Member Avatar for alvalany

hi friends
As i had already mentioned in one of my previous doubts, i am using a shared internet connection in our hostel.Can anyone suggest some software to check the bandwidth usage by other users, so that download can be blocked during the peak hours.I want to just see their bandwidth, need not need control over it...

pls someone solve this

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asked how to see who is using the most bandwidth on a shared hostel network. and correctly pushed the right diagnostic questions (who controls the network device that talks to the ISP, and how clients are connected). The practical options depend entirely on where traffic can be observed: at the gateway you control, by mirroring traffic from a managed switch, or only on your own PC. Below are clear, actionable paths for each case plus a short, safe checklist.

If you control the gateway device (the box that actually connects to the Internet), install a network-level monitor that shows per-IP usage and history. Examples used by sysadmins are ntopng for continuous per-host graphs and PRTG for polling/alerting. Those tools run on a small Linux box, VM or dedicated appliance and immediately show who is sending/receiving most traffic.

If you do not control the gateway but have a managed switch, enable port mirroring and send a copy of the LAN traffic to a monitoring machine. Run a capture or analyzer on that machine (Wireshark to inspect, ntopng for long-term stats). A simple capture command to start is:

sudo tcpdump -i <monitor-interface> -w /tmp/capture.pcap

If you only have access to your own PC, host‑side apps (GlassWire, NetLimiter) will only show your machine’s traffic — they cannot reveal other users on the LAN.

Checklist to follow now

  1. Confirm whether there is a single upstream device you can access.
  2. If yes, pick ntopng or PRTG and install on a small Linux VM or Raspberry Pi.
  3. If no but the switch is manageable, set up port mirroring to a monitor host.
  4. If neither is possible, talk to the network owner/administrator about adding per-client stats or a replacement gateway (OpenWrt/DD‑WRT-capable hardware can add this).

Do not monitor networks or intercept others’ traffic without permission. For downloads during peak hours, the proper solution is to get the admin to add per-user limits or scheduled policies rather than covert monitoring.

Resources: ntopng (https://www.ntop.org/), Wireshark (https://www.wireshark.org/), GlassWire (https://www.glasswire.com/), OpenWrt (https://openwrt.org/).

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Member Avatar for sknake

Do you have access to the router? Are the connections wired or wireless?

Member Avatar for Salem

What kind of network do you have on the LAN side?

Does everything connect to your machine, and your machine connects to the internet, using ICS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Connection_Sharing

Do you all plug into a broadband router, and it connects to the internet?

If so, what sort is it (manufacturer / model)

> so that download can be blocked during the peak hours.
This is generally called "traffic shaping"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping
Searching for that, plus any other terms which describe your situation (like your router model number) might lead to more info.

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