Re: C7100V - Traffic Meter / Data Usage

types24 · ‎2020-02-17

For the last 7 weeks now, Comcast has been telling me I'm exceeding my bandwidth allowance, but this seems extremely unlikely to me. Is there any way to see which devices are using my bandwidth? Comcast tells me they'd be able to let me know if I were using their router, but obviously I'm not.

Or is there a way to fix my traffic meter because I had enabled the C7100V's traffic meter a few weeks back but it seemed broken so I disabled it (by broken, it never reported traffic volume for "yesterday" and "this week" and "this month" totals reflect the same as the total for "today" even after the meter was on for several days.(I'm on firmware V2.01.42; I believe this is mandated by Comcast).

Open to other ideas, too. Comcast alleges I've used 800GB in the last two weeks alone, but my household data usage habits would come nowhere near that (~2 hours of HD streaming, maybe an hour of music streaming, and web surfing). None of my devices are mistakenly streaming nonstop; I recognize all devices connected to my Wifi; no viruses on my computer (which isn't turned on enough tobe the source of the usage, anyway). And yet Comcast is convinced they can't possibly be wrong.

plemans · ‎2020-02-17

the C7100v doesn't have a "by device" traffic monitor. Its the most requested feature on the "ideas for home" page.

What you can do and what I've done is to use comcasts data monitor. they have one built into their services. so if you log into your comcast account through the browser, it has a monitor.

What I've done is see how much data I'm using on a daily basis and then shut off a few of my higher bandwidth devices. If the data drops off, its those devices. If it doesn't. something else is using the data. In that case, you can log into your attached devices list or your access control list. You can even disable devices from the access control list. By selectively disabling them and seeing how your data changes with comcast, you can tell which one is using all the data.

Its a gimmicky way around something that should be built into all the routers. With all the data caps out there, every router should have data monitoring by device.

View solution in original post

plemans · ‎2020-02-17

the C7100v doesn't have a "by device" traffic monitor. Its the most requested feature on the "ideas for home" page.

What you can do and what I've done is to use comcasts data monitor. they have one built into their services. so if you log into your comcast account through the browser, it has a monitor.

What I've done is see how much data I'm using on a daily basis and then shut off a few of my higher bandwidth devices. If the data drops off, its those devices. If it doesn't. something else is using the data. In that case, you can log into your attached devices list or your access control list. You can even disable devices from the access control list. By selectively disabling them and seeing how your data changes with comcast, you can tell which one is using all the data.

Its a gimmicky way around something that should be built into all the routers. With all the data caps out there, every router should have data monitoring by device.

types24 · ‎2020-02-17

Thanks, I'll give it a shot and report back. I also turned the traffic meter on the router back on and we'll see if that seems to work any better this time around.

types24 · ‎2020-02-19

I’ve been trying the trial and error or blocking access to certain devices and watching the traffic meter. I’d have more confidence in this if my traffic meter was more reliable - is there a fix for it?

Anyway, so far it’s appearing like the culprit is my Amazon Echo Dot. I want to keep an eye on things for another day or so before I declare victory, but it looks like that may be what’s downloading ~30-40GB/day. Why? I have no idea. We barely use it and even if we did that amount of data seems impossible. But that will be a discussion for Amazon.

plemans · ‎2020-02-20

@types24 wrote:
I’ve been trying the trial and error or blocking access to certain devices and watching the traffic meter. I’d have more confidence in this if my traffic meter was more reliable - is there a fix for it?----Not really. You can use the comcast data meter on their website. I've found that to be easier to use.

Anyway, so far it’s appearing like the culprit is my Amazon Echo Dot. I want to keep an eye on things for another day or so before I declare victory, but it looks like that may be what’s downloading ~30-40GB/day. Why? I have no idea. We barely use it and even if we did that amount of data seems impossible. But that will be a discussion for Amazon.

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-02-20

Do you keep the Dot audio unmuted or muted? I keep mine muted. Thought I haven't tracked data usage and only have it accessing my NEST controllers and linked to Amazon and get notifications and thats about it. Mines a 1st gen Dot.

@types24 wrote:
I’ve been trying the trial and error or blocking access to certain devices and watching the traffic meter. I’d have more confidence in this if my traffic meter was more reliable - is there a fix for it?

Anyway, so far it’s appearing like the culprit is my Amazon Echo Dot. I want to keep an eye on things for another day or so before I declare victory, but it looks like that may be what’s downloading ~30-40GB/day. Why? I have no idea. We barely use it and even if we did that amount of data seems impossible. But that will be a discussion for Amazon.

types24 · ‎2020-02-20

Unmuted, but no way should it be using so much data. Nor do I think it's normal; I'll report back what I hear from the nice people at Amazon.

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-02-20

Might try it muted as well. At anyrate, ya should not be using up that kind of data. What its it downloading or uploading that much data for?

Might try a factory reset on the Dot as well. What gen is this Dot?