Wireless Broadband account problems

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linw

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Topic # 220239 1-Aug-2017 21:09

Friend got talked into switching copper to wireless a few weeks ago. After 3 weeks of current billing cycle all 60 GB of data has gone.

I would be terribly surprised if she has really gobbled up that amount as she is not a 'streamer' or big downloader. . I tried to find daily usage stats but can't see that info in her 'My Spark' a/c.

Her a/c shows several clearly spammy email addresses linked to her a/c as below

There is another one plus her own gmail a/c that I didn't snip.

MBAM and ADWCleaner threw up 321 Mindspark PUP's but that was all.

The wifi is secured.

She has talked with the helpdesk and the person found the a/c a bit strange but told her no one had 'taken' her data. They upped her data to 120GB.

This is outside my experience so wonder if anyone could help with some ideas on what could be happening with those spammy emails and assumed excessive data use.

Wheelbarrow01

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Spark NZ

Reply # 1835366 2-Aug-2017 08:08

The only thing I can advise is that when I switched from VDSL to wireless, my data usage soared for no apparent reason.

I subsequently learned that Lightbox automatically adjusts its bandwidth usage based on the available speed ie Lightbox started streaming at a higher quality because the bandwidth was there to support it, meaning I started using more data to watch the same amount of programming.

If your friend does use Lightbox this could possibly explain it. I note that since then, Lightbox has added a bandwidth selection option. It's something worth looking into.

There may also be another explanation - others here may have a better idea.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Spark NZ Ltd

linw

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Reply # 1835816 2-Aug-2017 15:33

Thanks, will check re Lightbox. But I really don't think she is into that sort of stuff.

Anyone got any ideas re the bogus email addresses, like how do they get there, for one?

Torque

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Reply # 1836522 3-Aug-2017 13:01

Find out if she knows a 'Jo' or a 'Jojo' as that features quite prominently in a a few of the email addresses.. and change all the relevant passwords (especially if her Spark login User/PW is used on on other sites)