How can I be using 1TB of home internet data??
 

Just got a notice that I’ve used 975TB so far this month on my home internet.

Does anyone else use that much?

I ran different scenarios on their usage calculator. It said if I was using 10 hours per day of TV streaming, plus 10 hours per day of general internet browsing, plus 10 hours of social media, PLUS 10 hours of music streaming, that would be 1 TB per month.

For all of that, every day!

It’s just me and my wife, and she works outside the house full time 45-50 hours a week.

Zero gaming, no downloading of files or movies, no cameras using internet. Just streaming TV and music and general website browsing.

This has never happened before, but we did cut the cable and go to streaming TV early this month. Could streaming TV use that much data?? Anyone else use that much at home?

One question.

Do you have blisters on your palm?

Your unsecured smart television, refrigerator, and dishwasher are part of a bot army?

Do you stop the streaming devices when you turn off TV? I always go to the main menus.

Neighbors all on your wifi?

Got wifi and someone riding piggy back?

Next door neighbor turns his cable modem off when not specifically using it.

No idea what I use, am not capped.

Some of the smart TVs are always sending data.

Do you have a Windows 10 machine? Do you have hte updates managed for capped services?

The ISP can probably send a graph of data usage.

Log into the admin portal on your router, see if it tells you traffic.

Or do old school, start unplugging **** one by one and see if usage goes down

Possible I suppose, if you are streaming HD music and 4k/HDR movies several hours per day. Still, that is a LOT of data.

I'd make sure you are using WPA2 encryption for your WiFi, and change your password key (making sure it's strong/random). If you want to take it further, you can dig into your router's set-up and restrict access to only the devices you use, and/or disable it completely during certain hours of the day, etc. I'd probably disable WPS and any "remote" admin accessibility for the router as well. Also, make sure its firmware is up to date.

It is possible by just streaming (HD) you can be using that much. I think I read that on average 1 45-minute episode of a show can be almost 1GB in size on Netflix.

You could also have "smart" devices connected to the internet, doing their thing. Also, mobile phones (iOS especially) can consume a metric shyt-ton of data once on WiFi.

It might be time to put your "smart" devices on a segmented network with no internet access and see what gives. Also update your WiFi password and see if any neighbors complain. If you have guest access turn that off.

Oh, and one last thing I found out. Providers like COX, Comcast, and Xfiniti have integrated to their Wireless AP/Router combos an open guest network. It's designed for other subscribers to have WiFi access wherever they go. If you are using a router/modem combo from your ISP, toss it and buy a separate Modem and separate Router.

whats your cpu load look like? netstat -an , whats open? who's connected?

Or maybe just a toaster looking for a firmware update :)

Like Brando said,

for example if you have Xfinity internet and bought or are renting a "xfinity" modem/router from them,

Your router is actually making a public hotspot called "xfinitywifi" in addition to the home network you set up, and strangers or the kid next door can use it. Maybe someone next door to you is accessing that open network and watching TV all day.

Here's how to turn it off for xfinity:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/disable-xfinity-wifi-home-hotspot

Xfinity public WiFi doesn’t count towards your usage. Still, I’d turn it off.

XFi actually shows you what devices are connected and how much they are using. Check it out.

Goes without saying, set your WiFi to wpa2 with a strong password.

Has to be a mistake. That is a massive amount of transfer.

The TV uses quite a bit, but not THAT much.

I'd change the password.

With a healthy margin for error, let's say that a 2 hour HD movie is 5 GB.

Did you download 195,000 HD movies last month? I'm guessing no.

He only needs to download 195. We're not talking petabytes here! :nerdheadshake:

Yeah, something going on there...

Even though the same 2 hour movie in 4k/HDR can easily be 3x that (+/- 15GB), you'd still have to stream over 4 hours of 4k content every single day to reach a 1TB cap.

I left all TVs off today, with the exception of my wife watching an hour or so. Tomorrow I’ll be able to see how many GBs were used today.

I googled it and a lot of people seem to have this problem when they moved to streaming. I’m using Roku, for example, and apparently if you turn the TV off while watching a program, it can continue to stream even after the TV is off. Supposed to go back to the home page, then turn the TV off.

Also, I have had the TV on a lot. I’d sometimes leave it on upstairs and go downstairs, and it would run for a few hours. Still, I don’t think I’ve come close to TVs streaming 10 hours per day, every day.

I’m using my own router, not the cable company’s. It has a tough password. Plus, it’s in the center of my house. For a neighbor to get a signal, they’d have to be sittting outside my house. It wouldn’t reach into their house.

Will be curious to see what my useage was today.

Now we know how the Russians hacked into and meddled with US elections.

Wait 975 TB or 975 GB?

Good call. In the original post, he does say that the notice says that he used 975 TB. Yeah, I don't think there's any way in hell he did that without something on his network being hacked, and I'm shocked that the carrier didn't contact him much sooner. My bet is that it's a typo and supposed to say 975GB. If it's 975GB, then streaming video content could definitely do it. If it's 975TB, then no way.

Yes, 974 GB.

Well, my TV experiment yesterday proved it is TV related.

I did 2 things:

(1) made sure all TVs (I have 4 Roku TVs, 3 used daily) were set to the Roku home page before turning off, and

(2) watched less than 1 hour total TV time.

My usage went from 974GB to 978GB. So 4GB used yesterday.

I think their online “useage calculator” is way off, and streaming TV uses way more data than they say.

Because although I’ve watched quite a few movies this month, I haven’t averaged 10 hours daily of TV, streaming music, general internet and social media (that’s 40 hours per day!). That’s what they calculate would use 1TB/month.

That’s what I did yesterday. But I also didn’t watch much TV. So my experiment was kind of messed up, with 2 variables I don’t know which was more important.

I’m retired and at home mostly, I didn’t realize I had a data cap (just started streaming TV this month, data cap was never an issue before that), so I’d often leave the TV on even when I wasn’t watching.

Not 10 hours a day, but certainly could have averaged more than 4. I’ve probably watched 25 movies this month. Plus general TV use.

I don’t have 4K TVs, though, they are 1080. Would it transmit at 4K to 1080 TVs?

I'm pretty sure I am correct.

1 terabyte = 1000 gigabytes

975 x 1000 = 975,000 gigabytes

975,000/5 (5gb per movie) = 195,0000.

If I have it wrong, I'm all ears.

I don’t think Roku (the device) detects that the tv is off, unless it is controlled by the same remote.

Or are you using a Roku app on the TV.

Might depend how it is powered. My chromecast is powered by TV usb, so it shuts off. I believe our Apple TV and fireTV does not shut down.

My (older) Roku used to occasionally pause and ask if I was still watching.

Do you have a TV in the bedroom you watch before bed and you maybe forget to 'stop' streaming and you just turn the TV part off?

ROKU Streaming sticks will turn off if they are powered by the TV's USB and the USB power goes off.

If you have a standalone ROKU or one powered by the wall wart it will just sit there and still pull data if you mistakenly just turn off the TV screen and forget to stop it.

If you did that every night by mistake that would pull 750 GB a month all by itself.

Just make sure you return your streaming appliance to it's home screen before putting it to sleep or sleeping the TV. Otherwise it will keep streaming in the background.

I have 2 Roku TVs, and 2 that use plug in Roku sticks.

Yes, the one in the bedroom has a Roku stick plugged into the HDMI port. It is powered by being plugged into the wall. I tried having it powered by a TV port, but that didn’t work, not enough power apparently.

But yea, I’d just turn off the TV mid program and go to sleep.

If that means it keeps streaming, what is it streaming? Because when I turn it on in the morning, it’s back to the home page.

For a dedicated Roku TV (no stick) is there any way it keeps streaming when you turn the TV off?

If so, that’s really lame.

Yeh, definite maybe.

Netflix and Amazon used to do that too - ie if you fell asleep watching a series they'd both still be auto-playing episodes hours later.

They both wised up that this was stupid from their perspective. Now, if you don't touch the remote for 3 episodes, Netflix stick up a nag screen saying "You Still There?".

Dunno what Amazon/Firestick does exactly; but when I wake up, the TV is on and the firestick is asleep :D

The Roku (or Apple TV or whatever) is smart on the front end, ie, when you say "I want to watch something" it downloads then. WHen you stop watching something, it stops downloading.

The backend, where it's connected to the TV, is more like a water hose being used to fill a bucket. The water hose won't know when the bucket is full and will keep running until you (the user with the remote) turn the water off at the faucet (tell the Roku "stop streaming video")

Yeah, my wife used to just kill the TV sometimes. Now we get the pop-up if my grandson is watching cartoons.

Ah, that makes sense now.

I’d just turn the TV off midstream while watching a series, and fall asleep, and in the morning when I turned the tv back on, it would be in the home page.

But, when I’d go to resume watching the series, it would be 3 episodes ahead of where I left off.

But I assume that means it was only streaming for those 3 episodes, not all night. That’s a huge difference!

Yes, it's possible to stream/view 4k content on 1080 TVs. With the updated info provided, it's probably unlikely in your case though.
You'd need 4K-capable ROKUs, and be actively seeking out 4k content (there will typically be a 4k and/or HDR label/banner for most titles on the info page/thumbnail).
In the case of Netflix, you would have to have a 4k plan.

You might access your router's admin/set-up feature and see if you can view actual data transmission logs to check for any discrepancies between actual data transmitted and what your ISP is telling you.
But with 4 "runaway" ROKUs I imagine it's totally possible. As mentioned, you probably want to make it a habit to return each device is the main menu before shutting the TVs off.
Also, you might want to disable any "auto play next episode" feature for all content.