This read-only counter tallies the total number of packets that have entered this traffic-shaping pipe (inbound direction). Admins use it alongside pipeByteCountIn to understand not just the volume but also the packet rate and average packet size of inbound traffic in a given pipe. For example, a pipe with a high packet count but relatively low byte count would suggest that traffic consists mostly of small packets, such as VoIP or control traffic, rather than bulk data transfer.