Monitor what is using my bandwidth

Submit ». Get answers from your peers along with millions of IT pros who visit Spiceworks. Hello: My first post here: I'm trying find out why the computer system that I support has been experiencing drastic slowdowns in internet access.

Here's my situation: I provide support for the networked computer system of a small local non-profit, but I'm not a network guru. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!!

Best Answer. Alex This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional. View this "Best Answer" in the replies below ». Ross Feb 14, at UTC. Or On each device do a remote CMD and run netstat to see what connections you have or manually load up task manager and look at the load on the network device.

There are some scripts in the scripts section that can help you out with that a bit. He tried PRTG, found it too difficult. Rockn This person is a verified professional.

You could do the same thing with the free pfsense firewall. W Feb 14, at UTC. Some quick responses: Ross I looked at the router but didn't see any way to get a bandwidth report. Thanks again and I will respond more next week. I'm not sure how to get the info you are looking for if you don't have these tools.

Edited Mar 2, at UTC. Paessler PRTG I went back and re read your original post. Untangle, Inc. That's certainly possible but it still complicates the whole thing. Alex wrote: That's certainly possible but it still complicates the whole thing. But if he cant do SNMP or some other way of pulling info from the router or switch then isn't this his only other option? Well, I guess he could get some business grade hardware donated. I suppose you're right, I'm not sure if there is truly a simple way to do this in his scenario.

I know that my environment it is more complex, but I just wanted to provide some ideas. Cacti Best VR Headsets. Best iPad Mini Cases. Best Gifts for Cutting the Cord. Best Bluetooth Speakers. Awesome PC Accessories. Best Linux Laptops. Best Gaming Monitors. Best iPads. Best iPhones. Best External Hard Drives. Browse All News Articles.

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My overall favorite? This comprehensive package allows users to monitor bandwidth as well as identify, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues with ease via its highly intuitive dashboard. The best part? You can try them both by downloading a day, fully functional free trial.

What Is Network Bandwidth Monitoring? Finding the Right Bandwidth Monitoring Tool. Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack My favorite 2. NetFlow Traffic Analyzer 3. NetFlow Analyzer 5. Cacti 9. Higher bandwidth allows data to be transferred at a faster rate and for more devices to connect at once. I like to refer to networks as highways and bandwidth as the lanes.

The more lanes you have on a highway, the more easily traffic can move. The same thing is true of a network. If too many users are watching videos or downloading files—any type of high-data activity—your network speed will lag. This is why you may often notice a slower connection in public places full of users, with their laptops open and tablets in hand, all trying to use the internet at once.

Bandwidth capacity is typically determined by the connection type. Digital subscriber line DSL internet relies on telephone lines and has limited capabilities. Cable internet is faster, but fiber-optic speeds trump them all. Most don't differentiate between LAN traffic among computers on your network and traffic to and from the internet though, so take your tallies with a grain of salt. For even more accuracy, you can track your bandwidth usage at the router level, assuming you have your own router and access to it.

If your router is running its stock firmware, log in and see if it has built-in traffic monitoring. For example, my Netgear N can monitor traffic against a total bandwidth cap for me, and if I select it, will even flash the "Internet" connection LED or disable my connection entirely when I've hit the cap. More and more routers are coming with this option pre-configured to make it easy to manage caps. If your router doesn't have built-in monitoring though, you can hack it so it does with a custom firmware:.

Monitoring your bandwidth usage at the router level is probably the most accurate method, since it includes any mobile or guest devices on your home network, and excludes traffic among computers on your home LAN. Of course, you can tally bandwdith used by all of your systems at home for months and show it to your ISP, but the only tally that really matters is the one your ISP has collected. You should definitely track your own usage, if for no other reason than to have your own evidence in case of a dispute, but you should also visit your ISP's site and see if they make your bandwidth totals available.