Despite its name, this object's own description defines it as a counter of inbound packets discarded (with no error detected) on this physical WAN port, e.g. to free up buffer space, rather than a throughput rate; it can reset at re-initialization or per maxWanCounterDiscontinuityTime. An admin monitoring this counter on a physical WAN port watches for unexpected discards indicating buffer exhaustion, being aware the counter can also reset on a discontinuity event.