Telecom online usage meter ripping people off?

Forums › Spark New Zealand › Telecom online usage meter ripping people off?

Sheagae

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Master Geek
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Topic # 50119 23-Nov-2009 10:15

Hi

I have been a follower of geekzone for several years and finally decided to join up today.

I have noticed over the past few weeks that the online usage meter on telecoms site is showing extremely high and unreasonable usage for myself. I have emailed telecom, but the responses from their side suggest they are pretty adamant nothing is wrong.

I use a smoothwall linux box with bandview installed and have been running this system for over 12 months and the system has been showing relatively the same data as the online meter for that whole time, give or take ~1-2%. However, now the online stats show about 50-75% more than what we use.

A hacker in my network has been ruled out, and even if there was one, smoothwall would account this data. I have done multiple tests downloading 'test' files up to 1GB in size to track if smoothwall is accounting this data correctly (it is), and have even re-installed smoothwall completely incase something was corrupted. Still, no luck.

My question: has anyone else noticed higher than usual data usage showing on the website?

I started a thread on gpforums: http://www.gpforums.co.nz/thread/372584/?s=3d984e6163d46558be3305aceb05576f but so far only a few people have advised they think they 'might' be getting charged too much. Here is hoping posting on these forums will shed some more light on this situation.

Many thanks

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Reply # 275437 23-Nov-2009 12:58

Hard to say where I work as the upload usage for the past two weeks has been nil, something that was commented on in the above forum post..

Will keep my eye on it

Regards,

Old3eyes

boby55

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Reply # 275438 23-Nov-2009 13:01

hasn't upload usage been unmetered for a few weeks now?

rscole86

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Reply # 275439 23-Nov-2009 13:02

yes it has, as per the post in this forums from Mauricio.

nzpat

167 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 275451 23-Nov-2009 13:21

Meh my usage meter doesnt even work it always says the service is unavailable.

Sheagae

171 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 275452 23-Nov-2009 13:22

patznz: Meh my usage meter doesnt even work it always says the service is unavailable.

Does this not concern you? Or are you on BigTime?

Yeah all plans get free upload usage now, and this is when I started noticing the high download problem for myself.

gmball

307 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 275537 23-Nov-2009 17:07

I hadnt noticed this thread, but can confirm that my download usage reflects my upload and download usage combined. Telecom is advertising free upload usage, but lumping it in with the download usage. Users beware!

Ragnor

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Reply # 275541 23-Nov-2009 17:31

It's probably a bug relating to the free upload change, the more people that report the issue via the help desk and via the contact us page on the telecom site... the sooner it will get sorted.

rscole86

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Reply # 275548 23-Nov-2009 17:43

gmball: I hadnt noticed this thread, but can confirm that my download usage reflects my upload and download usage combined. Telecom is advertising free upload usage, but lumping it in with the download usage. Users beware!

No you cannot confirm this.

As has been poined out in the thread you created, there is something wrong, but not likely to be Telecom screwing you over as you are making it out to be.

As has been mentioned in both threads, we suggest you log a fault with Telecom and see what they can find out for you.

aperfectcircle

57 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 275562 23-Nov-2009 18:09

There is a known fault where download usage seems to be double counted. I am suffering from this also; it is not affecting all users, and started from 1 November. Telecom are aware of this - I suggest you call through to the Broadband helpdesk and ask to speak with someone in Complex Support and have your account registered against this issue.

raytaylor

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Reply # 275603 23-Nov-2009 19:54

3 of my clients had this earlier in the month. as perfectcircle says, could be an ongoing fault they are having.

Ray Taylor
Taylor Broadband (rural hawkes bay)
www.ruralkiwi.com

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Sheagae

171 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 275604 23-Nov-2009 19:58

raytaylor: 3 of my clients had this earlier in the month. as perfectcircle says, could be an ongoing fault they are having.

Did they get their issues fixed? Telecom has pretty much told me that my own system should not be trusted, even though I have stated for 12 months it has been inline with the online meter.

raytaylor

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Reply # 275646 23-Nov-2009 22:19

Yes they fixed them up after they each rang and complained. However i think this may have been a major fix that was applied to most of their customers all at once.

Ray Taylor
Taylor Broadband (rural hawkes bay)
www.ruralkiwi.com

There is no place like localhost
For my general guide to extending your wireless network Click Here

Sheagae

171 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 277335 28-Nov-2009 22:49

In case anyone is wondering - Telecom have finally acknowledged that there is an issue with the usage meter. There is no ETA on a fix, however.

It took me 8 emails and being told many times that I was incorrect in my discoveries, but finally they have decided to investigate, or so i'm told. Will post with results (if any)

chatoyer

22 posts

Geek

Reply # 277411 29-Nov-2009 09:52

lukej: In case anyone is wondering - Telecom have finally acknowledged that there is an issue with the usage meter. There is no ETA on a fix, however.

It took me 8 emails and being told many times that I was incorrect in my discoveries, but finally they have decided to investigate, or so i'm told. Will post with results (if any)

Hmmm....good to know. I'm not sure if we're being affected - although we were affected by the shenanigans last month with the meter. My usage for November at 34GB and am only two days out from my rollover date of 1 December (we're on the Pro plan).

In all of October we used 28.6GB, which is not hugely different from where we're at now. If I look at our usage over the last few days, seems we're chewing through almost 2GB a day according to the meter (download only, given that upload is apparently free).

Now, the wife certainly streams stuff online as opposed to watching TV (which makes me question why on earth we have a sky dish with four flippin' movie channels), but no more so that usual this month I'm told (with a smile).

Anyway, if the meter is accurate for us - and we can't really verify via other means - then I think we may have to go with the 60GB Business Plan.

chatoyer

Sheagae

171 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 277425 29-Nov-2009 11:27

The 60GB plan is good (we're currently on that), the performance is rock solid. The excess costs are actually reasonable if we're comparing to the current $20 per GB that you would pay on PRO, you will pay ~$3 per GB on business 60GB.

The downsides of this plan: you will be locked into a 24 month contract with a $200 disconnection fee (even if you want to change back to residential plans you will have to pay this), so think carefully before you move over. Also, the cost of $109 + phone line per month - some may say thats too expensive.

Have you tried the bigtime plan? I would love to try it out and see if its any good, but alas - the $200 disconnection fee wasn't too appealing.

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