Comcast data cap issues

[+jnelsoninjax]

Apparently Comcast has a 1024 GB data cap on their plans, and last month according to then we went over, and now this morning, I receive an email from them indicating that I am at 90% already, which I find impossible to believe. No one in the house play online games, and we do watch YouTube/Netflix/Hulu, but not regularly. Our WiFi network is well protected, so there is no chance of a random person using our WiFi, and there are 3 cell phones in the house. Is it possible that between 3 desktops and 3 cell phones, that we use or exceed 1024 GB's of data in a month? 

[neufuse]

comcast has no cap where I am in PA... and I easily use 2+TB in a month with a lot of streaming, working for work via a VPN and all the downloads I have to do for that.. Comcast needs to get rid of the cap in the rest of the USA....

 

look at your bandwidth meter on the account page to get your usage, if you feel that's wrong get a network monitor and track your usage at he WAN level, most routers have one now built in

[+jnelsoninjax]

Just now, neufuse said:

comcast has no cap where I am in PA... and I easily use 2+TB in a month with a lot of streaming, working for work via a VPN and all the downloads I have to do for that.. Comcast needs to get rid of the cap in the rest of the USA....

I agree the cap needs to go, unfortunately there is no other choice for internet except AT&T, and they are much slower and most likely have caps as well

[Jim K]

This was only a few months ago...

 

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/comcast-incorrectly-charged-2000-customers-for-exceeding-data-cap/

[+jnelsoninjax]

3 minutes ago, Jim K said:

This was only a few months ago...

 

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/comcast-incorrectly-charged-2000-customers-for-exceeding-data-cap/

Very interesting, I have contacted them via Twitter, I would like to see what they say.

[+xrobwx71]

Use Glasswire to monitor your data usage. https://www.glasswire.com/

 

I don't use the firewall part just the monitoring part.

[+jnelsoninjax]

15 minutes ago, xrobwx71 said:

Use Glasswire to monitor your data usage. https://www.glasswire.com/

 

I don't use the firewall part just the monitoring part.

Will Glasswire monitor the entire network, or just the computer it is installed on?

[cork1958]

Your router doesn't show how much bandwidth you've used for comparison purposes?

[+jnelsoninjax]

2 minutes ago, cork1958 said:

Your router doesn't show how much bandwidth you've used for comparison purposes?

No, it does not show anything like that

[cork1958]

12 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

No, it does not show anything like that

Wow! That must be some ancient router! Haven't seen a router that doesn't show that info in ages.

[+warwagon]

For anyone Suffering from data caps, I HIGHLY recommend you get a router that supports OpenWRT or DDWRT and install YAMon ... it is a MUST have for anyone who has data caps. It gives you a very detailed list on a per device level (You have to find out who is who and rename them).

 

In this case her Edge router is actually Her TV and a Prodesk. It's a pretty ghetto setup. I found the edge router X at it's $5 for $5.

 

I put plugged the main router into the lan port of the edge router and put the prodesk emby server behind that as well as her TV. Now the lan port is throttled to 10 meg. Which means she won't go over the bandwith cap of 300 gigs yet emby is unthrottled.

 

One day pre throttled, on the first day of our cycle she binged something on Amazon and used 40GB's. Now she might used 10.

 

[+jnelsoninjax]

2 minutes ago, warwagon said:

For anyone Suffering from data caps, I HIGHLY recommend you get a router that supports OpenWRT or DDWRT and install YAMon ... it is a MUST have for anyone who has data caps.

 

IIRC, the router we have does support open firmware, I will have to ask about it and see if that is something we can do.

[+jnelsoninjax]

Baring installing open source firmware to the router, is there any other way to monitor the whole network traffic? Glasswire will only work on the local machine, and obviously cell phone traffic is not monitored either.

[+warwagon]

3 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Baring installing open source firmware to the router, is there any other way to monitor the whole network traffic? Glasswire will only work on the local machine, and obviously cell phone traffic is not monitored either.

If you want to try it but don't want to risk bricking your main router, go buy yourself a Nice Linksys AC1900 off eBay for cheap. It's a hell of a router and runs this kind of stuff like a dream. I got one off eBay for my gf's house for $79. I also have the same router as my primary.

[+jnelsoninjax]

1 minute ago, warwagon said:

If you want to try it but don't want to risk bricking your main router, go buy yourself a Nice Linksys AC1900 off eBay for cheap. It's a hell of a router and runs this kind of stuff like a dream.

I have no issues with doing it, but the router is not mine, so I can't just do whatever I want to it, if I owned it, it would've had ddwrt on it a long time ago!

[+warwagon]

5 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I have no issues with doing it, but the router is not mine, so I can't just do whatever I want to it, if I owned it, it would've had ddwrt on it a long time ago!

Which router do you guys currently have?

[Brandon H]

6 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I have no issues with doing it, but the router is not mine, so I can't just do whatever I want to it, if I owned it, it would've had ddwrt on it a long time ago!

you could turn off the wifi on the combo modem/router and just use it as a pass-through device to another router you purchase. that way the secondary router can monitor everything and you don't have to modify the rented equipment.

 

edit: there's no way you used of a terabyte of data with just the standard streaming services as that's all I use as well. something is definitely fishy. If someone isn't jacking your connection then maybe they ARE miscalculating like someone said in a link above.

[+BudMan]

18 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

no way you used of a terabyte of data with just the standard streaming services as that's all I use as well.

depends on what your watching and in what quality..  UHD on netflix is about 7GB per hour.. So TB of data is only 142 hours...

 

If you have multiple streams going, leave it streaming and walk away and it plays the next episode without you knowing.. You could for sure burn thru 1TB cap in a couple of days even..

 

###### some updates for console games can download the full size again.. Some can be quite large.. 100+ GB

 

Data if anything should be updated to reflect current streaming sizes and game updates, for sure.. My isp has no data caps... Good thing since I am normally over 2TB a month easy..

[+jnelsoninjax]

22 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

you could turn off the wifi on the combo modem/router and just use it as a pass-through device to another router you purchase. that way the secondary router can monitor everything and you don't have to modify the rented equipment.

 

edit: there's no way you used of a terabyte of data with just the standard streaming services as that's all I use as well. something is definitely fishy. If someone isn't jacking your connection then maybe they ARE miscalculating like someone said in a link above.

Don't have a combo device. We have a linksys EA3800 router and a Motorola modem, and the WiFi password is very strong, so there is no chance anyone is hijacking the WiFi signal.

 

7 minutes ago, BudMan said:

depends on what your watching and in what quality..  UHD on netflix is about 7GB per hour.. So TB of data is only 142 hours...

 

If you have multiple streams going, leave it streaming and walk away and it plays the next episode without you knowing.. You could for sure burn thru 1TB cap in a couple of days even..

 

###### some updates for console games can download the full size again.. Some can be quite large.. 100+ GB

 

Data if anything should be updated to reflect current streaming sizes and game updates, for sure.. My isp has no data caps... Good thing since I am normally over 2TB a month easy..

My niece watches Hulu, so I really doubt it is anything but default settings on quality, and we have no gaming consoles either.

[Brandon H]

8 minutes ago, BudMan said:

depends on what your watching and in what quality..  UHD on netflix is about 7GB per hour.. So TB of data is only 142 hours...

true, both TVs in my apartment are 720p

[adrynalyne]

2 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Apparently Comcast has a 1024 GB data cap on their plans, and last month according to then we went over, and now this morning, I receive an email from them indicating that I am at 90% already, which I find impossible to believe. No one in the house play online games, and we do watch YouTube/Netflix/Hulu, but not regularly. Our WiFi network is well protected, so there is no chance of a random person using our WiFi, and there are 3 cell phones in the house. Is it possible that between 3 desktops and 3 cell phones, that we use or exceed 1024 GB's of data in a month? 

Got an Xbox One-whatever variant?

[+jnelsoninjax]

4 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

Got an Xbox One-whatever variant?

No consoles of any type, only PC's

[neufuse]

2 hours ago, xrobwx71 said:

Use Glasswire to monitor your data usage. https://www.glasswire.com/

 

I don't use the firewall part just the monitoring part.

wow... just had Linus Sebastian say that in my head when you wrote that... thanks Linus... Lttstore.com

[Vince800]

22 minutes ago, BudMan said:

depends on what your watching and in what quality..  UHD on netflix is about 7GB per hour.. So TB of data is only 142 hours...

 

If you have multiple streams going, leave it streaming and walk away and it plays the next episode without you knowing.. You could for sure burn thru 1TB cap in a couple of days even..

 

###### some updates for console games can download the full size again.. Some can be quite large.. 100+ GB

 

Data if anything should be updated to reflect current streaming sizes and game updates, for sure.. My isp has no data caps... Good thing since I am normally over 2TB a month easy..

@Budman beat me to it here. Was just going to suggest that it isn't that far fetched that you could inadvertently use 1TB in a month doing what you describe.

[adrynalyne]

5 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

No consoles of any type, only PC's

Then no, it seems pretty unlikely that you have used this much.  Unless someone is streaming 24/7, I don’t see how you are getting this usage 10 days in. Also, I wouldn’t assume a non-compromised network or machine. 

2 minutes ago, Vince800 said:

@Budman beat me to it here. Was just going to suggest that it isn't that far fetched that you could inadvertently use 1TB in a month doing what you describe.

Sure but we are only 10 days in. 

[Vince800]

12 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

Then no, it seems pretty unlikely that you have used this much.  Unless someone is streaming 24/7, I don’t see how you are getting this usage 10 days in. Also, I wouldn’t assume a non-compromised network or machine. 

Sure but we are only 10 days in. 

Oh yes, yeah something is definitely amiss then. I must have skimmed past the 90% usage already email on first read.