cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

FIXED
kjpetrie
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 214
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-12-2010

Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

According to the note on the usage page, "Usage from the last 4 hours is not shown on this page". It is not yet 12 noon, but according to the page I have used 14.81 MB of my allowance today. Given that the allowance only applies to use after 8 am and that is less than 4 hours ago, I wonder when this 15 MB of usage could have occurred?

10 REPLIES 10
Jonpe
Hero
Posts: 3,991
Thanks: 1,831
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-09-2016

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

You are lucky to have a working usage meter!

Do you use W10 (or an older OS configured for automatic downloading and installation of updates)?  Updates would normally amount to more than 15MB though, and it's a bit early in the month for updates to be released.

kjpetrie
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 214
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-12-2010

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

What used the bandwidth is irrelevant. The point is that it was shown less than four hours after metering began at 8 am!

 

Gel
Aspiring Champion
Posts: 2,332
Thanks: 299
Fixes: 29
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

Besides Windows Updates, there could be other s/ware updating itself too.
You could check wifi channels in your vicinity, (if it's a wifi connection)via app such as INSSIDER,
and move yours to uncongested channel. Assume you have normal security in place for your wireless
connection.
kjpetrie
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 214
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-12-2010

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

Does no one read my post before replying?

I don't care what processes might allegedly have used the bandwidth. That has nothing to do with my question. My point is that if usage in the previous four hours is not included in the figures, and overnight usage is not part of my allowance, how can usage from my allowance on a particular day be shown before noon, given that the allowance only counts for use after 8 am?

On the day in question the computer was booted at 5:30 am to download some stuff off-allowance in the unlimited overnight period. I don't care how much it downloaded because it's unlimited usage at that time. Then, from say 6:30 to 11am it was switched off until about 11 am. So anything used from my allowance after 8 am would have to have been downloaded within the previous 30 minutes, which is unlikely to be shown if there is a four hour delay.

Speculating about what could have used the bandwidth is pointless. The point is that the use should not be shown before 12 noon if the allowance starts at 8 am and there is a four hour delay.

I suspect (and this is the reason I describe my question as pedantic) the answer is that the statement "Usage from the last 4 hours is not shown on this page" is inaccurate and should read "Usage from the last 4 hours might not be shown on this page". Presumably, the page is only updated at 4-hourly intervals so can be up to four hours out-of-date, but could also be up-to-the-minute if viewed less than a minute after the last update occurred.

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

@kjpetrie - You make a very valid point but a quick search on this site will soon show you that this facility is ‘having issues’ I wouldn’t give any credence to the values you see there. If it can’t count the correct type of traffic for a user who is to say it can tell the time correctly!

Here's mine, and I know this to be total rubbish.

Usage

maranello
Pro
Posts: 1,267
Thanks: 200
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

If you read carefully, I believe the term used is 'up to 4 hours'. I can't confirm as it's no longer available to me. But it is possible that your usage was updated anytime between 8 and the time you first checked. The fact that ~15Mb was recorded is something you should be concerned about, but bear in mind that Windows patches are routinely released overnight Tues-Wed so if you have automatic updates this could account for the usage. If something or someone else is using your bandwidth then you should care. 

My other car isn't a Ferrari
kjpetrie
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 214
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-12-2010

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

@Anonymous,

Well, I hope they don't try to charge you for going over the allowance, since they've told you you haven't used any of it. I don't see how they could make any excess charge stand up in court if they've misled you about your usage to that extent.

@maranello,

The wording I quoted was copied and pasted from the page, so is correct. I agree "up to" would be a better phrasing, but it's not the one in use.

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

@kjpetrie - Just to clarify, both my lines are on 80/20 and I have no usage caps, so what these numbers are makes no difference to me, but to others who rely on it not to go over their quotas then it would be exceedingly frustrating not knowing where you stood on a day-by-day basis.

HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
Thanks: 1,466
Fixes: 256
Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

Fix

Hi @kjpetrie, your certainly right about the wording, I'll flag that up with the relevant people, requesting it's updated. Thanks for pointing it out Smiley

 

I also double checked the usage to be on the safe side and the usage is correct and was from after 8am, but was updated much sooner than the 4 hours quoted on the page.

 

@Anonymous - I believe the widespread issues with usage tracking you're referring to should only be affecting account on unlimited packages. Any accounts with usage caps that are experiencing similar problems is likely due to something different.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Pedantic question on "My Broadband Usage" page

Thanks @HarryB, I assumed there would be a single system that did the traffic stats so any issues would be present regardless of the account type, but from what you are saying this is not the case.