10GB used in half a day - HOW?!

[#1]

Finally fed up with my rural broadband - 1.3MB max download speed - I'm trying out 4G. I'm a mile from the EE mast and get good signal strength to Huawei 535 router. I researched the data requirements of my kind of internet use - 2 or 3 hours a day, sometimes more sometimes less,  browsing, Facebook, Amazon etc. Very little video streaming (Youtube), no music streaming. I'd say fairly light use. All on Macbook Pro; I don't use phone data (only got 1GB plan). Everything I could find suggested that 20GB a month would cover it. So at lunch time I put my new 20GB Plusnet sim in to the router and was delighted with download speeds up to 30GB. I spent some time on Facebook, investigated some items on Amazon, sent 2 emails and ran a few speed tests. I also downloaded an IOS system update of 2.7GB. Checked into Plusnet account usage page 3 or 4 fours later to find I have 10.03GB left! I'm at a loss to understand this.

When I called BT last week to ask what my average monthly use has been, it wasn't in GB but MB. Presumably faster speeds use more data, but this seems out of all proportion to my minimal usage - 10GB in a short afternoon!  I'm entirely disillusioned about the wonders of 4G broadband. My next best option seems to be EE's 160GB for £20, but I'm now doubtful even this would be enough. Alas I can't afford to pay more for an unlimited data broadband deal.

Is this kind of enormous data use for hardly any usage normal? I'd welcome some input from others to get some perspective.

Thanks in anticipation 

BP

[#2]

@brianpeter  Welcome to the forum.

What you probably don’t know is what else was going on in the background, both upstream and downstream. It does sound an awful lot but might slow down now. Bear in mind that if you have a 30Mbps (not 30GB) data speed the connection can transfer 13.5 GB per hour.

Were you for example downloading HD video when in the past it would have been SD due to your poor landline speed? 

[#3]

Faster speeds generally doesn’t mean more data but it does mean you can do more and quicker so that’d result in more data being used.

It’s possible the MacBook needed to do an update and ran it in the background without being noticed. 

Also do you have any other devices connected to the router either wirelessly or wired?

Not sure how accurate this is but using the Activity Monitor on a Mac, you may be able to find out how much network data has been transferring on a given day. 

[#4]

Thanks for input, but I downloaded no video. Just did what I said in original post - Facebook, Amazon, a few speed tests, general browsing.

All automatic updates are always turned off - apps and O.S. Nothing else connected - just laptop.

I did download a 2.7 GB IOS update, but it failed to set up. Even taking this into account, that's still over 7GB.

I didn't set up the router and install the sim until after lunch, and I wasn't online continuously. For example - at 19.00 (well after the IOS download) my account showed 12.21GB left; at 19.50 it showed 10.16GB left. All I'd done was look around online for info on data usage and a cheaper deal (hah!)

I think my dream of fast internet is over. I'll be cancelling the card this morning and sending the router back to Amazon. Such a disappointment.

[#5]

Something’s used the data though if 10GB has gone.

There are companies who offer unlimited at reasonable prices for example SMARTY.

Not sure if it’ll be suitable for you but worth looking into.

[#6]

Thanks. But EE network is my only option. I'm in rural Devon and none of the others have coverage at my location. I'm only a mile from the EE mast; plenty of trees in between but the signal is pretty good. 

[#7]

Ah I see. You’ve probably already looked but if you put your full address (or landline number if you have a BT line) into the broadband checker http://broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com does it show that VDSL and/or WBC FTTP is available?

Also this website may be of interest https://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk if you’ve not already looked through it that is. 

[#8]

I use TripMode on my Mac - TripMode - Save data, browse faster - primarily for when I'm away from home however you can see each app trying to access the network and block or allow it. 

It will also show you how much data each one is using.

Might help investigate.

[#9]

Thanks. I've looked into the rural broadband schemes  - they all seem either not available here, or far too expensive if they are (satellite). We can't get fibre down our lane (6 houses and the lane leads nowhere). Apparently it's "fibre to the cabinet", but the cabinet is 2 km away, so we're stuck with ancient copper wires. 4G seems the only option, but my pension wont run to unlimited mobile data.

I got the 20 GB sim to see whether it would be enough, or whether to go with EE's 160GB sim. Didn't want to commit to 2yr contract before I was sure 4G was the way to go.

i've got 10Gb to experiment with today, but after yesterday I'm not hopeful..

[#10]

Thanks. I'll look into TripMode. But I already keep pretty much everything disabled on the Mac. I'll have another root around in the settings and see if I missed anything.

[#11]

You'll be surprised

[#12]

That does seem very high usage

We have just been in a caravan for two weeks using a laptop and tablet connected to the mobile phone using Plusnet via hotspot and used just 6.2 GB

HD

[#13]

What sort of use? Just browsing, emails etc, or games and movies ?

[#14]

@brianpeter 

I know nothing about Macs (apart from their expensive) but wonder if they use a similar system to Windows WUDO and you are kindly updating neighbour’s machines, see https://www.itproportal.com/news/how-to-stop-windows-10-sharing-updates-with-your-internet-connectio...

[#15]

@Baldrick1 no macs don’t do that unless you specifically turn it on and even then it’s only those on your lan