Australia NBN satellite usage difference

Started by Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor

Australia NBN satellite usage difference   11 November 2016, 08:07

I am finding that my ISP download figures are, on average, 20% higher than those reported by Networx. The ISP upload figures are on average 200% higher!

I have finally received a response from my ISP which follows:

"Please not that whilst Glasswire & Netwrox give you good information, they are not industry standard counters and dont operate at the layer we (and all ISP's) count data at.

We count data at the layer 3 level and include all headers in the count"


I would be very grateful if you can comment on what they are saying here?

Kind Regards,
Mark
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: Australia NBN satellite usage difference   11 November 2016, 09:41

Basically what they say is right, please consider the following:
  • If you use the Ignore local traffic within the LAN option, NetWorx doesn't include what's called TCP/IP overhead a.k.a. packet headers. In this case it's common to expect about 10% under-reporting.
  • Even if you don't use the above option and NetWorx takes into account all packet headers leaving from and coming to your PC, an ISP may encapsulate traffic within another protocol in their network, which may inflate packet size and thus ISP's reported figures.

I'd say up to a 20% discrepancy may be valid, but 200% is definitely not. It's also worth noting that NetWorx only monitors traffic on your computer. If you have other devices, e.g. mobile phones, smart TV, etc, these also use a share of your bandwidth, but will not appear in NetWorx as described here.
Mark Taylor

Re: Australia NBN satellite usage difference   11 November 2016, 12:45

Thanks for your quick reply. I have set "Ignore local traffic" so it looks as if packet headers are missed. Will this effect down and up usage? Could it explain why Networx reports 800MB upload and the ISP figures are 2600MB?

Would the headers be included if I configure Networx to monitor the router?
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: Australia NBN satellite usage difference   11 November 2016, 13:59

The exclusion of packet headers could amount for about 20% difference, but not 200%-300% as you described. Another possibility may be the fact Windows could have downloaded updates while NetWorx wasn't running (before logon) or any use of the so-called UWP apps like MS Edge.

Generally speaking monitoring the router would include packet headers and should provide a more accurate picture, provided you monitor it 24/7, meaning the PC running and NetWorx polling the router all the time.

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