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Thread ID: 123771 2012-03-15 07:17:00 who uses how much of my monthly internet quota bjocque (1064) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1265157 2012-03-15 07:17:00 Hi Chasps,
just wondering if some body could suggest a way of monitoring our monthly ISP amount to tell which computer uses how much of our plan????? I'm not worried bout content really, just more interested in which pc used how much data per month so i can proportion out the extra charges if we go over our limit.........

We have 3 wireless laptops (homestays and wifes) and my LAN connected PC,

any other info required, i can easy supply i guess lol,

cheers
Terry
bjocque (1064)
1265158 2012-03-15 07:37:00 You will need to install a program on each laptop to monitor traffic. Only other option I can think of is to use a router that logs traffic directly. Got a negear one that does that. Disco_Dan (16576)
1265159 2012-03-15 07:47:00 Try Networx (www.softperfect.com) - Download links are on the left near the bottom of the page.

We use it here and its accurate, and gives live reading -- you install it on every PC/ Laptop, and it will tell you exactly how much was used and what times etc, hourly, daily weekly or monthly.

As an example on my Office computer - the 1st graph below, the 8th took a larger download compared to the other days, click on hourly and it will tell you what time as well. ( nabbed if I was looking for usage) My workshop PC's take a hammering, far more than this ;)

3656 3657


Good thing also if someone disables it, and you know they were on the net, then there would be a period of time missing -- So what are they hiding ????
wainuitech (129)
1265160 2012-03-15 08:47:00 Or if you want a bit more control you could look at putting gargoyle on a router ( gargoyle-router.com ) Allows you to see usage and apply quotas - either to cut off the offending machine, or slow them down. psycik (12851)
1265161 2012-03-15 08:50:00 I'll second what psycik said, it's the only sure-fire way to know which device is using it, considering my family used to just kill off the bandwidth meters etc when they were firing up downloads ;) Chilling_Silence (9)
1265162 2012-03-15 09:25:00 Legally you are only able to have one wife, I suggest you get rid of the others. plod (107)
1265163 2012-03-15 09:35:00 Only one problem with gargoyle, not all routers can run it. Also its easy enough to bypass once you are in the router settings.


considering my family used to just kill off the bandwidth meters etc when they were firing up downloads Not setup correctly then -- as said if you knwo someone is on th net and the meters are not recording then its obvious they are upto no good and cant be trusted. Some meters can be protected so it cant be disabled without proper passwords etc, even from config settings.

I actually know someone who has a gargoyle router, and one of the sons is managing get around it - its setup with a password that only I know, so hes not entering the settings, and it is set to MAC filters. I think I know what hes doing, just have to catch him at it.
wainuitech (129)
1265164 2012-03-15 09:51:00 Also its easy enough to bypass once you are in the router settings.

Like it's hard to just not install software in a PC if you don't want it to be logged? Remember the OP doesn't necessarily own/control all the laptops...

As long as you password protect your router, then people using your connection don't have any choice to not be monitored without going through pretty serious hoops.
MushHead (10626)
1265165 2012-03-15 10:14:00 I was thinking about this the other day. If you configure a switch with a SPAN port and send all the traffic to a dedicated network management PC it should technically work. But I don't know of any software to capture this traffic, analyse it and display it with nice colours and graphs? WarNox (8772)
1265166 2012-03-15 19:15:00 I actually know someone who has a gargoyle router, and one of the sons is managing get around it - its setup with a password that only I know, so hes not entering the settings, and it is set to MAC filters. I think I know what hes doing, just have to catch him at it.

Then he's just changing the IP Address because you've not told Gargoyle to block connectivity from anything it hasn't given its IP Address to (Which matches the IP to the MAC address in the DHCP table, getting around the issue of quotas-by-MAC). Pretty sure there's just a tickbox somewhere you've left off ;)

Granted you could still change your MAC Address if you wanted, but that's a damn sight harder to do than firing up task killer to knock off the app, and then restarting the PC after said download is complete ;)
Chilling_Silence (9)
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