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I've been searching the forums and the Internet in general, today, as I have gotten my first notice from Comcast that, lo, I am over my 1 Terabyte limit, this month. It has been inching toward that mark for a bit, and last month was around 944 Gig. What can I say: We are a connected, gaming, streaming family and our Comcast link is a vital utility. I have seen suggestions on this forum to "just disconnect everything and reconnect until you find the hog." With 30ish devices on the network, 4 kids, 2 renters, and countless visitors, this is simply not a possibility. What I could do is set up a different router (preferably one with this feature) and move the connections over to it one-by-one until I find the offender. If I have to go that route, I highly doubt the Orbi would get reconnected. Which is a shame because it is a pretty decent solution for everything else.
I would like for Netgear to seriously consider giving customers an option for this data. There are many ways to do it, but ANY of them would be acceptable to me. I'm a long-time networking pro, so even if these are scary for some people, at least it would be an option.
- Do the metering in the device with display of the statistics in the interface and in the app. This is obviously going to make the most customers happy because it would give us a report per-device of the usage. This isn't rocket science: Even if the device has a database limitation of 100 devices to monitor, or even 50, it would be useful. COMCAST does it on their modem devices for xFi. It can't be that hard.
- Do the metering externally by providing SNMP statistics on a per-device basis for smaller timeframes. This would mean that the Orbi doesn't have to store "dead" devices forever and would be up to whatever stat-gathering tool was used.
- Do the metering externally by providing some app that collects the data to a desktop. Maybe Java so you can hit Windows, Linux, and Mac all at once with it.
- Provide traffic mirroring to a selected wired port. This would at least give me the ability to plug in Wireshark or other tools to see what is going on. It would be super useful for troubleshooting intermittent issues and not just bandwidth monitoring.
- Provide netflow/sflow output to a collector on the home network. This would also have broader uses than just bandwidth monitoring, but it is potentially the hardest to use solution in this list. If it is easy to implement in the Orbi (i.e., the chips already support it), then I'll take it happily.
- Other things I haven't mentioned. Look, I'm desperate, here. I will find a way to use anything that helps.
I get 2 months free "warnings" from Comcast, but the cost of not knowing this outweighs replacing the Orbi. Once I start getting charged $10/50 Gig, I'm going to need to know right then and there. And if I don't have a reasonable answer by that time, another Orbi will be going out to eBay.
195 Comments
Thanks for the tip! Hadn't heard of Google Nest WiFi Pro. Mesh WiFi too I see, and cheaper than Orbi! And smaller form factor. Nice. Will check it out.
Is there any update on this? Costlier routers like RAXE500 does not have this feature. Please add this as a feature in upcoming FW releases. This is one of the most essential feature customers would be looking in to considering the amount of devices connected in home/office now a days.
Facing data limit challenges with Comcast is tough, especially in a connected household. Requesting Netgear to provide more comprehensive data usage options, like per-device statistics or external metering, seems like a reasonable plea for a smoother experience. Here's hoping for a solution that suits your needs!
I don't have time to read all the pages of comments on this thread. But consider me absolutely shocked that my Netgear nighthawk router cannot do this already. I went with nighthawk because of the brand reputation of simply being one of the best, this is unbelievable! Before too long. I'll probably be in the market for a new router to take advantage of technology improvements; and believe me, if netgear can't figure out something this simple they are not even on my list as an option.
I've already written off Tplink about 5 years ago due to lack of support and not honoring their warranty for a known defective item (simply because I bought the item on sale... When they saw my receipt, they said I didn't pay the 'minimum' needed to get support!) So my list up vendors who actually will get my $ is shrinking. If Netgear can't add this, my confidence in them is shrinking.... Why have an overall traffic meter and not tell me which device is using the most.... Basic, basic functionality.
Anyone have advice on a good company to replace my Nighthawk? Looking for one that can easily handle the myriad of devices in a modern smart home environment.
After getting no response from Netgear on the Orbi for years, I switched to Ubiquiti and have been really happy. It is a much bigger process to step into and it involves more money, but it offers all of the easy maintenance and observability that I wanted and more.
I'm looking back through the history of this issue, we have an Orbi CBR 40. Overall, it has performed well over the years we have had it. However, now... Xfinity has reported we are over our 1TB usage both last month and hitting it again this month. This is crazy!!! Nothing has changed in our household. I've spent countless hours with Xfinity and Orbi trying to trouble shoot with no resolution because neither can tell me the source of the data usage.
Shocked Netgear has not listened to their customers and this need. We will be switching brands.
FYI, the CBR40 is EoL and not being developed on any more.
You should allow others to help you in your other post before completely blaming NG. Your ISP has been making there own service modifications which may be one cause of problems. Also would need to post your modems connections and event logs there as well for review to see if there are any issues seen there.NG doesn't provide lots of diagnostic or traffic meter options. Traffic Meter only covers over usage thru the system.
Find something that does. Though this may not help either.
Good Luck.Unbelievable we spend $299 on this product and this is not a feature. I have GB fiber and right now my wife is lagging out on her video call. I NEED to figure out which device is mooching all the speed and cut it. Unfortunately there are 10 PC's and endless other devices connected. Would expect more out of a professional company than this.
Nighthawk Mesh.
I know right. That is why when I just received an email from Netgear advertising a new system I just deleted it. I don't know or care if this feature has been added to it. There is no way I would sign on again with a company that never once responded to the hundreds of comments and complaints and requests of it's customers... not even to say no we aren't going to do it. They just flat out ghosted us.. for years! It's bad enough that I'm stuck with them until this system dies and I finally have to spend money to replace it. I'm not going to jump right back into the same boat.
Too all, you can complain or post here however this is a idea exhange where users can post about ideas or requests to NG. For users who what help or need help, it's highly recommended to post in the appropriate support forum for your model product that you have and get free help and support there. Forums or active and help by many users.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Home-Networking/ct-p/home-networking
You'll not get any support help or information here.
