Incorrect data usage report

The DATA usage report from my service provider is differing with the NetWorx report. Even for a moment, if I consider, service provider will update correct data once in 48 hrs or 72 hrs, even then, the DATA usage report should at least match for 1st April, 2nd April & 3rd April. This is not the case.

I want to know, how to fix this problem and why there is a difference?

          NetWorx Per Day				
Date      Received   Sent     NetWorx (total)      Service Provider (received+sent)
4/6/2014  400 MB     16.5 MB  417 MB               88.896 MB
4/5/2014  131 MB     37.1 MB  68 MB                274.052 MB
4/4/2014  92.1 MB    7.92 MB  100 MB               593.931 MB
4/3/2014  1.65 GB    678 MB   2.32 GB              2451.487 MB
4/2/2014  1.44 GB    45.8 MB  1.48 GB              1505.095 MB
4/1/2014  343 MB     39.1 MB  382 MB               495.206 MB
          4.05 GB    .83 GB   4.88 GB              5408.667 MB

Hi Krishna,

I've found that Networx reports lower values, consistently, when I monitor my wireless adapter connection and "ignore all local traffic".

If however I monitor my router (using SNMP), Networx reports slightly higher values, which is what I prefer.

My ISP provides accurate data up to 'about' 4 hours prior to checking, so I check first thing after logging in on a 'new' day to get the totals up to midnight of the previous day.
I use a wireless connection and log on and off (multiple times) within a single day. There are some days where small amounts of traffic are reported by the ISP on a different day (when they occur close to midnight) but the month-to-date totals are always very close. You might benefit by logging on/off on the same day (i.e. not leaving your connection logged on at midnight).
The only exception is when I connect to my ISP's web site. In this case the router reports the traffic but the ISP doesn't charge for that traffic, it's reported separately as "system data" which is usually only a few MB.

Networx can report traffic by hour, and if you can download a usage file from your ISP containing the 'time and traffic', you can compare more closely.

There is an option in the 'hidden' menu that will allow you to specify an adjusting factor to Networx values and, if you find that your differences are consistent, you can use it to get very close to your ISP values.

J

I just want to add why NetWorx tends to report lower values when the Ignore LAN traffic option is on.

When it's on, NetWorx captures traffic at a higher level in the protocol stack, before data is split into TCP/IP packets and transmitted into the network. So the reported numbers do not include what's called the TCP/IP overhead (packet headers), which results in about 10% lower values reported. These values exactly match the size of downloaded files though.

I keep up/down traffic data from my router and I've seen the ratio as low as 5% and as high as 20% with most days averaging 7% to 12%, so the overall average is about 10%. It all depends on what's being up/down loaded and I don't track that much detail so I can't explain further.

The ideal is to track the router using SNMP.

However, if you can't/don't monitor the router, and want to use the 10% value, change the "Usage adjustment (factor)" in the hidden menu to "1.1" to add the extra 10% to the reported Networx totals. It doesn't really matter much until you get within 10% of your cap and that's when you need to verify using your ISPs values.
I am a bit surprised that it takes up to 3 days for your ISP to report accurate totals, that seems very unfair to you.

J

hi,

can you guide me to the hidden menu? Thinking of using the adjusting factor.

Secondly, tried using the "router monitoring". Here, I used the IP address but unable to get any option in the WAN interface drop down. Unable to use this feature!

1) Open the Settings then press <CTRL> + O (letter Oh, not zero) gets you to the hidden options (I said menu by mistake...).
The factor is the 6th one down

2) In that same hidden options are 3 options that allow you to use SNMP to communicate with your router, to get the routers statistics.
-Router SNMP version
-Router SNMP Community
-Router poll interval
I have the first and third set to the default values but I changed the second one from "public" to my private community name which I won't reveal because it would no longer be private...
For now lets use "AbCdE" as community name. The name is case sensitive so "abcde" is different than "AbCdE".
The router setting for community name must also be changed to match the one in Networx, if you can, because
not all routers allow you to control SNMP, especially ones provided by your ISP (ISPs like to control SNMP on their routers ).
If you have a router provided by your ISP, try to get to the SNMP settings, if you can't, you'll need to buy a router that allows you to access SNMP settings.

Once you've done that (if you could), close the hidden settings and then on the Main window click "Monitor my router...." and you should see both your gateway IP address and 'something' in the WAN interface. I only see "primary interface 1" but others have seen multiple entries and you may have to experiment by selecting each in turn to find the right one.

The last thing is to open the drop down list for Monitored connections and select the router, mine is "Router 192.168.0.1 / primary interface", yours may be 'different' but essentially the same. (do NOT put a Check in the box for "Ignore local traffic......".

J

Quote

Praxis

I keep up/down traffic data from my router and I've seen the ratio as low as 5% and as high as 20% with most days averaging 7% to 12%, so the overall average is about 10%. It all depends on what's being up/down loaded and I don't track that much detail so I can't explain further.

The ideal is to track the router using SNMP.

However, if you can't/don't monitor the router, and want to use the 10% value, change the "Usage adjustment (factor)" in the hidden menu to "1.1" to add the extra 10% to the reported Networx totals. It doesn't really matter much until you get within 10% of your cap and that's when you need to verify using your ISPs values.
I am a bit surprised that it takes up to 3 days for your ISP to report accurate totals, that seems very unfair to you.

J

There's one other thing which I forgot to mention. The router sees traffic to/from the ISP that the PC does not see but that traffic is included in your ISP billing.
1) the router checks for it's own firmware updates,
2) the router checks for the correct date & time for it's own clock,
3) the router receives 'probing' packets from unknown sources and prevents them from reaching the PC, but that's still traffic counted by your ISP.
That's usually not much on my system but may be more on yours depending on the volume of 3) and why it's best to monitor your router if you want to check your billing.

J

Installed NetWorx the other day. One computer set to it's own connection. Yesterday I checked the 24 hour and showed I used 1.1 GB. Checked online and Hughes showed 326 MB. Glad I found this post as I changed the usage adjustment to .325 and now it's pretty much right on.

Many thanks Andrew. Just what I wanted to know - saves posting another question.

Been using Networx on two laptops for about three years and have never quite known which "usage" is being reported - until now.
A recent jump in monthly usage prompted me to investigate it further and Networx was a boon. Problem (Facebook video autoplay) now solved thanks to Networx.

Thanks again.
Rod.