Unexplained Bandwidth usage

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Where did my bandwidth go to
This article is aimed at users that are uncertain as to where their bandwidth has gone to.
There are a number of possibilities; we'll explore them here:
0. You actually used it
The bandwidth that you use includes all the internet traffic generated by all the systems on your network. This includes:
Your computer (is it downloading updates, etc)
Your router (your router may allow certain types of traffic - e.g. its administrative web site may be open).
Your printer, your IP phone, your scanner, etc
Applications generate more bandwidth than you would expect:
All programs generate extra traffic, above what you would consider to be the amount of traffic used - if nothing else, they need to send an acknowledgement that they did receive the data.
Bittorrent generates 25% or more extra traffic in overheads. In our testing, downloading a very popular 1Gb file consumed 1.25Gb of bandwidth. We are not at all surprised. This figure depends the network speed and latency and the number of peers you communicate with, and it can be closer to 50%.
Mail generates extra traffic: a 1 Mb mail attachment is encoded in 1.25Mb of data, and by the time it is transmitted or received with its headers, the traffic is closer to 1.50 Mb.
If you believe that you can communicate with fewer overheads, you are free to do so.
Also note: even when your computers are not powered on; your router can participate in traffic on the network on its own - this is is also accountable for bandwidth you may not be aware of.
1. Exceeding the allocated usage
Because we don't receive the usage reports from your ADSL connection on a per minute basis, you can exceed their bandwidth before the account gets capped. When you top up, or when at the beginning of the month you get allocated new bandwidth, the excess bandwidth will be automatically deducted.
For instance if you have a 1Gb capped account & your downloads are running when you reach 1.2Gb; 0.2Gb was in excess - this will be taken from your next top up/auto top up/monthly allocation
2. Wireless vulnerability
Users with wireless routers/modems are more susceptible to intruders accessing their network; and in turn using their available bandwidth.
The only way to ensure this is to maximize security on your wireless router/modem with the various options the router provides in this regard. If required an I.T. Technician can assist in enforcing top security on your network.
Especially with the capped accounts which allow one to connect from 4x concurrent locations; anyone kilometers away from you could be using your account.
3. Compromised Login details
Anyone that has access to your user name/password for your ADSL account or your network can be using your traffic without you realizing it.
Anyone with access to your E-mails or SMS' as well could have gotten hold of your login details sent to you.
If you suspect this is happening to you, please contact us, and we will investigate whether we need to block the abuser from our network.
4. Malicious software (malware)
Computers & networks can often go infected & unnoticed. There are many new threats being injected into the world wide web daily & having the latest & best intelligent anti virus & anti spyware applications is of essence.
This is one of the biggest causes of unaccountable traffic; because the infection does not manifest itself & unless one has an application to monitor traffic this is very difficult to identify.
Your machine can be turned into a "Zombie" & be used to send out spam. As of 2005 an estimate 50-80% of all Spam worldwide was sent by computer zombies. Note that this is also a factor that slows down your entire network due to the extensive traffic generated by these infections. Zombie programs can also make use of your bandwidth for other purposes, such as launching computer attacks and acting as an anonymous proxy. If you notice your computer running slowly or you receive an abuse report, you may want to consider a new way of doing your internet banking.
5. Third party applications
Torrents are a well known cause of major downloads; & for slowing down the network {often run 24/7 on the background}. Even once you have finished downloading, uploading continues until you close the program.
Applications like Skype and other voice based services can generate traffic even when not in use; simply because of it's P2p functionality.
any ports that are forwarded to a PC are open for exploitation can potentially be used for traffic
Kaspersky Anti Virus (and others) has a feature where it goes out and checks the site you are browsing for malicious code. Unfortunately it does not pass the page to the browser but just lets the browser go out and get it itself. This is causing double bandwith usage. Thus browsing 500MB causes 1GB of traffic. In tests for this Kaspersky "feature" download speeds on a 384 line increased from 5kb/s to 45kb/s once the feature was disabled.
6. Unsolicited traffic
The IP address that we assign to you receives traffic from any system in the world that decides to send traffic there. This is fundamental to the Internet. As long as your ADSL modem is powered on, this traffic is delivered to you, and you are billed for this traffic. There is nothing you can do to stop a determined IP address out there from sending you traffic.
Certain buggy programs may continue to send traffic to an IP address long after the reason for that traffic has disappeared (e.g. p2p programs, VPN programs, some SIP software).
Responding to unsolicited traffic may cause the sender to stop sending it.
Failing to respond to unsolicited traffic may cause the sender to stop sending it.
Possible Solutions
The following changes can reduce your bandwidth usage:
Turn your router off when it is not in use to avoid unnecessary traffic. You will generally receive a new IP address after your router is off for some time, which will help with unsolicited traffic.
You can configure the router NOT to broadcast its wireless SSID, which makes it harder to locate.
Regularly update passwords
Use a well known anti virus with spyware & firewall like Nod32; Macaffee etc. Run regular updates; automated if possible
Use WPA-PSK security functions on your router; or the MAC address security feature as they are more secure compared to WPA (even though the MAC address protection is very weak.)
Use network traffic monitors on your computers; like Netlimiter or Wireshark
Make regular use of our bandwidth usage on the Client Zone to check that your are not using more traffic than expected to use - this will enable you to be informed on time so that you can do some stats on your network.
Use the firewall feature that comes with your router; & do not open any ports that you do not need
For a medium sized office, a firewall and a caching proxy server such as squid can reduce traffic significantly.

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