would want it to be cross device compatible so if someone uses 10gb on their pc it would remember that when they are on their iPad or phone ect.

 

[kanewolf]

What you want to do is non-trivial and probably needs at least an old-PC to do it. You would have to run pfSense or some other firewall software with data accounting. You would also have to manually associate ALL the devices for a user. It is possible but not easy. Start by googling articles on data limits or bandwidth management.

 

[USAFRet]

How many users are you working with here?

 

[lolnole]

Another option to look into is a router firmware called Gargoyle. It includes relevant features such as quotas, limits and bandwidth throttling. However, the firmware is compatible with only a select number of routers. Also, consumer routers are not very powerful. I do not recommend this if it involves a large number of users/devices.

https://www.gargoyle-router.com/

 

[brodieeddy]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I will have a look into Pfsense. I have 3 users to work with. Also what router would you recommend for gargoyle!

 

[lolnole]

For Gargoyle, I would recommend the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 Router (V2).

 

[bill001g]

I am not real sure gargoyle will do what you need. It has the ability to limit by device but I don't think it has a way to do it by say a userid. You likely could group a bunch of mac addresses together and apply a limit to group.

I used to really like gargoyle because it is one of the very few firmware images that has this type of feature. The main issue is this how slow the updates are and it does not support many of the more modern routers.

I would also recommend the pfsense method of doing this. Using a pc gives you the ability to add extremely advanced features. You could for example use a intercept system that requires a login and then limit all devices using that login. This prevents the wannabe hackers from trying the change the mac address trick to bypass you. This function is not part of the base pfsense install I don't think. It limits via mac and ip but it is unix so it is just a matter of installing one of the many packages. There are a bunch mostly designed for hotel or coffee shop use.