NetWorx reports much less data than Xfinity
5 posts · Closed
I have a problem in which NetWorx says that I am using much less internet data than Xfinity. I am trying to monitor the external data coming to/from the router. I'm using a Windows free version 5.3.3.0 on Win 7 SP1 Home Edition.
Xfinity says I have used 10 GB of internet data from March 1 to March 4 while NetWorx says I have used 248 MB. I had already set "Physical adapters only" to False and restarted NetWorx. This big discrepancy started when I switched from an ASUS router to an ARRIS TG1682G Modem/Router provided by Comcast. Is there any issue with polling data from an ARRIS modem/router? Or is it due to the old free/lite version?
Before I switched from the ASUS router to the ARRIS modem/router and switched from a previous ISP to Xfinity, NetWorx reported monthly usages in the 10s of GB, so I presume it was reporting results similar to what Xfinity is telling me now.
In settings I have selected "Monitor my router rather than this computer" and Monitored Interfaces correctly lists (only) the correct modem/router. "Ignore local traffic within the LAN rather than this computer" is grayed out.
I would say it's just that the new router doesn't provide correct data. A router normally maintains its DL/UL counters which NetWorx polls periodically. The UPnP standard prescribes the counters to be 32-bit unsigned integers. This means they continuously go up from 0 to 4 GB.
There is a chance that your router might have a bug in its firmware code and it uses signed integers, which turns the counters negative as soon as they reach 2 GB. Quite a few routers have this bug.
We added a workaround for this problem in versions 5.5 and 5.5.1. In those versions and above, if NetWorx receives incorrect data, it will try to make sense of it.
I recommend to run a portable version of latest NetWorx in parallel with your main installation (don't delete your current version), set it up the same way and see if it works better. If it does, you may like to upgrade to the latest version.
Andrew,
I have located the portable version as you suggested and downloaded. After un-zipping the folders/files and running the executable (on the PC) I can't find the portable version. I still have the original 5.3.3.0. Could you suggest what I might be doing wrong.
I do agree with you that the problem is the router, as Networx performed well with the old router.
Tom
There should be a second NetWorx icon in the notification area, when launching the portable version. Please check the full list of icons in the notification area as per this Microsoft guide.
Alternatively you can quit the old installed version before running the new portable one. Then the only NetWorx icon will be the one that belongs to the new portable version.
Andrew,
I found the mobile version of Networx (6.1.1 64-bit) and it gives me the same result as the older 5.3.3.0. So I think this Arris Xfinity modem/router must not allow accurate monitoring or else doesn't support the necessary protocols. I sent a requesnt in to Arris support to see if they can help.