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80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

stereoWorld
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Hi All,
Been with Plusnet a year now. I chose them as a budget service as I was moving into a flat for the first time and needed to start a bit slow. To be honest with you, I've not had any problems with the service up until the last month or so.
This evening I received an email telling me that I've exceeded my monthly usage allowance. Normally, I'd be a bit irked, but I'm now pretty angry/bewildered because I already exceeded my original allowance this month.
I know what you're probably thinking... this is some young kid who works part time at Curry's and spends the rest of the time downloading pirated movies. Well you're wrong, I work full time and live with my wife to be.
Specifics aside, I've had no trouble at all with allowance and Plusnet. I'm a pretty casual user during the week, with only my iPhone doing the rounds. I play xbox live in total for about 12-15 hours a week. On my usage allowance, that accounts for about 15% or so.
I checked my usage chart though and it's telling me that I've used 80% of my allowance using the internet!! Now I'm relatively knowledgeble in web technology, so to me there is no chance in hell i could have used 15-18 gb on web browsing alone. I hardly download anything of a huge filesize and even if I did, I wouldn't exceed 20gb anyway!
My routers also been dropping connectivity to the wireless devices too which is mega weird. It's one of those Thomson things as well. Unless the old couple next door are able to decode WEP keys, I can't imagine any security has been breached here.
I know i should contact PlusNet about this and I will tomorrow (and I can't imagine they'll provide any sound advice either!) but has this been happening to anyone else recently?
8 REPLIES 8
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

The obvious one which comes to mind is watching iPlayer or similar streaming which will eat up an enormous amount as I found out when my better half used it to catch up with some programmes she missed.
The other possibility is that someone has piggybacked onto your wireless router if you have one
The reps on here will be able to give you a breakdown as to when the usage was used by time
stereoWorld
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Hmmm, never thought about that.
I do use skyplayer every saturday (because Freeview took off Soccer Saturday  >:() so that makes sense in a way.
I thought that would have fallen under streaming or gaming (as its on my xbox) and not web though?
Thanks for the reply by the way  Smiley
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Skyplayer and iPlayer streaming count as web, gaming is reserved for playing identified games.
When you look at the daily usage do you get large peak time totals at the weekend when you have been streaming but much smaller totals during the week when you haven't?
David
stereoWorld
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Yep  Embarrassed
It all makes sense then. I'm going to upgrade then I guess. Can't have a Saturday without Soccer Saturday.
Sorry for wasting your time with the forum post. Really shouldve done my research!
Thanks for your help  Smiley
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Glad this was resolved quite quickly, and thank you to yourself too for providing the feedback we have to rely on to direct our comments.
I notice you mentioned in your opening post that your router was dropping connection to wireless devices. There is a thread on this for the TG585v8 but I assume yours is a v7?
David
stereoWorld
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Hi there, not a problem mate. To be honest with you I found the usage monitor extremely helpful. Without one of those, I would have had a pretty embarrasing conversation with one of your reps when we discover the reason behind it all.
Uh yeah, I have a v7. The weird connectivity has been going on for the past fortnight or so, but only this week has it become more stubborn. Basically, my iPhone won't pick up the wireless signal, despite the router being little over 3meters away. When it does pick it up I'm asked to enter the security key again, something I've done threetimes already.
The missus's laptop also has similar issues in that it connects briefly and drops several times. I connect my xbox wire directly to the laptop and the issues vanish (except for the odd lapse). Not tried it on my pc's wireless receiver yet.
Can I also mention that your customer service is very good! I'm surprised as many budget ISPs tend not to give a rats a** about the customer.
dick:quote
zubel
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,793
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

Is the SWMBO's laptop a Mac btw?
Quote from: stereoWorld
Can I also mention that your customer service is very good! I'm surprised as many budget ISPs tend not to give a rats a** about the customer.

So far, it's just 'other customers' who have replied to this thread, although I'm sure one of the PN staff members will poke their head in shortly Wink
B.
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: 80% web usage of 20gb allowance?????

[me=Jameseh]pokes in head.[/me]
Glad to see that everything seems to have worked out well, Stereoworld Smiley