My internet consumption seems out of whack, what could it be?
I have a consumption limit of 250 gb per month. Since I started with this company 8 months ago I’ve never gone over, except in March. I was even gone for a whole week in March! And now I just checked and for 2 days of consumption I’ve used more than double what my levels usually are, even though I barely used wi-fi yesterday, didn’t watch any videos or do anything that uses a lot of data.
For the last days of March, it showed me using 15% of my data in like two days!
I live alone, and I’m gone for like 12 hours a day so I find this all hard to believe. I have a secure password, which now seems like it needs changed. What else could cause such a spike?
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7 Answers
I believe you’re going to have to provide more details including the type of ISP and living conditions (apartment building, single family dwelling, etc.)
Have you changed your password yet, and is there a difference?
The most obvious answer is that someone has gotten access to your ISP portal and is using your allotted data. Were I you, I’d make sure the password was changed and if the problem continued I would contact the ISP immediately. They should be able to give you a short list of possibilities and solutions.
It is also possible to log into your router, and it will tell you how many devices are connected. You can then determine if someone else is on.
Unexpected excessive use can also be the result of your having a virus or adware on your computer. My wife likes the Publishers Clearing House websearch, but it really does pull a lot of data for adware.
Yes.
I would run Malwarebytes and then change the password.
Possibly the first step towards finding an explanation is to contact your ISP and alerting them to the discrepancy. In particular, if this pattern of unusually high usage continues, then I would suspect that someone has hacked into your Wi Fi signal.
Do you have something running in the background?
I bought a new Roku and it has a nasty habit of autoplaying a suggestion right after I watch something. I hate it!!! If I watch an episode of Louie C K. for example, as soon as it finished the device starts counting down from 15 seconds to play the next episode. Is that really necessary? Are people that lazy?
The old Roku would play the episode and stop. After x minutes it would go to sleep. The new one just keeps on playing. But I don’t know it because the TV is off! Do you have a similar device like: Google, Amazon, Roku, etc. with that “convenience” feature? Heck, even Netflix and Youtube are doing it now!
Maybe you watched something on Netflix and it just kept playing the suggestions it thought you “needed’ to see.
Youtube has started autoplaying, too, @LuckyGuy. It happened to me last night. Gone unnoticed that could kill my limited-access internet, too.
Could someone be piggybacking on your wifi?
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