One of the drawbacks of knowing what is the data consumption with fiber that we do each month is that we must have control by devices and we cannot do it globally unless your router have it incorporated as a tool. In any case, we explain how to consult it and how to know how many gigs you have spent.
Check from your router
The best option is to consult it from your router since this way you will have global control of all the devices without having to consult them one by one. Currently there are many devices that we have connected to the Internet … From the most common, such as the computer or the mobile or the Smart TV, even others in which we do not always fall as the vacuum cleaner or even an intelligent kitchen robot that allows us to search for recipes online. That is why it is interesting to consult the gigs consumed in a total way and not only on the phone or PC.
How is it queried on the router? It depends. It depends on the model you have. Some routers allow us to check how much we have spent from each of the devices without discriminating and without taking into account extensions, but you will have to see if your manufacturer and specific model allows us to do so. It is generally in more advanced models.
A problem of check it from the router is that it will not be 100% reliable about what you have consumed because you may have had guests, for example. Or that there are children or adolescents using the same network and it is counted as a whole and not individually.
Check gigs spent from Windows
If you simply want to know the gigs consumed each month in Windows you can do it. There is an option from the computer configuration that will allow us to see detailed consumption not only total of the last 30 days but also allows us to set limits or even know which applications or programs are those that have spent those megabytes.
We can do it in Windows without having to install anything and from the computer’s configuration tools, without taking up space with downloaded software.
The steps are the following:
- Let’s go to Start on the computer and look for Settings
- In Settings, we look for the option “Network and Internet”
Once here, it will depend on your operating system or whether or not it is up to date. It is possible that “Use of data”Appears in the options menu on the left next to a clock icon. But you may have a current version of Windows and don’t see this option. In these cases, you must go to “Status” where you will see the status of the network and your current connection.
Here you will see, as you can check in the image below, if you are connected to WiFi or Ethernet. If you have been with both, you will see the two icons with the corresponding data usage for the last 30 days from the moment you consult it.
Tap on “Use of data” and you will see how much you have spent and on what. At the top we can choose the type of connection if you want to see whats gigs spent with Ethernet or WiFi. And at the bottom you will see all the programs and the consumption made in the last 30 days in megabytes or in gigabytes. Just scroll to see what you have spent it on.
Tap on “Reset usage statistics”To delete all the data and set it to 0 from the moment of the query. This way you will be able to remove all the gigs or megas consumed and start restarting to have a control of the gigs spent from that moment.
This option also allows us to set limits. It does not make much sense to establish limits in a fiber or ADSL connection since we cannot “pass” the data consumed because they are unlimited, but it can be an interesting tool if we have a 4G system at home or similar thanks to the fact that we will know when to stop consuming.
Just tap on “Specify limit” and we can choose the type of limit in how much time, the day of the month that is reset and the data limit in megabytes or in gigabytes from which it will be blocked.
Measure consumption by devices
Another option we have is to download applications on each of the devices we use and add the consumption. This can be useful if you simply want to know how many gigs you consume with your mobile phone while connected to WiFi or from your laptop. In Windows you can do it using the steps that we have explained in previous paragraphs but there are also third-party applications that allow us to do the measurement.
For Windows and macOS computers
For Windows and Mac you can use a number of free and popular tools.
A recently updated tool with support for Windows 10. The latest version, as of the writing of this article, is June 2021 for Windows and 2019 for macOS. On its website we find an installable version and another directly executable. We will have daily, weekly and monthly statistics, being able to export them to different formats. Its great configuration capacity is key. It is free and has a portable version with which we can start measuring all the details without any complications.
Exclusive for Mac computers is the bjango tool that allows us to monitor everything we do on the internet to know how many gigabytes we spend with fiber or ADSL, although it also has other tools that will tell us how much space we are using on the computer or what processes we have open.
We can activate all kinds of notifications in case of battery, disk, temperature and it is a tool that goes beyond making a measurement on the Internet to give us details of practically everything that happens on our computer. It is paid but has a trial version of about two weeks.
One of the tools with the best interface and the most comfortable website when it comes to consulting the program guide, the forum or the news. NetLimiter is a data consumption limiter on the computer that we can easily use in Windows. It is a connection monitoring tool with support for Windows 10.
With NetLimiter 4 we will have graphs, short and long-term statistics, the possibility of customizing all aspects and offers the possibility of blocking certain connections by acting as a firewall. You can set exact download or upload speed limits for any app or we can prioritize one over the other. It also monitors everything we do on the Internet with graphics that we can configure to our whim or need.
It is available for Windows 10 but also for previous versions such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 8. Just go to the website and download it to start using the connection control or see the details of the consumption.
If we are looking for a more complete tool that, in addition to monitoring the network, functions as a firewall and threat detector, we can give GlassWire an option. TWe have a more basic free version and several payment methods that include more connections, a more complete history or different graphics. These paid versions They range from $ 39 to $ 99 for the Elite version.
It is compatible with Windows for free but it also has its version for mobile phones and has all kinds of tools such as viewing the connection history, having schedules and calendars, activating the firewall, viewing graphics, blocking websites and viewing network alerts, checking that there are no intruders in WiFi, etc.
In terms of Interface, GlasWire is one of the most recommended and attractive, easier to consult thanks to colored graphs that allow us to have an idea at a single glance and without complicating ourselves too much with the analysis.
For mobile phones or tablets
Although your operator’s app or your own phone natively allows you to measure the amount of gigabytes you spend connected to its data, it does not allow us to do so using WiFi when we go to the “data usage” section. But there are many apps that allow us to measure the gigabytes we use in fiber or with ADSL for Android or iOS.
MyData Manager is an application that allows you to measure consumption on your mobile phone both through mobile data and connected to the WiFi network or through data roaming when we are abroad. It is a very intuitive and easy-to-use application and it shows us the use of each day but also of the week, of the month, of the year.
You can see graphics with the different applications and you will see in each color the gigs consumed or the megabytes consumed with each type of connection: in green with mobile data, in purple with WiFi, in pink if you are using data roaming. You can filter to see only the one that interests you.
It is available for Android and for iOS in its version with VPN.