Since I have renegotiated my price my internet data usage has spiked to more than 2X my previous usage. I added the additional 500GB of data so I wouldn’t go over and now this month I am on trend to use more than the 1TB + 500GB. I’ve changed my network password and name, even factory reset it. No new devices or software are being used. Has anybody else experienced this? I’ve spoken to tech support over the phone and they’ve been utterly useless and suggest I up my plan AGAIN to the unlimited. I feel like Cox is doing this to me on purpose!

Hi Broaini, allow me to highlight a few things that may account for the spike in data usage. Since you performed a factory reset on your router, be sure you've changed the network name and password. Have you had any recent house guests who may have utilized your home network? Have there been any changes or activities in the household that could lead to additional usage like streaming music, streaming video, or online gaming? Even if you're not actively watching online content, the device could still be streaming, which counts toward your data usage. Check all the devices in your home for virus, spyware, and malware. Spyware running in the background can cause sudden spikes in data usage. Our computers and mobile devices may be sending or receiving data even if we are not actively using our internet service. Do you have internet-connected cameras tied into your home security system? Using third-party home security services over your in-home WiFi network and security cameras accessed over the web cause an increase in usage. We often overlook how often devices update apps or how often our devices upload things like pictures and videos to the network cloud. For example, a computer could be automatically downloading operating system updates, security software updates, and application updates like iTunes. On each of the computers and mobile devices in your home, disable all automatic backups, automatic updates, file sharing software, mobile app updates, and app syncs between your mobile devices and your network. -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator

I have had a ton of issues with Data usage, but I haven't found cox at fault. I have the 1TB + 500GB because I have 3 teenagers in the house that play games on the PC. What I found was that in some months those games would all have huge updates, like 50GB which would hit all three PCs, so 150GB of usage for just one game. the Second issue was kids leaving the streams running. They might log into twitch or something and have that just running in the background while the PC is open. Usually with full stream, you are talking like 500Kbit per stream times 3600seconds times n hours. it adds up fast. Finally the same issue happens when you have a fire stick or other stream stick, they can sometimes keep running even after the TV is turned off. That, again, can eat up usage. My personal solution was to get a router that supports Gargoyle (a version of openWRT: https://www.gargoyle-router.com/) It allows for FULL visibility and control of your network usage. Using this, I can track the EXACT amount of data crossing the network and actually pin down who is using the most data. With this, you can lock out anyone you don't want in the network and you can restrict bandwidth through quotas. So, for example, this month we are close to hitting the cap....like 40GB away. So I turned on restrictions. After 10GB of usage (each day) the available total bandwidth drop to 1Mbit. Still usable, but harder to share. After the billing cycle, I just open it back up again. I've found that Cox is within about 10% of the number that I get from the router. It's really close. I can also restrict time of day usage by mac address, so the kids are locked out until certain hours. It takes a little work, but functionally i like the results.

I have never used more than 350 gigs in a month, but today I received an email that I am approaching my max. I live alone and have never shared my password with anyone. None of my habits have changed since my usage went from a few gigs per day to more than 30 on most days, even on weekends when I have been away. I checked to see which devices have wifi access and all of them are mine: phone, PC, thermostat, security camera (which hasn't even been on) and Ring doorbell. Customer service told me there's no way to determine how much data each device uses, which is not true. I can check Windows to see that my PC used 9.41 gigs, my phone used 26 gigs. The doorbell uses about 200 megs and the thermostat about 50 megs. I do watch Netflix on my Firestick but never more than 10-12 hours/week. Even at the highest resolution, I should not have upped my data usage this much.

Hi Joandrum, have you scanned each of your devices for malware and spyware? Have any of your internet-connected devices recently downloaded any large software updates? You may want to proactively change your WiFi password. There are multiple ways to track your network usage by device. Check your router's User Guide to see if the router manufacturer offers any built-in tools for managing data. -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator

I use your security suite, so I hope it is capturing all the spyware and malware. At any rate, I could see that Netflix on my Firestick used the most at 80 gigs. While I checked several times to see if any unknown devices were sponging off my wifi, I didn't see anything. Then I changed my wifi password on Friday. Now your meter says I only used 1 gig yesterday, which sounds correct. Therefore, I either blocked someone from using my wifi illegally without it being detected by my router software (I don't know how that's possible) or the tech guy who was at my neighbor's house on Friday corrected the hookup. I will continue to monitor the usage to make sure everything is working properly.

Extreme increase in data usage

Becky
Moderator
7 years ago
Hi Broaini, allow me to highlight a few things that may account for the spike in data usage. Since you performed a factory reset on your router, be sure you've changed the network name and password. Have you had any recent house guests who may have utilized your home network? Have there been any changes or activities in the household that could lead to additional usage like streaming music, streaming video, or online gaming? Even if you're not actively watching online content, the device could still be streaming, which counts toward your data usage. Check all the devices in your home for virus, spyware, and malware. Spyware running in the background can cause sudden spikes in data usage. Our computers and mobile devices may be sending or receiving data even if we are not actively using our internet service. Do you have internet-connected cameras tied into your home security system? Using third-party home security services over your in-home WiFi network and security cameras accessed over the web cause an increase in usage. We often overlook how often devices update apps or how often our devices upload things like pictures and videos to the network cloud. For example, a computer could be automatically downloading operating system updates, security software updates, and application updates like iTunes. On each of the computers and mobile devices in your home, disable all automatic backups, automatic updates, file sharing software, mobile app updates, and app syncs between your mobile devices and your network. -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator
Cr0n_J0b
New Contributor II
7 years ago
I have had a ton of issues with Data usage, but I haven't found cox at fault. I have the 1TB + 500GB because I have 3 teenagers in the house that play games on the PC. What I found was that in some months those games would all have huge updates, like 50GB which would hit all three PCs, so 150GB of usage for just one game. the Second issue was kids leaving the streams running. They might log into twitch or something and have that just running in the background while the PC is open. Usually with full stream, you are talking like 500Kbit per stream times 3600seconds times n hours. it adds up fast. Finally the same issue happens when you have a fire stick or other stream stick, they can sometimes keep running even after the TV is turned off. That, again, can eat up usage.

My personal solution was to get a router that supports Gargoyle (a version of openWRT: https://www.gargoyle-router.com/) It allows for FULL visibility and control of your network usage. Using this, I can track the EXACT amount of data crossing the network and actually pin down who is using the most data. With this, you can lock out anyone you don't want in the network and you can restrict bandwidth through quotas. So, for example, this month we are close to hitting the cap....like 40GB away. So I turned on restrictions. After 10GB of usage (each day) the available total bandwidth drop to 1Mbit. Still usable, but harder to share. After the billing cycle, I just open it back up again. I've found that Cox is within about 10% of the number that I get from the router. It's really close.

I can also restrict time of day usage by mac address, so the kids are locked out until certain hours. It takes a little work, but functionally i like the results.
joandrum
New Contributor II
6 years ago
I have never used more than 350 gigs in a month, but today I received an email that I am approaching my max. I live alone and have never shared my password with anyone. None of my habits have changed since my usage went from a few gigs per day to more than 30 on most days, even on weekends when I have been away. I checked to see which devices have wifi access and all of them are mine: phone, PC, thermostat, security camera (which hasn't even been on) and Ring doorbell. Customer service told me there's no way to determine how much data each device uses, which is not true. I can check Windows to see that my PC used 9.41 gigs, my phone used 26 gigs. The doorbell uses about 200 megs and the thermostat about 50 megs. I do watch Netflix on my Firestick but never more than 10-12 hours/week. Even at the highest resolution, I should not have upped my data usage this much.
- Becky
  Moderator
  6 years ago
  Hi Joandrum, have you scanned each of your devices for malware and spyware? Have any of your internet-connected devices recently downloaded any large software updates? You may want to proactively change your WiFi password. There are multiple ways to track your network usage by device. Check your router's User Guide to see if the router manufacturer offers any built-in tools for managing data. -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator
  - joandrum
    New Contributor II
    6 years ago
    I use your security suite, so I hope it is capturing all the spyware and malware. At any rate, I could see that Netflix on my Firestick used the most at 80 gigs. While I checked several times to see if any unknown devices were sponging off my wifi, I didn't see anything. Then I changed my wifi password on Friday. Now your meter says I only used 1 gig yesterday, which sounds correct. Therefore, I either blocked someone from using my wifi illegally without it being detected by my router software (I don't know how that's possible) or the tech guy who was at my neighbor's house on Friday corrected the hookup. I will continue to monitor the usage to make sure everything is working properly.
S-Ray
New Contributor
6 years ago
2 months later has anything changed? Because I'm having a similar issue. The only help I got was them suggesting a password change. And after the initial complaint there was maybe 3 days of minimal usage to make it look like it was fixed before it kicked back up to at least 20gbs a day. I've almost hit 70gbs in a day more than a few times with absolutely no change in routine.

These last few days (of my data cycle) I may as well of had the router off. When the data hit 85% I used nothing but my dvd player and consistently switched back and forth from my mobile data to avoid heavy usage; but even then I had apparently used almost 20gbs a day by my father streaming tv from an underground 3rd party app for maybe 4-5hrs (that we've had for months before this mess started, so it can't be that.) I even unplugged anything that could of been streaming wifi just in case.

I don't have cable, so I use the amazon firestick, like I have been for 12+ months I've used Cox, and this started maybe 4 months ago. Of course, right after my "promotion" ended (that I had no knowledge of) and they had already jacked up my bill by almost $30 without warning.

But before this I rarely ever hit the 85% mark; and my last 2 bills got a very sudden last-minute spike in data usage within the last 24hrs of my bill being due. Just enough to go over. And of course, not without a notice that it had until maybe, at least, 10 hours after the cycle actually ended.
- MariaL
  Moderator
  6 years ago
  Hi S-Ray,
  
  Have there been any changes or activities in the household that could lead to additional usage like streaming, gaming, or using services such as Netflix? Even if you're not actively watching the content, the device could still be streaming, which counts toward your data usage. One thing we often overlook is how often devices are updating apps or how often our devices upload things like pictures and videos to the network cloud. Has anyone in your home recently received a new device that could be doing this?
  
  Maria L.
  Cox Support Forum Moderator
- joandrum
  New Contributor II
  6 years ago
  I was pretty much back to my low usage after changing my router password, but I wasn't sure if that was the solution or if the repairman coming to the house two doors down on the same day was the reason for the fix. Two weeks later it started again. I was looking at my router app late at night but didn't see any unfamiliar devices. Then I white listed all my devices, which means only the ones with MAC addresses that are approved can access my router, and my data use declined immediately. Now I'm certain somebody used an app to crack my wifi password, which I have read is pretty common. Some tips for you:
  
  Turn off WPS on your router.
  
  Make sure you're using WPA2 security on your router.
  
  Whitelist your devices if your router allows it.
  
  If you find an unknown device attached to your wifi, blacklist it.
  
  I was very disappointed with Cox's response to my call to report wifi theft because it's a crime. They don't care to find the culprit. They just want to get off the call and meet their quota. They tried to sell me their modem because I bought my own. They said it will help me keep track of my data use, which I can already do. Then they gave me instructions for resetting my router to factory settings, which doesn't accomplish anything. Oh and they raised my rate in the mean time.
toystein
New Contributor II
6 years ago
Paying $100 a month for internet, and have to stress about data use. This is ridiculous. Everyone who pays for additional data are encouraging this kind of bad business. As soon as an alternative comes around (5g maybe), I'm getting out of this extortion of service.
toystein
New Contributor II
6 years ago
Paying $100 a month for internet, and have to stress about data use. This is ridiculous. Everyone who pays for additional data are encouraging this kind of bad business. As soon as an alternative comes around (5g maybe), I'm getting out of this extortion of service.

Yes I have seen increases in data usage as well. For no reason. Like crazy increase. I monitor it everyday. I have to limit everything I do so I don't go over my limit and have to pay unfair overage fees. This is what a monopoly looks like folks.
- joandrum
  New Contributor II
  6 years ago
  Right?! And their only response is the canned reply that you must have a virus and to change your router password. I live in the ghetto and I honestly don't think my neighbors are capable of hacking into my wifi when they can't even figure out which days to put the trash out.

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