Internet Usage Tracking

JimmyHo

Having a lot of problems recently with internet over usage on Rogers. On a couple days this week I had over 10 GB of downloads and I wasn't using the computer. Most months I am under my usage of 60GB max. , but the last two I have been going over.

Are there any free programs to track usage better (sites accessed, time of the day, etc)? Rogers can only tell me usage by day of the month. Could there be a virus, etc. downloading to another computer which impacts my usage?

I have changed my router password in case someone is accessing it from outside my house. Any suggestions?

compuease

If it's someone hacking into your router no program on your pc will be able to tell you. A couple of things, I assume Rogers has a way you can log onto your account and monitor daily usage? I know I can with Cogeco.
Assuming you can, leave your pc's and any other devices in your household that access your internet turned off. Then check the usage for that day.
If it still shows usage then either someone has hacked in, there is something wrong with your router, or Rogers has ip sourcing messed up for your location.

In an extreme case I would replace the router with a more sophisticated one that can log and control internet usage. With a router like that you could tell specifically what device it is that is causing the problem.. Cheapo $70-80 routers won't have that ability...

DrTyore

If you have an iPhone

There's an app called fing - and it will detect and list every device accessing your internet. You could do some random spot checks.

Mark

compuease

DrTyore;342226 wroteIf you have an iPhone

There's an app called fing - and it will detect and list every device accessing your internet. You could do some random spot checks.

Mark

Only if they are coming in the "front door" ie they have your wireless password. Jim already said he changed his password.. If they are truely "hacking" no Ianything app will show it... To prevent that you need a real firewall router.. However I doubt this level of security is needed in Jim's case. More likely he is just using more than he thinks, Rogers cable modem is messing up, or perhaps he has some sort of trojan repeater on one of his pc's

DrTyore

FWIW

I just recently realized that Rogers now counts any uploading in your monthly total too... I thought it was just downloading.

Mark

wildbill7145

DrTyore;342272 wroteFWIW

I just recently realized that Rogers now counts any uploading in your monthly total too... I thought it was just downloading.

Mark

Interesting. Where do you see the data, on your bill?

compuease

DrTyore;342272 wroteFWIW

I just recently realized that Rogers now counts any uploading in your monthly total too... I thought it was just downloading.

Mark

Cogeco has done that all along, are you sure it's just recent? If you are downloading torrents, shut it down as soon as you have finished the download to prevent it running up your bill...

DrTyore

I just go to rogers.com

Under the myrogers thing, you look at your total, and when you click for more info, you realize they're combining the two. I just thought it was for downloading!

Mark

Foxrod

Even the cheap router's have MAC filtering capabilities, you can config that to only allow who you want to access the internet. Then track your household usage...

compuease

Foxrod;342287 wroteEven the cheap router's have MAC filtering capabilities, you can config that to only allow who you want to access the internet. Then track your household usage...

True enough, although I think he was looking at a way of monitoring. Asking a "normal" person to configure their router to do MAC filtering may be a bit much tho... ;)

Not aware you can track usage by MAC address on an inexpensive router, can you? Do you know of a Cisco or DLink <$100 that you can? I'll have to go have a look...

Foxrod

compuease;342291 wrote Not aware you can track usage by MAC address on an inexpensive router, can you? Do you know of a Cisco or DLink <$100 that you can? I'll have to go have a look...

I think you can filter the internet port 80...

WatchWAN...

WatchWAN - CNET Download.com

compuease

Foxrod;342294 wroteI think you can filter the internet port 80...

WatchWAN...

WatchWAN - CNET Download.com

I've seen that one before and checked a few similar programs but not in the last couple of years.. Time for me to see just what is currently available for cheap..:). perhaps tonight after I take down the Bristol Grand Championship..;) Back in the day we could monitor network traffic in all sorts of ways but that was before the mainstream internet and involved lots of $$$ in equipment..

JimmyHo

I spoke to Rogers and they indicated that if someone had hacked into mu computer my upload would be really high as well. I assume they would download. xxx and then upload xxx. As my upload is really small daily, around 100mb, compared with 12,000 mb download, I don't think it could be hacked. Do you agree?

We do have 3 tablets, three smartphones using the wifi now but not much downloadng. Kids watch a lot of youtube videos but shouldn't be anywhere near that much data.

Rogers said they would write a ticket and escalate it for investigation. Maybe I won't get charged for the excess 17 Gb this month. Also going to put a timer on the router so it can't be used during the day time. See if that makes a difference. Maybe the nanny is watching videos all day? Thanks for the input!

Milo

My rogers account is set up so that I get a notification when I reach 75% usage for the billing cycle. I would set something like that up for one of your devices.

JimmyHo

Milo;342348 wroteMy rogers account is set up so that I get a notification when I reach 75% usage for the billing cycle. I would set something like that up for one of your devices.

I have that as well but 35% of my usage got used in the last couple days.

Update - last two days, averaging 1.1GB per day which is within my 2GB daily average allowance. Decided to put a timer on my router during the day and ensure home PC is turned off. Wifey has a habit of leaving it on all the time. Will have to see what Rogers says about those spike days.

Now if I could just get my average water consumption below 2,000 litres per days

DrTyore

Fight Rogers

I had something similar happen, and they ate half the cost of my overage last month when someone hacked into mine (60 gigs over).

Mark

JimmyHo

DrTyore;342443 wroteFight Rogers

I had something similar happen, and they ate half the cost of my overage last month when someone hacked into mine (60 gigs over).

Mark

So what was the process? Did tech. support write a 'ticket' and then someone more senior looked into it? how did they determine it was hacked? was the uploading over a couple days or every day? was it the router you were using that got hacked? Thanks.