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When you have a family with 10+ devices using WiFi, every now and then one of those devices or its user will misbehave and use an unacceptable quantity of our metered internet data allotment.
I need the ability to see a list of devices attached to the router and the total consumption of data by each device on the router. None of the devices are talking to one another - they are all talking to the internet through the router as a hot spot.
I assume there is no way to set up the router to act as a hot spot instead of a network hub, but there should be. Most families no longer have home networks where there PC’s talk to one another inside the home network.Instead, we all use cloud services and the internet even when passing files back and forth inside the home.
The ability to monitor and track usage by device is critical for families who have Comcast as a provider, as Comcast caps data usage. When one of my sons decides to download 2TB of games for his Xbox in one month, I need to know that and to be able to shut that device off after it has used too much data.
Can Netgear please put this ability in the router so I can do that?
Example:
Dad’s iPhone has used 6GB of data this month
Mom’s iPHone has used 6 GB of data this month
Son’s xbox one has used 2 TB of data this month
And the ability to set a monthly traffic limit on each device.
Right now, I cannot see who is consuming all of the data. But it is all going through the router, and the router is smart enough to tell me this, but just doesn’t.
6 Comments
I agree with you 100% that this is a needed feature. I'd even go a bit further and say it needs to have the capability to set usage caps for individual devices, and generate a rolling 12 month log with the option to automatically email the information to the administrator.
Granted, this may not be a necessary feature for someone offering wi-fi in their coffeeshop or restaurant, but I think on the home network side of it this is a necessary feature. Summarization of the monthly usage is great, but it gives you no idea which devices are using that data.
- This would also be useful even if you don't have capped Internet. For security reasons, you'd want to detect when there is a device that is uploading lots of data. A DVR should not be uploading significant data and if it is, it is likely a zombie device that needs to be virus-checked.
- I have an R8500. One suggestion I read elsewhere was to go to the QoS Streaming tab (under Advanced | Setup): http://x.x.x.x/QOS_down_streaming.htm [x.x.x.x is my router's LAN IP address] At there is a clickable link to "Click here to see bandwidth utilization by device and application". The URL for that link is x.x.x.x/DEV_redirect.htm and that takes me to the page http://x.x.x.x/DEV_device_R8000.htm (I am not concerned that this says R8000 instead of R8500; I am running the latest firmward version [V1.0.2.116]). That page is http://x.x.x.x/DEV_device_R8000.htm and is just the "Attached Devices" page (Advanced | Administration | Attached Devices). There are no bandwidth numbers there, just Connection Type, Device Name, IP Address, MAC Address. But - and this is totally not intuitive for reasons I don't comprehend - if you turn on Dynamic QoS and let the speed test run, that link will go to a different page, http://x.x.x.x/DEV_device_iQoS.htm. that page doesn't directly show you the bandwidth utilization but gives you a snapshot that is likely a close approximation to who your bandwidth hogs are.
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for submitting your idea on data usage monitoring. This suggestion will be reviewed for consideration. :]
- Jason N
- I also want better information about data usage. I want to know if my ISP is giving me the bandwidth they say they are (I can run a speed test but don't if there are some other devices on the network that are using bandwidth and affecting the speedtest result). I also want to be able to look for rogue/compromised devices and want to be able to see individual device usage. (Unlike a previous poster, I do have in-home servers that are directly accessed). So better data usage and management for the router and individual devices is a must...... so much so that I'm considering limiting the ORBI to AP functiuonality only and front ending the RBR50 with a different router that offers better data usage reporting and management.
Does anyone know if a Roku box or an Amazon Fire Stick have to be manually turned off
after each usage to prevent data usage, or can they be left in home mode? If they are manually
turned off, does that prevent Hulu from DVR recording the shows I have requested in My Stuff?