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High data usage with nothing connected

Robz
Grafter
Posts: 33
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

High data usage with nothing connected

This post follows on from here 

https://community.plus.net/t5/ADSL-Broadband/High-data-usage-but-nothing-connected/m-p/1722437#M3362...

which discusses how my router is consuming a massive 240MB per day for most days of the week when I have wifi disabled on ALL devices - this accounts for MOST of my monthly allowance  . . . occasionally one day in the week correctly shows nearly zero data usage.

 

Outstanding questions.

1. KatieC kindly reminded that during the pandemic data caps are suspended. Yes I am aware thank you - and it is appreciated - but after a couple of lockdowns ended and then re-introduced I have no idea if I can still continue to go over the cap without incurring the penalty of £5 per GB on my Essentials plan. How can I confirm the ongoing status of this cap suspension at any time so that I know not to worry? My income is severely reduced to below breadline levels right now and this is why I am not intentionally exceding my 10GB cap per month. It also explains why I do not want to get into the HABIT of taking the cap suspension for granted.

 

2. Currently my use of the TG52n Routers Access Control feature is stopping ALL broadband data access of all computers during Metered hours of 8Am til midnight. And the mobile device has wifi permanently turned off (because it can use 4G mobile data from another provider - it needs very little and consumes very little). Yet despite NO data usage on plusnet broadband I still see 240MB registered yesterday yet again. This means I have to manually disable the broadband connection and re-enable every single day at 8AM and midnight respectively - or unplug/power-off the router - which is ridiculous! So my question is - what the heck is going on? Nobody else has ever been given a password to my router.

34 REPLIES 34
Gel
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

jab1
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

@Robz I have to ask - why are you still on a metered connection? I don't know how long you have been a Plusnet customer, but it must be a while, as Unlimited accounts are now the norm, and if you are still on an old package, you are possibly paying a higher than necessary monthly charge as well?

John
Robz
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

Re: High data usage with nothing connected

In answer to: Could someone be piggy backing?

Thank you, but NO.
Three reasons.
1. Password never been given to anyone.
2. Router shows devices that use it, all are OK.
3. All devices have been blocked from using router between 8AM and midnight anyway by using the Access Control feature in the router.
Robz
Grafter
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

Re: High data usage with nothing connected

In answer to: why am I still on a metered connection etc.

Thank you John. I believe my current situation is the least expensive since my line bill is paid separately as a perk.

My broadband-only is £12 per month for 10GB. Can plusnet offer something better?
jab1
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

Ah, so you are on a 'BB only' contract. I don't know how your landline bill is paid as a perk, or by whom, obviously, but PN no longer offer such an option, so moving to 'Unlimited' would mean combining the two. Can you not persuade whoever pays your phone bill to reimburse you if you switch? You would gain, as you wouldn't have to pay for any excess over the 10GB - horribly low given today's bandwidth hungry internet, and, although I haven't checked, you would probably be paying less than £12.00 for the BB element.

John
Baldrick1
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

@Robz 

A few simple sums..

240 MB per day equates to 10 MB per hour or 80Mbps.

If we say that your ADSL line runs at 10Mbps that equates to 8 seconds per hour.

Which begs the question in my mind: On a ‘continuously on’ connection between the hub and exchange is the keep alive chatter that you may be able to see from the occasional blinking of lights part of the metered allowance? Does anyone know?

I can see that there is an argument for using this service if someone else is picking up the telephone bill but if it was possible for the two of you to get together you could split the cost, get unlimited broadband and both pay less.

If you use the disconnect tab on the hub rather than switch it off you might find that you can drop the DSL connection whenever you are not using the net and leave it off for at least 15 minutes does not trigger the DLM to slow your connection.

Whilst Plusnet will no doubt be polite in responding to you I suspect that there is little incentive for them to support this obsolete service.


 

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Robz
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

Re: High data usage with nothing connected

Hi Baldrick, Yes I agree with all of that 😂
MisterW
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

Is the keep alive chatter that you may be able to see from the occasional blinking of lights part of the metered allowance? Does anyone know?

Keep alive traffic will be part of the metered allowance. Also, don't forget that both upstream and downstream traffic is counted. So these days, when there are lots of bad people trying DOS attacks and port probing, these will also be counted. Some of the unwanted upstream traffic can be removed by activating the PlusNet firewall https://www.plus.net/member-centre/broadband/firewall which block the incoming traffic from reaching your router and thus won't be counted.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Robz
Grafter
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

Re: High data usage with nothing connected

Hi MisterW. That was a good reply thank you. My Plusnet firewall is currently off. I assume that's the default setting. I shall set it to low today. I think it is highly likely that bad actors could be trying to hack me because my ip address is particularly easily discoverable by other anonymous peers. It would be great to see the usage come back down to a sane trickle when not using the broadband. I would expect the keep alive usage to be a few kB or maybe even one MB per day. But definitely not 243MB. (My first IBM PC had a 20MB Hard disk drive fitted as extra and Ithought it was the bees knees 😂 back in the 1980s). Meanwhile, as temporary measure, I have simply manually disabled the data connection via the router settings and that HAS stopped the theft of my metered allowance.
summers
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

In your Plusnet account, you can see what type of traffic you are using. What does it show, helps in working out what is using the bandwidth ...
Robz
Grafter
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Registered: ‎21-01-2019

Re: High data usage with nothing connected

Hi Summers, Thank you for that tip. It shows enigmatically as Other and http. However these are aggregate sums that include actual usage. This means one has to have the presence of mind to note every detail exactly before an event that you hope will not happen again because you just did something to fix it. And you did that because you cannot afford to have the problem continue. If you get my drift 😂
Thrall
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

I’d say that capped usage packages are unlimited for as long as it’s advised here https://www.plus.net/help/covid-19/ or until further notice. If you move to unlimited broadband without phone it’ll cost £16.32 a month so not much more than what you’re paying now. 

summers
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

It's more what it tells us. That not unusual for a user, e.g. Looks like web + zoom which is what a person would do. So if it hints to anything, it's unauthorized access. Don't know if you can do any logging on your adsl router, to see what time distribution the usage has? Can't see the router itself doing anything near that rate, it will send out a small amount, e.g ntp requests to keep the clock right, but shouldn't be big.
RealAleMadrid
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Re: High data usage with nothing connected

@Thrall  I don't think that is an option. Plusnet stopped offering broadband only deals around the end of 2019. Since then any new contract has to be a combined phone and broadband package.