Unexplainable Huge Data Use

[WeeDaveyG]

Hi,  

4GEE WI-FI  EE router, external directional antenna, wired connection.

 I am currently experiencing variable but very slow download & upload speeds (2mbps down & 0.75Mbps Up) and accessed the EE web site in an attempt to find answers.  Cruising around the site looking for where to go I happened upon my data usage screen.  My data allowance (200Gb/month) refreshes on the 25th of each month so, according to that between the 26th Nov 2021 and 2 Dec 2021 I have used 189.7Gb!!.  Historically Aug/Sep was 52.15Gb, Sept/Oct 53.65Gb, Oct/Nov 110.93Gb and now 189.7Gb in 6 days.  I haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary.  I don't download films and that sort of stuff with my only 'vice' being flight simulator gaming - which I have been doing for the last 2 years without ever having that sort of data consumption. My data download for the gaming programme is capped at 100Gb per month.  There was a sizeable update of around 25Gb on 18 Nov which could explain the Oct/Nov data consumption increase but there has been nothing since then.

Now, I am something of an old duffer and have to admit to not being 100% clear on what areas of PC use consumes data but until this Oct/Nov figure I have been (AFAIK) been in 50 - 60Gb region and, as I say, I have been doing nothing differently.  I live in a fairly remote spot, the nearest neighbour being over half a mile away but is it possible that my system is being intercepted and someone else using my allowance?  It may well just be coincidence but from the start of my 4GEE contract in Feb of this year I was in receipt of a solid 4 bar signal strength and consistent speeds of 20 to 30Mbps.  From around the end of August that went totally haywire and I now only get a signal strength of between 1 and 3 bars and the router signal strength is frequently flashing like the Christmas lights.  Also I have had speed variations between those that I am getting now and 50Mbps.  

Forgive me if I am being stupid but I can't comprehend how these data consumption figures can be correct or how I can possibly account for them.  My phone is not EE.

Regards

Dave

[mikeliuk]

Hi @WeeDaveyG ,

If you suspect a Windows 10 computer is the most likely device consuming the most data, you can do a search for "data usage overview" to see which app is consuming the most data. The historical data may be gone now but you should be able to set a "Data limit" so you are alerted if it happens again.

Both Android and iPhone have similar functionality to see what has consumed all the data. Based on measurements on my router and a firewall, the measurements made by EE as to data consumption seem pretty accurate for me at the moment.

[WeeDaveyG]

Thanks for that steer Mike. I have two Windows 10 PCs, one for gaming and one for everyday use.  Carrying out the check that you pointed me to the combined data usage for both is 22.59Gb over the last 30 days; 17.8 for the gaming machine and 4.79 for the everyday one.  I occasionally watch 'catch up' TV but I would have to watch for a long time to consume 160Gb of data wouldn't I?  I would say that I watch no more than 3hrs of streamed TV per week - and that's a generous estimate, plus of course, I have been doing that for a long time not just this last month.

So I am still puzzled and still wondering if I have been hacked.

Dave

[mikeliuk]

Hi @WeeDaveyG ,

It's quite unlikely that you've been hacked unless you have a ridiculous WiFi password such as "password" or "123456789" etc. or have left WiFi open without authentication required.

I do agree it's difficult to consume 160 GB or 200 GB in something like a week. I did manage this recently watching all the Hunger Games movies in 4K HDR and having a visitor. Your best chance would be to monitor usage going forward and to capture a spike in usage (I probably check this on the MyEE app too frequently) and then tracking down the cause of that spike in usage.

Speculations that come to mind might be that the Windows 10 PCs are configured for peer-to-peer of sharing of updates with other users over the internet but this is a bit of a reach. I'm not up to date with the progress of Windows 11 roll-out but that might eat up a lot for some people. I've seen that Facebook and movie review sites have recently started auto-streaming lots of video but again this can't account for the high usage you've reported.

[WeeDaveyG]

Thanks for that reassurance @mikeliuk.  I have now checked my phone and tablet data usage over the last month and that amounts to another 3.04Gb (Last 30 days) but that is still way short of 189Gb.  With no indication as to where the data has been consumed I remain puzzled and somewhat concerned.

My immediate problem is that with less than 11Gb of data to last me for the next 3 weeks I am going to be cut off at the knees as it were ☹️.

Thanks for your help Mike.

Dave

[WeeDaveyG · Accepted solution]

Now I have to admit to being a prize pillock!!  I have 189Gb of data left - not used!!  In my (very lame) defence I would say that the presentation of the data usage on the EE site is somewhat misleading.  However, all is well on the Dave front now - all the worry lines gone 😊

[mikeliuk]

Hi @WeeDaveyG ,

Thanks for updating. I did the same thing recently in the first few days after a refresh and deliberately stepped up my usage. It then swung entirely the other way and exhausted the allowance in the first week.