Question data usage by wifi connection if connection is active but browser not open

wpshooter

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Mar 9, 2004
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I don't normally use wifi and/or hotspot type device to connect to Internet (am a DSL/ethernet user), so my question is, if a computer is using a wifi/hotspot for Internet connectivity, and if the hotspot and the computers' network card are communicating (and set to NOT logoff after a certain period of inactivity), and the computer's browser is NOT open, is there any ISP data being used ?

Thanks.
 

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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If you are using Windows 10, you know Windows will always check if there are any updates and will download them automatically. So the answer is yes, there will be traffic even if browser is not open. It has nothing to do with being wired or wireless.

if you really need to monitor all traffic detail for each device, you probably need something like pfsense with ntopng.
 
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wpshooter

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No, not using MS$, am a Linux Mint user and any updates are done on a manual basis using UPDATE MANAGER. IMO, updates should always be applied manually and monitored by the user and not done at mid-night while the user is in dreamland and hoping that the updates are accomplished as they should be.

So will there be any Internet data usage as I described in original post seeing that the computer will not be using MS$ ?

Thanks.
 

mxnerd

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I don't use Linux. But you can also install ntopng to monitor your network usage.

Linux Mint is just a variant of Ubuntu.

 

wpshooter

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Thanks, however the data usage can be monitored from the hotspot itself, what I am wondering is if I turn OFF the timed auto logoff of the hotspot's wifi connection in the IP configuration interface, is the Linux Mint user going to continue to use data if they walk away from the computer for an extended time and are not using the computer ?
 

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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So hotspot & ntopng both have capability to monitor data usage, why not test yourself?

I'm done with replying your question over and over.
 

wpshooter

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Mar 9, 2004
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If replying more than once is a bother, then indeed do not do so !!!

For future researchers of my data usage question, the answer is NO. Only usage if not opening the browser is when Mint update manager connects to the Mint server just initially after bootup and/or if you go into update manager and do a refresh.