Help with Network Monitoring

[Styphelus]

I need help monitoring what's being downloaded on my home network.

 

Long story short, I've been noticing a huge increase in my bandwidth. Daily average went from 6Gb/day to 13GB/day.

 

I do have my sister staying at my house for a while and while I suspect it's her, I need a way to log in the usage on each device and show it to her so she can't deny it.Heck,  I have 83GB in the last 12 days that I can't account for. That's a lot, especially with data caps in Canada.

 

I'm not network savvy and don't know much about routers so my question in, is there a way to monitor the download usage on each device on my wireless network? (She has a PC, laptop, android phone and PS4) and I need a way to monitor that stuff from my PC and show it to her so she can't deny it's her.

 

 

[phulshof]

Easiest would be if your router kept data usage logs; what brand/type do you use?

Alternatively you can hook up a computer to a hub right before the router, and monitor it on there, though that does require you to keep it on 24/7.

[Styphelus]

I have a crappy Hitron-CDE-30364 modem/router. Logged in but can't see any usage logs anywhere.

 

 

I don't have computers laying around to hook one up before the router. Buying extra equipment is not something I want to do.

[dougan78]

Maybe you can make a separate Wireless network for her and see if you can throttle her Wireless and change the password on your Wireless to keep them separate. Not sure about wireless settings for throttling or data usage but an idea anyway. I did not say it was a good one either. I had a friend do that for his in laws and once the internet was too slow they moved out. Ha.

[Iggy]

Easiest would be if your router kept data usage logs; what brand/type do you use?

Alternatively you can hook up a computer to a hub right before the router, and monitor it on there, though that does require you to keep it on 24/7.

 He will need a managed switch or router capable of port mirroring to capture all traffic using the 24/7 pc running a monitoring program like wireshark......otherwise the only other way i know of is to run a monitoring program secretly on PC in question 

[griffin518]

@Styphelus Does your router show simple, yet real time usage statistics? Kbps, packets in/out, etc? Sometimes if a router doesn't log or show device level statistics it'll still show global information.

[phulshof]

I read the manual, and he's right: the router does not offer useful features.

[Styphelus]

Will this software do it? 

 

http://www.colasoft.com/capsa-free/

 

They talk about it more here:

 

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-out-whos-eating-your-bandwidth-with-these-tips/

[Iggy]

Styphelus, i found this on the documentation side of capsa:

 

Please first figure out on what device you connect the machine with Capsa installed. If it's a HUB, you can see all traffic in that network. If a switch, check out whether its port mirroring powered.

If the switch supports port mirroring, you just need to configure it to copy all traffic to your computer. If the switch doesn't support port mirroring, you may need to invest in a cheap HUB or TAP or switch with port mirroring function.

So it ultimately depends on your network: How is everything connected in your network? (Ie do you have everything connected to router or do you have a switch / hub that everything plugs into and that switch / hub is connected to your router). 

[Styphelus]

I have a modem/router provided by my internet company in the basement plugged into the cable that comes into the house. Everything else in the house connects to it via wireless.

 

No idea what you guys are talking about switches/hubs/taps, port mirroring....

[Iggy]

Also if this suspected PC is connected via wireless then capsa free does not have wireless support...u have to bump up to enterprise version

[Styphelus]

Thanks...lets say I can get...errr...buy the enterprise version...

[Iggy]

Yep it should work....if your wireless communications are encrpted, Capsa will ask you for the decrypt key...its the sam key you use to connect a device to your wireless network initially.

 

Check this out www.colasoft.com/capsa/how-to-capture-wireless-network-traffic.php

[Styphelus]

Thanks a lot for your help Iggy. I will give it a go as soon as I get home today.

[phulshof]

Then it depends on how you connect to your wireless; what encryption method (if any) do you use?

[Styphelus]

Unfortunately this program didn't work. It won't detect my wireless. Tried on laptop with same result. 

 

Any other suggestions?

[Iggy]

Hmmm at this point you are at the mercy of your router pulling logs....cant think of anything right now...ill see what i can find in my bag of tricks....