Bandwidth distribution reading very low compared to ISP

[jangell]

I've been running Gargoyle for about a year now. I use it on a TP-Link TL-WR1043N/ND v2 router to monitor bandwidth usage among my machines in anticipation of the forthcoming Comcast bandwidth caps. I've been low enough that I only check in on it occasionally.

Today I noticed that the bandwidth usage (as observed with the B/W Distribution page set to show months) is much lower than my ISP reports since July. Before that, the readings were within 10 or 20 GB, but from July onward they are very far off, almost an order of magnitude off. For example, in September it says I used 89 GB, while Comcast's bandwidth usage page says 687 GB. In May, the numbers line up much more closely -- 631 GB in Gargoyle vs 581 GB from my ISP.

Here's another metric; Gargoyle says that my laptop alone used 165 GB of data in May, but in July it reports a mere 3.59 GB.

I'm not sure what changed in July. I vaguely remember upgrading my router's firmware (I'm running Gargoyle 1.8.1), but I don't recall any other network changes in that timeframe.

My network consists of the TP-Link (with its wifi disabled) plugged into my own Motorola cable modem (which has no wifi, so no one is connecting to it directly). An Airport Extreme Base Station is being used for wifi, and points to the TP-Link router as the gateway. Two other ethernet switches are also plugged into the TP-Link. All devices go through the TP-Link router to get to the internet, so all traffic should be monitored by Gargoyle.

Any thoughts? I'm happy to post any configuration information or screenshots that can help diagnose this.

Thanks!

-- Joe

[ericwong]

Here's another metric; Gargoyle says that my laptop alone used 165 GB of data in May, but in July it reports a mere 3.59 GB.

Time for you to run some diagnostic on your computer to see what exactly your laptop is doing with those data. Virus infection is one of the reason data usage remains high if you did not consume it yourself.

I doubt the problem lies with Gargoyle router, it is more likely to be somewhere else.

[jangell]

I think you're misinterpreting my problem -- my machines are all reporting significantly less bandwidth use with Gargoyle than they used to, even though my habits haven't changed, and my ISP is reporting consistent usage. I only used the laptop as an example, as ther his no way it's using only 3.59 GB in a month -- my continuous off-site backup alone would obliterate that number(it has used 3.69 GB in just 4 days, according to Little Snitch, which I use for per-app bandwidth monitoring on this laptop). And it's not just this one machine that's reporting low -- the total bandwidth being reported is much lower than it used to be.

I haven't changed my habits, and the ISP's bandwidth monitor shows fairly constant usage (400-600 GB/month, more or less), which was within 10% of what Gargoyle reported until July, at which point Gargoyle started reporting much lower bandwidth use -- only 80-150 GB/month. Both my ISP and Gargoyle are reporting in gigabytes, not gigabits, so it's not a Gb/GB conversion thing (and the factor doesn't match anyway). This implies to me that Gargoyle is incorrectly reporting/recording bandwidth usage for some reason.

Since Gargoyle is sitting between my ISP and all of my computers (it is my internet gateway), any high bandwidth usage on individual devices should be show up on Gargoyle, even if one of the machines was compromised, should it not? There is no wifi hardware on my cable modem, so no one is leaching my bandwidth through it.

Even so, it does seem odd that only I would be having these problems with Gargoyle. I try to only run stable builds, but I'm wondering if I should just re-flash with 1.9.1 and see how that goes for a while.

Thanks

-- Joe

[ericwong]

Even so, it does seem odd that only I would be having these problems with Gargoyle. I try to only run stable builds, but I'm wondering if I should just re-flash with 1.9.1 and see how that goes for a while.

If you don't use L7 protocol for QoS, 1.9.1 is probably better. The moderators here have been advising people to use 1.9.x. Do NOT use 1.9.x if you use L7 protocol for QoS due to reboot loop problem. You CANNOT preserve settings if you upgrade to 1.9.x though or you may brick your router.

However, I have been using 1.8.1 since and did not notice such problem on 1.8.1. I can see my Gargoyle actually reported higher usage in GB than what my ISP says though. My connection is unlimited and I don't really care about the amount of data used anymore.

I hope you are aware that the software you use to monitor traffic on your computer probably do NOT differentiate local vs internet traffic, right? it could be measuring local traffic and you think it is internet traffic.

If you don't want to upgrade firmware, you can try to reset your Gargoyle router and it might fix it. You may want to save a backup configuration first though.

[jangell]

Thanks -- I installed 1.9.1 last night, and I'll report back on how it goes. It's already reporting that my laptop used 2.3 GB of data in the last 12 hours, so it looks like it's working so far. I really only use Gargoyle for bandwidth monitoring, and don't use QoS or any of the other more advanced features at the moment.

Oddly, after the update Gargoyle wouldn't reload my settings backed up from 1.8.1, but there wasn't much reset, so no big deal. If my configuration was damaged somehow, perhaps it explains the bandwidth tracking issue (in some arcane way).

As for the network monitor app I run on my machine, Little Snitch, it specifically reports internet bandwidth usage on a per-app basis, ignoring LAN usages (although you can show that if you want), so it's a pretty good indicator of how much each app is using. That and I'm fairly sure my off-site backup tool isn't doing anything on the LAN. But you make a good point, it is good to check those things just to be sure.

Thanks!

-- Joe

[ericwong]

Oddly, after the update Gargoyle wouldn't reload my settings backed up from 1.8.1, but there wasn't much reset, so no big deal. If my configuration was damaged somehow, perhaps it explains the bandwidth tracking issue (in some arcane way).
-- Joe

Well, the good news is you didn't brick your router by reloading 1.8.x config because you possibly could. I have already cautioned you and I assume you didn't read/understand the upgrade instructions that the config is not compatible? Your config is not corrupted, it is just not compatible with 1.9.x and don't ever try loading it again on incompatible firmware, or else having a bricked router is very likely.

[jangell]

You're right, I wasn't paying attention and missed it (doing too many things at once). Good thing it didn't load then. Thanks again.

-- Joe

[NotHal]

Did you ever resolve the discrepancy between Gargoyle and your ISP? My ISP just imposed a data cap, so I installed Gargoyle to begin monitoring, too. It's early, but my instincts tell me I may encounter a similar discrepancy.