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 NetWorx
Australia NBN satellite usage difference
Started by Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor
Australia NBN satellite usage difference 11 November 2016, 08:07 |
Re: Australia NBN satellite usage difference 11 November 2016, 09:41 |
Admin Registered: 18 years ago Posts: 3 518 |
Basically what they say is right, please consider the following:
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.
- 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?
Would the headers be included if I configure Networx to monitor the router?
Re: Australia NBN satellite usage difference 11 November 2016, 13:59 |
Admin Registered: 18 years ago Posts: 3 518 |
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.
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.