Metering systems according to the embodiments of the invention allow accurate estimation of bandwidth even in non-FIFO containment and frame containment environments. In one embodiment of the invention, the approximate fraction of the time a bond is inactive is found by probing inactive ("gap") periods. The fraction of the downtime is then multiplied by the ability to obtain an estimate of the available bandwidth. The separation time is estimated in one embodiment of the fraction of the invention by pooling unidirectional delay (OWD) samples on the link in question. After normalizing and plotting the OWD, the knee is used in the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of OWD samples to identify the fraction of time the channel is inactive.