There are a lot of routers that have subscription fees and paywalls that can hide this information and other features you might want. But our favorite subscription-free mesh Wi-Fi system comes from Asus, which also makes our favorite regular Wi-Fi router, and you can track and analyze traffic for free with an Asus router. Here’s how:
- Open the web interface (go to http://www.asusrouter.com/ in your browser) and log in.
- Click on the Traffic Analyzer tab and make sure it’s turned on (data is refreshed every hour).
- You can see the top five clients using data listed on the Statistic tab.
- You can also see live traffic in the Asus Router app on your phone.
Folks with a TP-Link router or mesh can also review traffic. Here’s how:
- Open the Deco or Tether app.
- Tap on the Network tab and select Traffic Usage.
- What you see will depend on the model you have, but with some routers you can toggle on In-depth Statistics for more detailed information.
Netgear only tracks overall traffic under Traffic Meter, you can’t break it down by device. For other manufacturers it’s worth poking around in the web interface. (It usually gives you access to more data than the mobile app.) If you’re looking to get more information without hitting a paywall, explore both our router and mesh Wi-Fi guides for recommendations.
But there’s another way. I used our internet provider’s app to check exact usage data. Mine is the AT&T app, but most internet providers should have an app or login you can use to check your data activity. My data appears right at the front of the app underneath my current usage. It’s more limited than the info you’d get from a dedicated router’s app if you did subscribe; I’m only able to view detailed data by today, the past seven days, my current AT&T billing period, or over the past three billing periods. And the app only lists a handful of high-volume devices versus every device connected to the internet in my home.
But even that limited information revealed which devices were gobbling up the most data in the recent days and weeks, which is how we discovered the issue with both the Google Home Speaker and the Ring smoke detector.
Why Should You Check?
It’s not a huge issue for me that my Google Home Speaker has been guzzling my data. I have a large Wi-Fi plan (a must as a smart home tester), and it was patched quickly. On the other hand, I have unplugged it for the time being to make sure I don’t hit the 2 terabyte cap we have per billing period. But if you’re on a plan where massive downloads like this can cost you, or your signal is getting clogged up by mysterious devices, it might be time to check your data usage to find out which device is at fault. You never know when you’ll find a 3-terabyte bug slowing your whole network.
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