If you have a monthly data cap from your ISP, (or having network congestion) the following few features can help you stay on top of your bandwidth usage to avoid overage charges (available in Firewalla Blue/Blue+, Red, and Gold).
Disclaimers:
- Firewalla measures the number of bytes excluding the IP (Internet Protocol Header) and MAC headers. Your service provider may measure differently. (Service provider may likely measure more since they likely to include IP header and MAC headers)
- There are certain long-lasting (TCP connections that never terminates) which will get accounted when the session is terminated. Your service provider may measure differently.
- Please make sure you compare the number reported by Firewalla with your ISP's number
- Firewalla will only measure devices with monitoring on.
- More detail explained here.
Data Usage Monitoring
Firewalla allows you to set up your own Monthly Data Plan so it can give you an overview of the data usage of the current month.
To turn on this feature, tap on Data Usage on the main screen of the Firewalla App, turn on Monthly Data Plan, and fill in your data plan and the reset date accordingly.
- Data Usage Plan - Based on your monthly data plan, set a limit or threshold
- Reset Date - When to start the tracking of a new cycle
In general, it is a good practice to set the limit 20% lower than your ISP limit. (example, if you have a 1T limit, set 800GB). And always use the ISP number as the standard.
Monthly Data Plan Alarm
If you'd like to receive alarms when the data usage exceeds 80%, 90%, and 100% of the threshold to avoid overage, you can:
- Set Alarm Setting to Send Alarm Only/ Send both Alarms & Notifications on Data Usage.
- Or go to Alarms -> Alarm Settings (tap the icon on the top right corner) -> Monthly Data Plan.
Example: The network has consumed 148.16 GB during the month, and the data plan is set to 100 GB. When the data usage reached the 100GB threshold, Firewalla will generate an alarm. Below is a sample of the alarm details screen.
Large Bandwidth Usage Alarm
Left Netflix or Youtube running? Firewalla can notify you when a device has consumed a large amount of bandwidth over a short period of time. It helps you identify devices or activities that are draining bandwidth, and take actions. This type of alarm is on by default, it can be turned off in Alarm Settings.
The alarm will show the following:
- Device - Which device is causing the alarm
- Data Transferred - Data transferred on the device in the last 24 hours
- Top Destinations - Top 5 destinations based on the data transfer volume
Finding Large Bandwidth Devices
If you want to know which device is using the most bandwidth in the past 24 hours.
- Tap on devices
- Tap on the top right sort button
- and sort on Top Download (or top upload)
Firewalla Data usage measurement explained
Measurements from Firewalla as written earlier are done over the data size (excluding IP header and MAC headers). Your ISP is likely to measure the whole packet size, which means, you may want to reduce the total usage alarm by a percentage.
For example, Comcast is reporting internet usage as 922GB, while Firewalla reporting 836.04GB. In this case, the ISP is measuring 10% more than Firewalla.
Comments
9 comments
In the latest version of Firewalla Gold’s firmware you cannot unmute the alert to configure a threshold. Any advice?
@Tommy,
The issue is fixed in the upcoming Testflight version 1.37 (49).
Please update the iOS App, and give it another try.
Is there a way to set a data usage limit per device per month? Not just the overall monthly plan limit.
@Ramon,
Sorry, we don't support data usage limit per device for now. The monthly data plan is designed for people who has a data limit imposed by ISP, to prevent the unexpected charges.
May I know why would you want this feature to be per device?
I have kids that usually spend a ridiculous amount of time streaming youtube videos, netflix content, etc, using most of my monthly data plan. If I’m able to either do traffic shaping and limit bandwidth/resolution for youtube, netflix, amazon prime, etc, or set a data cap per device (TVs mainly, but also PCs and tablets), I could be able to optimize my data usage at home and have enough for me, since now I’m working from home after COVID-19 and have to join multiple video calls everyday.
With COVID-19 I’m now having kids being schooled online, and a home office. Both mean my data usage is going up, and this might be for good, so I need ways to optimize my data usage and avoid exceeding the limit.
Is there something firewalla can do? Or a recommendation you might have? Open to suggestions. Thanks
@ Ramon,
Thanks for the detailed story. I'm afraid we don't have any data limit functions available now, will add it to our to-do list.
However, what we do have, is a set of flexible rules that allows you to fine-tune what sites a device can assess, and when it can access them. In your case, I'd suggest you block your kids' devices internet connection while allowing them to access learning sites required by the school, and schedule some allow rules for Youtube, Netflix, etc, for a certain amount of time per day.
Here is our guide on rules, and the "allow" feature is currently available to the early access user, will be officially published in several weeks: https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/360008521833-Manage-Rules
Hope this is helpful.
I would like to add another vote for per device bandwidth shaping/control. I am in a remote area where my only option for internet service is wireless. We have an Apple TV for all of our media access but this device alone can eat up 700+ GB per month. We've had threatening letters from our provider that we have to reduce our usage or be cut off.
Having the ability to set daily/weekly/monthly usage caps per device would be a tremendous help. No all streaming media takes up the same amount of data usage. Different providers (Disney +, Netfilx, etc) have very different usage needs, HD vs non HD, etc so it's hard to know when usage is getting high on a given day unless I monitor it all the time which is the opposite of what technology should be doing for me.
The Firewalla Gold is an amazing device, keep up the great work!
Per device shaping will be in 1.971. Please sign up here to join the early access mode, which you can play with it. https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360046872134-Early-Access-Onboarding
Any plans to have bandwidth usage/alerts by Wan connection? My issue is that I have two Wan connections setup; my primary does not have data caps and my backup does. My Primary however is not as stable due to it being cellular and it sometimes has issues based on where I live in the sticks so the backup kicks in regularly. Unfortunately I don’t see a way to track usage directly through Firewalla by WAN connection (only combined) unless I’m missing something.
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