diff --git a/bin/network b/bin/network
index acfc3611..7016d559 100755
--- a/bin/network
+++ b/bin/network
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ if [ "$1" = "--detail" ]; then
 fi
 
 t2=`date +%s`
-ifconfig=`/sbin/ifconfig "$interface" | grep "RX bytes" | sed "s/.*:\(.*\) (.*:\(.*\) (.*/\1\n\2/"`
 for i in up down; do
 	cache="/var/run/screen/S-$USER/$PKG.network_$i"
 	t1=`stat -c %Y "$cache"` 2>/dev/null || t1=0
@@ -42,11 +41,11 @@ for i in up down; do
 	else
 		x1=`cat "$cache"` 2>/dev/null || tx1=0
 		if [ "$i" = "up" ]; then
-			x2=`echo "$ifconfig" | tail -n1`
 			symbol="^"
+			x2=`grep "$interface:" /proc/net/dev | awk '{print $10}'`
 		else
-			x2=`echo "$ifconfig" | head -n1`
 			symbol="v"
+			x2=`grep "$interface:" /proc/net/dev | awk '{print $2}'`
 		fi
 		echo "$x2" > "$cache"
 		rate=`echo "$t1" "$t2" "$x1" "$x2" | awk '{printf "%.0f", ($4 - $3) / ($2 - $1) / 1024 }'`
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 577beb30..a596061d 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -34,8 +34,10 @@ byobu (2.12) unreleased; urgency=low
     improvement
   * bin/load_average: drop "cat", and just use awk, performance
     improvement
+  * bin/network: pull network bytes directly from /proc/net/dev, performance
+    improvement
 
- -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:46:37 -0500
+ -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:47:32 -0500
 
 byobu (2.11-0ubuntu1) karmic; urgency=low