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Bandwidth Usage inconsistient with usage. Any way to track bandwidth by site usage?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I'm using multiple monitoring methods to track what's using up so much of my data. I've narrowed it definitively to firefox. But firefox shouldn't be using that much, so I'm looking for a method or methods to track which addons and/or sites are using data, sorting them by total bandwidth over time.

Thanks in advance.

I'm using multiple monitoring methods to track what's using up so much of my data. I've narrowed it definitively to firefox. But firefox shouldn't be using that much, so I'm looking for a method or methods to track which addons and/or sites are using data, sorting them by total bandwidth over time. Thanks in advance.

All Replies (8)

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Hi Aisha, It sounds like you're looking for a bandwidth monitor for your computer. I've heard some good reports about DU Meter and there are alternatives depending on your needs.

Take a look at some here:

DU Meter & Alternatives https://alternativeto.net/software/dumeter/

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My_Cheese_Is_Slippin' said

Hi Aisha, It sounds like you're looking for a bandwidth monitor for your computer.

Again. I am already using several bandwidth monitors - Windows 10's built in monitor and Netmonitor, which compiles fairly comprehensive log files. However, it doesn't discriminate beyond application, so I don't know what part of firefox is using so much bandwidth.

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Hello again Aisha, There's also this extension for Firefox from Mozilla which may offer a little bit of insight:

Firefox Lightbeam https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lightbeam/

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I was just looking at Network Traffic View by NirSoft. It's a much more extensive data collector than Resource Monitor. You can check it out here along with other network tools: http://www.nirsoft.net/network_tools.html

The reality though: you're probably going to have to disable/enable extensions one at a time to determine the individual data usage.

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My_Cheese_Is_Slippin' said

Hello again Aisha, There's also this extension for Firefox from Mozilla which may offer a little bit of insight: Firefox Lightbeam https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lightbeam/

While interesting, the plugin doesn't do any form of bandwidth logging.

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I know that I went off on a tangent talking about extensions but, my brain was working 'under the hood'. I was thinking about how Lightbeam reveals third-party sites that you are connect to through first-party sites and how that could be reflected in a Monitoring tool.

Anyway, have you seen this article: How to stop Firefox from making automatic connections https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-stop-firefox-making-automatic-connections

And, I'm not sure if this might be relevant: Why does my ping spike when using Firefox? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1264654

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So far it doesn't look like there is any way to do what I want. The closest I've gotten is using the Network monitor but that's not even enough to get what I want, because it's per-tab and has little in the way of features for this.

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