seabiscuit's profile

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

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Cox Data Usage meter seems way off

We were told we'd gone over the 400 GB cap for the "Ultimate" package (leaving aside that "Ultimate" really shouldn't have a cap, and should be a big part of the perks for paying 4x what basic internet costs). Since I hadn't been tracking it, I couldn't say that we had not. I looked at the graph and it's very suspicious. It seems that we apparently *never* use less than 10 GB, whether or not we are actually home or doing anything.

Of course, this could be because someone else is accessing our wireless somehow without us knowing. So I have set up a meter on our router. The meter says we've used 16 G over the past 3 days (since this includes a weekend, this is in line with what I expect, we are fairly heavy users which is why we have the "Ultimate" package") But once again the Cox data meter shows more than 10 for each *day* with a total of 33 G used! It's not a simple double charge -- I've been watching it each day and it's just a coincidence that it's presently right around 2x.

All this happens the month after some Cox service personnel worked on the local neighborhoods network. Coincidence? Possibly. Possibly not. Who are we supposed to call about this? Regular technical support is great for things like setting up a local data meter on your router (thanks, by the way) but it doesn't seem like they can do anything about a broken data meter on their own.

In case it matters, we bought our own DOCSIS 3 modem that was supposed to be compatible with Cox. Is that a possible source of metering trouble?

Valued Contributor III

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4.2K Messages

I think one thing that would help with all these data usage meter questions would to know what Cox is monitoring. For instance, do uncorrectables or TCP re-transmits count towards the cap? What about data transmitted between modem and CMTS? This isn't so much a question for OP, but rather to add to the conversation. 

@Seabiscuit What are you using to measure use on your end? Could you post some of the logs side by side for comparsion? I wonder if there is any pattern or relation between the two sets of data. 

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

For Saturday we measured 11.6, Cox measured 17.85. For Sunday we measured 4.5, Cox measured 14.5. 

Accepted Solution

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

Usage dropped for the last two days -- looks like a possibly infected SamKnows data monitor on our side (I tested this by simply unplugging the monitor...)

New Contributor

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2 Messages

I am very computer illerate, so be patient :) how do I set up a meter on the router??

Thanks!

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

To monitor, you'll need to log into the router and make sure SNMP is enabled. At that point, you can then look for off-the-shelf software that promises to monitor your network. The ones I looked at offered free test utilities that would tell you if the software could work with your router or not.

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