Multi-dimensional traffic management

A network device comprising:

• an interface configured to receive network traffic associated with a customer computing device associated with a customer of the retail store, the network traffic comprising packet flows communicated between the computing device and an external network;
• a monitoring unit configured to monitor the network traffic of the customer computing device over time and to identify a plurality of network usage characteristics associated with the network traffic, the network usage characteristics including a usage time that corresponds to an amount of time the computing device has been consuming network resources and a network application identifier that corresponds to a network application being used by the customer computing device that consumes network resources;
• a rules engine configured to determine that the network traffic for the customer violates a network usage policy for individual customers when a total amount of time that the customer has been accessing the external network exceeds a defined threshold;
• and
• an allocation unit configured to decrease, over a period of time, throughput to the customer computing device of the network traffic that is determined to be violative of the network usage policy.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to control public network access at a wireless hotspot of a retail store by:

• receive, at a network gateway device, network traffic associated with a customer computing device, the network traffic comprising packet flows communicated between the customer computing device and a network via the network device;
• monitor the network traffic over time;
• identify, using the network device, a plurality of network usage characteristics associated with the network traffic, the network usage characteristics including a usage time that corresponds to an amount of time the computing device has been consuming network resources and a network application identifier that corresponds to a network application being used by the customer computing device that consumes network resources;
• determine that the network traffic for the customer violates a network usage policy for individual customers when a total amount of time that the customer has been accessing the external network exceeds a defined threshold;
• and
• decrease, over a period of time, throughput of the network traffic that is determined to be violative of the network usage policy.