Hotspot Sharing Monitoring

[cornexiors]

Hi guys, I'm wondering...
is there any way to monitor the data usage from another computer that is connected to mine via hotspot?
because I'm in a situation where the only internet source for me and my friends is my laptop (which has a WLAN module in it). I want to charge them for the price of the data package that I bought based on the amount of data that they used, but I don't know how to monitor it except by checking it one by one in their laptop network settings (and that's painful to do).

so yeah, if you know something, please tell me

[Needfuldoer]

Why not just split the bill 50/50 (or by some other fixed ratio)? That seems fair enough to me.

[cornexiors]

1 minute ago, Needfuldoer said:

Why not just split the bill 50/50 (or by some other fixed ratio)? That seems fair enough to me.

well, at first
that was what I was thinking
well, this is also my mistakes
it's actually friends, not friend
so from just one friend, to now with 7 friends

[LIGISTX]

6 minutes ago, cornexiors said:

7 friends

Total bill / 7 = price per friend. 
 

Typically stuff like this needs just be split equally between people. Like when living with roommates, you don’t charge electricity and water costs based on individual usage. You just divide the cost of all utilities by the amount of people sharing them. 

[cornexiors]

44 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Total bill / 7 = price per friend. 
 

Typically stuff like this needs just be split equally between people. Like when living with roommates, you don’t charge electricity and water costs based on individual usage. You just divide the cost of all utilities by the amount of people sharing them. 

kay, that's enough
that's definitely not what I'm asking
and also this is a question that I've kept for quite a time
so pls just tell me, is there any way to monitor the data sharing???

[LIGISTX]

8 minutes ago, cornexiors said:

kay, that's enough
that's definitely not what I'm asking
and also this is a question that I've kept for quite a time
so pls just tell me, is there any way to monitor the data sharing???

I have no idea how you’d do it on a PC that’s sharing internet, I don’t even know how you do that to begin with. This PC is acting as a router? What software are you using to accomplish this? 
 

If you could run a proper firewall/router on that laptop, such as pfsense or opnsense, you’d be able to monitor how much traffic goes to which IP, set IP’s based on MAC address, and then you’d know how much each device was using. 

[cornexiors]

6 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I have no idea how you’d do it on a PC that’s sharing internet, I don’t even know how you do that to begin with. This PC is acting as a router? What software are you using to accomplish this? 
 

If you could run a proper firewall/router on that laptop, such as pfsense or opnsense, you’d be able to monitor how much traffic goes to which IP, set IP’s based on MAC address, and then you’d know how much each device was using. 

no, it's a laptop, as I stated in my main question
using the WLAN module, I have connectivity to the internet, and then I shared the connection via Hotspot (just normal hotspot, like on every other laptops)
 

[cornexiors]

10 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I have no idea how you’d do it on a PC that’s sharing internet, I don’t even know how you do that to begin with. This PC is acting as a router? What software are you using to accomplish this? 
 

If you could run a proper firewall/router on that laptop, such as pfsense or opnsense, you’d be able to monitor how much traffic goes to which IP, set IP’s based on MAC address, and then you’d know how much each device was using. 

btw, which one is easier to setup?
pfsense or opnsense?

[LIGISTX]

6 minutes ago, cornexiors said:

no, it's a laptop, as I stated in my main question
using the WLAN module, I have connectivity to the internet, and then I shared the connection via Hotspot (just normal hotspot, like on every other laptops)
 

What is a WLAN module? How is this setup in software? I have never done this before. 
 

6 minutes ago, cornexiors said:

btw, which one is easier to setup?
pfsense or opnsense?

They are pretty much the same. I’d recommend finding a YouTuber you enjoy watching and can understand well, and then whichever they use. Plenty of YouTube folks who talk about pfsense, and plenty who do opnsense. Find one you like, watch a bunch of their videos, and then you could set it up. Problem is, running them on the laptop may be challenging as there may not be good WiFi driver support, but I would imagine opnsense would have better support since it’s more aimed at that sort of thing. Pfsense is more enterprise. 

[Needfuldoer]

1 hour ago, LIGISTX said:

What is a WLAN module? How is this setup in software? I have never done this before. 

I think they mean WWAN, or a built in cell modem.

 

OP, I think you're overcomplicating things. If you have that many people sharing one connection, you're better off all chipping in equally for a fixed cell connection (like T-Mobile and Verizon offer in the US). If the data plan on your laptop is metered and only intended for one device, you're going to run into your data cap within a day or two. (Especially if your roommates don't care and start streaming video.)

Edited April 27 by Needfuldoer

[Kilrah]

https://mypublicwifi.com/publicwifi/en/index.html will do what you want

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, cornexiors said:

I want to charge them for the price of the data package that I bought based on the amount of data that they used,

You might not be able to get that info on the PC. You might have to log in to your providers website and see if they list it. My ISP has a data cap and they have our data usage listed online (not real time usage, takes up to 24 for usage to catch up).

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

You might not be able to get that info on the PC. You might have to log in to your providers website and see if they list it. My ISP has a data cap and they have our data usage listed online (not real time usage, takes up to 24 for usage to catch up).

It's coming from a single PC via hotspot, the website, if it shows anything, will just show that device connected to the cell service.

[Falcon1986]

18 hours ago, Kilrah said:

https://mypublicwifi.com/publicwifi/en/index.html will do what you want

Looks good. I'd go with this.