Mobile WiFi Pay as you Go Router Eating up Data Fast

[Strawberry133]

Hi

Wondering if anyone can advise.

I have recently moved into a flat and, to save on monthly broadband costs (and early exit fees) I have bought a mobile WiFi router with 120GB of data preloaded onto it.

I first used the WiFi last night, checked my allowance this morning, and it's already gone down from 120GB to 118GB in one night. That means I used 2GB in one night. All I did was access a few websites on my laptop and stream one TV show (for 1 hour) on Netflix (I was on the low bandwidth setting which claims to use around 0.3GB per hour).

I'm quite worried now that i've wasted my money on this thing and would have been better off just hotspotting from my phone with my 50GB a month data plan. Is it right that the WiFi could've used up 2GB in the space of one evening?! Can anyone else tell me their experiences in using Mobile WiFi with preloaded data allowances? 

Thanks. 

[Peter_W]

Hey there @Strawberry133

Welcome to the EE Community!

If you've noticed more data than expected has been used with your mobile WiFi, it could be worth checking a few settings on your laptop.

If you have a Windows laptop, when you view the network select 'Properties', then on this screen make sure to have the option for 'Metered connection' set to on. 

This setting tells your laptop that you're on a connection with a limited allowance, and will restrict background data usage for things like software updates.

Peter