Internet Usage...too much... Please help.

Adrianno28

Hi I have vodaphone broadband allowance of 40 GB per month... I have got a bill for the usage of 55 GB... Im not sure how it works. I look at Youtube, Facebook etc, Dont download movies, no netflicks etc. Just YouTube etc. Yet I have just checked and it says I am online for 600 plus hours in January. The Wireless is on that much in the house but I am not online that much... ANy ideas on whats happening. there is just 1 laptop and a smartphone in the house both mine. Any Ideas on why it is so much? or is it normal... thanks

yoyo

HD Youtube will use up a good bit of bandwidth, particularly for longer videos, still considering your usage 40GB sounds high, as you arn't downloading or using Netfix etc. Do you use Steam or any other game content download networks like on Xbox Live or PS3?

Nick

Orion

Presumably you've done a full virus scan and spyware scan?

Is your help WiFi secure? Could neighbours be using your connection?

Adrianno28

Hi thanks for the reply. No I just surf the net... read the news.. no xbox or games or anything. I dont play games online... literally just facebook youtube twitter and surfing. Id look at Youtube documentaries like for 1/2 hours like a few nights a month... but iv checked february usage and from 1st feb until today it says iv used 21 GB already.. Im not clued up on MB/GB etc but i know iv not used that much... Maybe because the wireless is on all day, would that affect it? I dont think so though.

Adrianno28

yeah the broadbands secured with a password and i have antivirus but not spyware... hope its not that.

Overheal

What vers of Windows?

Adrianno28

Windows 7- have the laptop 1 year HP Pavilion G series

GreenWolfe

Adrianno28 wrote: »

yeah the broadbands secured with a password and i have antivirus but not spyware... hope its not that.

What type of encryption is it using?

Adrianno28

EarthlyPangaea wrote: »

What type of encryption is it using?

I dont know much about computers!! So i cant answer that!

crazygeryy

first thing i would do is download a program called net meter its free.it will keep track of everything you upload or download.leave it on for a day or two but don't use laptop or smartphone.then if net meter shows internet usage ring vodafone and tell them.at least then you will have proof.
it sounds like there's something leeching off your internet be it a person or a virus.

GreenWolfe

Adrianno28 wrote: »

I dont know much about computers!! So i cant answer that!

Your AP or the connection profile that your laptop is using will be able to tell you that.

Just hover over the connection profile on your laptop, like in this picture.

If it's set to WEP, change the password and set your AP to WPA2 immediately. It might be a good idea to do that just in case.

Dey were Sooted

what antivirus are you using ? if it is a free one uninstall it, and download a months trial version of eset nod 32 here and run a full scan . a mate of mine had a huge data bill at the end of the month and it was due to some virus/malware . eset will find it, if there is one there .... and if it does, that will put an end to it ... if not i would recommend changing the router maintenance/settings passwords and wifi passwords (make sure WPA) and do what crazygeryy said to monitor it ....

Timfy

I have had several windows 7 devices download a service pack or large update/patch, try to install it, fail and then start all over again on the next boot... rinse and repeat! This may be your problem. Switch your windows updates to notify but do not download and then you can choose to install them when you know that your on an unmetered WiFi connection.

Adrianno28

EarthlyPangaea wrote: »

Your AP or the connection profile that your laptop is using will be able to tell you that.

Just hover over the connection profile on your laptop, like in this picture.

If it's set to WEP, change the password and set your AP to WPA2 immediately. It might be a good idea to do that just in case.

It says : Security Type : WPA-PSK
Radio Type : 802.11n

Is that an ok setting?

Overheal

I know windows 8 can treat a connection as a Metered network, and it will force it to suspend certain updates and settings. I think 7 could do this as well, but it wasn't as accessible.

GreenWolfe

Adrianno28 wrote: »

It says : Security Type : WPA-PSK
Radio Type : 802.11n

Is that an ok setting?

I was just wondering whether your wireless security had been compromised.

That setting is fine.

Adrianno28

Thanks for your help.:pac:

Torqay

NetWorx is a little freebie that will monitor your traffic (reports per day/week/month)

cruizer101

Is the modem a new one one that you got when you started your vodafone account. I'm just thinking is it possible someone else knows the password, maybe the previous tenant gave the password to neighbour. Its quite possible this situation doesn't apply to you at al, I'm just thorwing out the idea. If it is the case maybe try change the modem password.

I also think you can check your usage on your vodafone account webpage. Maybe try check it some morning before you go out and again in evening when you get back and see has it gone up during the day.

H3llR4iser

In all fairness, I don't think the amount of traffic to be unusual; The vast majority of internet users grossly underestimates the amount of bandwidth they'll use, especially in an age where streaming video a-la-Youtube represent most of the time people spend on the net. As pointed out, an HD Youtube video of considerable length (~2h) can get up into the the region of 2GB of traffic.

"Normal" websites have become extremely heavy as well - most are laden with various types of media including but not limited to sound clips, videos and Flash content; If you do some maths, 55GB in a month are an average of 1.84 GB/day, which is a very easily attainable amount of traffic.

Of course, if you think something is wrong try NetWorx or any of the traffic-measuring utilities that have been suggested - don't be too surprised about finding out you use more data than you thought though, it's the very reason most Internet providers offer traffic-limited plans: the users inevitably end up breaking their allowed quota and having to pay big bucks for the extra traffic.

Freddy Smelly

switch to pure telecom if dsl is your only option for internet

8mb + phone (free landline calls upto 60 minutes per call) with 250gb internet cap for about 50 a month.

its probably the best deal you'll get on dsl at the moment. there is also the option to get higher speeds upto 24mb but unless u live in an eircom exchange you probably wont get better than 12mb

Adrianno28

Thanks to everyone for your help. I phoned vodaphone and they said that everything was in order and that was what I used but they gave me €10 off the next bill so it was worth it. I had used 25-35 GB per month and they said it was strange that it was 55 all of a sudden. Im going to use the Networx as suggested by Torqay . Thanks to all for the time and suggestions

Timfy

Your upload figures look suspiciously high to me for general usage... do you have a filesharing or other P2P program such as limewire running in the background?

Overheal

Timfy wrote: »

Your upload figures look suspiciously high to me for general usage... do you have a filesharing or other P2P program such as limewire running in the background?

I used 288,197 Mbytes total last month according to the router... what are you on about "suspiciously high". My average household consumption is 3-6GB per day

The Bulk of that, has to be Netflix. Some would be peer to peer traffic and a little is online gaming. Without those services you shouldn't be getting stupid-high usage. OP did you ever change the security on your setup, to rule out the possibility someone else is piggybacking on your connection?

Timfy

Edited again as I just realised that the networx screenshot isn't the ops system and so I am talking bollix :0

Suspiciously high as in something suspicious acting up on his system, not suspicious as in breaking the law

You quoted "I had 288,197 Mbytes up / 9,606 MBytes Down last month" showing that, even as a high bandwidth user, your upload percentage was only 3.2% of your bandwith or, put another way, a ratio of 1:30 download/upload

The op is showing an upload percentage of 41% of total usage ( a ratio of 1:1.49) which kind of states that something, somewhere is sending a good lump of data out from his connection.

I am also a high bandwidth user, usually hitting 5GB a day (I run a small design company) My ratio comes in slightly lower than yours at 1:38

Editing to add that on the 17th upload actually overtook download figures

Overheal

Timfy wrote: »

Edited again as I just realised that the networx screenshot isn't the ops system and so I am talking bollix :0

Suspiciously high as in something suspicious acting up on his system, not suspicious as in breaking the law

You quoted "I had 288,197 Mbytes up / 9,606 MBytes Down last month" showing that, even as a high bandwidth user, your upload percentage was only 3.2% of your bandwith or, put another way, a ratio of 1:30 download/upload

The op is showing an upload percentage of 41% of total usage ( a ratio of 1:1.49) which kind of states that something, somewhere is sending a good lump of data out from his connection.

I am also a high bandwidth user, usually hitting 5GB a day (I run a small design company) My ratio comes in slightly lower than yours at 1:38

Editing to add that on the 17th upload actually overtook download figures

I took the "avg" figure before I edited.... long story short, I use about 290gb a month.. The 9GB was my daily average in January

Timfy

Overheal wrote: »

I took the "avg" figure before I edited.... long story short, I use about 290gb a month.. The 9GB was my daily average in January

Good... we both screwed up! I even worked out my ratio wrong!!! I am using the excuse that it's 2:30am and that Ive been working all day. Lets be friends, together we could achieve wonderful things!

Torqay

Adrianno28 wrote: »

Im going to use the Networx

You do that but keep in mind that Networx can only monitor the local traffic for the computer on which it is installed (i.e. your laptop). If there is a significant mismatch between your traffic and your actual usage then there might be someone piggybacking in your neighbourhood (a criminal offence btw). Check your router stats for unknown MAC addresses.