Network Internet traffic monitoring?

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Hammerer

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#1546563 4-May-2016 12:32

Nerdherder:

Thanks everyone, plenty more little nuances to follow up on.

I know 40GB is low (ridiculous, naïve etc etc), as noted, we had used streaming etc previously with 40GB and had plenty spare, so our usage is lower than most people.

Your situation reminds me of a guy I knew who bought a big old American V8 "tank" in the 70s. He didn't change his habits which included weekend trips to the Hawkes Bay. Except that now he could spend most of his weekly pay on petrol for that trip. He didn't do anything different: his car did.

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#1546571 4-May-2016 12:43

Hammerer:

Nerdherder:

Thanks everyone, plenty more little nuances to follow up on.

I know 40GB is low (ridiculous, naïve etc etc), as noted, we had used streaming etc previously with 40GB and had plenty spare, so our usage is lower than most people.

Your situation reminds me of a guy I knew who bought a big old American V8 "tank" in the 70s. He didn't change his habits which included weekend trips to the Hawkes Bay. Except that now he could spend most of his weekly pay on petrol for that trip. He didn't do anything different: his car did.

Data is cheap and getting cheaper - but petrol is not

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allio

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#1546606 4-May-2016 13:32

I'm genuinely curious - what ISP even offers a UFB plan with only 40GB of data? I remember a few such plans when the very first UFB offerings were announced (I remember because I was very dismayed to see them) but thought they'd disappeared within a year or so.

BigPipeNZ

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#1546612 4-May-2016 13:51

allio:

I'm genuinely curious - what ISP even offers a UFB plan with only 40GB of data? I remember a few such plans when the very first UFB offerings were announced (I remember because I was very dismayed to see them) but thought they'd disappeared within a year or so.

Possible that the OP signed up a long time ago on an old plan and has only just had it installed. Most ISPs won't automatically move you to a better plan unless you look for it and ask.

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Nerdherder

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#1548517 9-May-2016 09:24

Just thought I would post a follow up.

I tracked the usage to my wifes laptop. In Win 8 and I learned about the feature that shows you how much data is being used over your wifi connection (open up the wifi connections and it will show usage on the connected network). Also, running task manager showed what network traffic every program was using.

This enabled narrowing it down to be very easy. And it was....

Dropbox. For some reason it was constantly checking for the file list. While it was open, even if syncing was paused, it was using about 1 megabyte per second. Yes, it used almost a Gig in 20 minutes.

I need to track down what the exact cause is within dropbox, but as soon as I exited out of dropbox totally, the traffic dropped to zero.

Crazy.

So thanks again all!

Nerdherder

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#1548528 9-May-2016 09:32

BigPipeNZ:

allio:

I'm genuinely curious - what ISP even offers a UFB plan with only 40GB of data? I remember a few such plans when the very first UFB offerings were announced (I remember because I was very dismayed to see them) but thought they'd disappeared within a year or so.

Possible that the OP signed up a long time ago on an old plan and has only just had it installed. Most ISPs won't automatically move you to a better plan unless you look for it and ask.

We are on Slingshot. We were on 40GB ADSL, and they sold us on 40GB fibre for a cheaper cost. Would be 80GB (I think) for the same cost we used to pay for ADSL, but we don't have much cash to go round, small family, school to pay for etc so any saving is welcome. Hence no Netflix or sky for our family, driven by savings.

It wasn't that concerning about losing the speed as the speed just drops once the allocation ran out, but that didn't worry us since we're not gaming or concerned about video quality, the requirement is really for work email. It was just concern that someone was using our connection, or had a virus or something. It was Dropbox in the end.

I like that petrol usage analogy too above :)

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michaelmurfy

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#1548967 9-May-2016 23:48

You would honestly not be saving much by being on an old Fibre plan - especially since you had to spend time trying to track down data use like this :)

Here is how you save money like a baus:
Sign up to BigPipe using their "ufbswitch" promo onto their Starter UFB plan using the link in my signature (this one) - $79 per month however here is the trick:

Slingshots cheapest plan on their site is $75 per month - you may be paying a touch less but here is how to think of it. You'll likely be getting some pretty entry level broadband (30/10) which by todays standard is not what broadband is about especially when you've got UFB. With BigPipe you'll be getting 100/20 which is already (as you know) quite a bit faster. We'll also work it on a savings for a year level:

Slingshot - Maybe $69/mo (based on the current Chorus costs) is the least they can possibly charge you for a measly 40gb cap - $828 per year.

BigPipe (over a year) - $79/mo however you get a $20 credit using my link + 2mo free, so 79x10-20=$770 (in the first year). If you get others to sign up you earn also $20 per referral allowing you to save even more money hopefully getting to the point (if you have friends, or an influential personality) you'll not have to pay a bill. Also, did I mention you get unlimited broadband at a faster speed?

Just my 2c. I am sure @BigPipeNZ will agree with me it is a wise decision ;) generally the point I'm trying to make is these days you're really not saving anything by being on a capped plan especially with the aspect of living with a cap (ugh)

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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