Data usage frustration

Question

We switched from being long time AT&amp;T users to Cox in mid August. &nbsp; The first few days everything was fine.&nbsp; But literally after a week of service we began getting daily usage monitor alerts.&nbsp; We have since been way over our allotted monthly 1TB of data.&nbsp; After calling Cox, having a rep come out and check the setup, our usage dropped back to normal levels.&nbsp; But we ended up at 1,873gb used for the first monthly billing cycle!&nbsp; Then,&nbsp; one the 2nd day of the new billing cycle our daily usage mysteriously shot up again to wll over 75gb a day and into the 80's gb per day usage.&nbsp; All with no additional devices,&nbsp; no changes to devices or usage, nothing to cause new peaks or anything of that nature.&nbsp; We have changed the password on the router and the wifi and I am monitoring the devices connected to watch for any intruders, malware, viruses, or anyone stealing the signal but nothing happening in those regards.&nbsp; The concerning and puzzling part is that we have the exact same devices as we had setup with AT&amp;T and our daily usage isn't any different than anything we were doing before.&nbsp; We never once in the last 6 years went over our monthly allotted 1TB with AT&amp;T.&nbsp; Nothing different in monthly data allotment or devices, or usage. &nbsp; Cox won't help basically because we purchased a 3rd party Netgear router. &nbsp;
Anyone have same experiences, knowledge, or ideas of anything I can check or do to figure out what is driving this huge difference in data usage? We had switched recently from AT&amp;T to Cox because the service was expected to be better with less interruptions on Cox&nbsp; But if this continues we will have to switch back to AT&amp;T,&nbsp;

openbsd · Answer

Someone had a similar experience recently. See the recent Cox data usage discrepancies post. Since you have a Netgear router I would suggest you either setup bandwidth monitoring on it or figure out how to monitor your internet bandwidth yourself to see if the data you are using matches the Cox data usage meter. I don't have a Netgear router nor have I ever used one, but I suspect you should be able to setup bandwidth monitoring. Google search it. Probably will show you a graph with the data consumption that each device is using on your network over time. Cox does offer unlimited data use if you want to pay an extra $50.00 for it. Personally I find that to be an unreasonable price. I haven't seen anywhere where Cox is willing to work with customers reference unlimited data so don't expect a discount on that $50.00 fee. I look forward to your findings so please come back and post a comment after you figure things out.

becky · Answer

Hi KittyPurry, are your mobile devices set to automatically install operating system updates? Computers and mobile devices may send or receive data even if we are not actively using our internet service. For example, a computer can automatically download operating system updates, security software updates, and application updates like iTunes. Automatic uploads to back up files to cloud-based storage services, automatic syncs between tablets and other mobile devices, and internet-connected security cameras all drive data usage. Do you stream online video or music content? How many devices in your home connect to the internet? -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator

ryguy · Answer

The most common causes of data use are streaming video (especially 4k) and torrenting.&nbsp; If you're one of those people that turns on Netflix just to have background noise, you should really lower the quality settings on it.

kittypurry · Answer

So we have recently checked the kids phones and laptops to confirm those very things.&nbsp; And we have recently reset the router password and the wifi SSID password twice. &nbsp; Here is the thing that concerns me. &nbsp; We have EXACTLY the same devices and number of devices we had for the last several years with AT&amp;T.&nbsp; We never in all of those years went over the same 1TB of allowed monthly data with ATT.&nbsp; NEVER in all those years.&nbsp; No different devices.&nbsp; Same Amazon Fire tv streaming,&nbsp; same phones,&nbsp; same laptops, etc.&nbsp; NO NEW DEVICES or NO ADDITIONAL devices have been added.&nbsp; We switched from ATT to Cox back in August because AT&amp;T's problems with dropped service so often.&nbsp; The first two weeks of COX were fine,&nbsp; then all of a sudden the data usage exploded.&nbsp; We questioned it,&nbsp; a tech came out and looked at our setup and data went back down again to reasonable amounts.&nbsp; NO CHANGE in DEVICES or ways they were being used.&nbsp; Then all of a sudden day 2 of the new billing cycle the usage exploded again. Once again NO CHANGE in devices or how they were being used. &nbsp;&nbsp; We had 112 gb of data used yesterday and we were out of town all day until Sunday evening. &nbsp; When I look at my router I don't see any unknown devices showing up. &nbsp; I do see that when I look at channels my wifi for the 2.4 service shows up listed twice.&nbsp; Example a channel will show three devices on that channel and it may have another SSID that isn't mine (example an ATT SSID) and then it will list my wifi SSID as the other two.&nbsp; I have changed the wifi channels and it does the same.&nbsp; I can change my wifi to a channel with no other SSID's on it and it will show two SSID's once I am switched to that channel but will only list my SSID...

becky · Answer

Hi KittyPurry, are you using any type of network monitoring tool? It would be interesting to look at data consumption by device, especially on days when the entire family is away from the house. I suggest checking the User Manual for your Netgear device to see if there is a built-in traffic meter or bandwidth monitor. This would allow you to monitor the type and volume of internet traffic, hopefully providing insight into the data usage mystery. You can find the user manual at www.netgear.com/.../. For example, my Netgear router offers traffic metering from the Advanced Setup menu. The traffic meter is disabled by default but will begin monitoring network traffic as soon as I enable it. -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator

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