Data usage rip off?

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N3verCont3nt

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#59232 30-Mar-2010 17:10

Didn't know where else to post this, so here goes...

I'm with telecom on their 40gb 'Pro' plan, after being switched up from 10 gb a month. This was because I was consistently going over the data limit. I thought this was fair enough as I am an avid gamer and I do watch youtube alot. But recently I have come to suspect Telecom for ripping me off. Heres what happened. I used a download/upload monitoring software, Net Meter from http://www.hootech.com/NetMeter/ and it recorded 11 gb of total internet usage in the time of around 1 month on my computer, when the trial software expired. But a few days after the software expired we got an email from telecom saying we had gone over the limit. Now I use the most internet in our house, on my laptop and ps3. The other computers are used for email. So how can we have use 40 gb if I had recorded just 11gb on my computer (I use the most internet in our house) and the other computers are used for email? Because I'm sure the ps3 doesnt use the other 39 gb as my friend plays more than me on his ps3 and he is on a smaller telecom plan...
So is Telecom ripping us off or are we being hacked, because this is ridiculous...
Any advice on how to solve this problem??

NZCoderGuy

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#312916 30-Mar-2010 17:18

My first guess would be that you are using Wireless? (having ps3 and pc sharing the internet) - and it not being secure enough, so someone could be taking all your data. To fix, enable security (WPA/WPA2 if possible).

Secondly, you record 11GB used in the month, but have a 40GB plan.. theres alot of room for error. Its quite likely something is using your internet connection ALOT to use the remaining 29GB up. As i said previously it might be someone hooking into your wireless.

--
Stephen
twitter/ NZCoderGuy / KiwiDevStudios

muppet

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#312917 30-Mar-2010 17:18

Do you have a Wifi router? If so, are you sure it's secured?
You should be using WPA as a minimum, WEP is way to easy to crack these days.

Change the password and keep monitoring. Also, read this thread which asks exactly the same thing.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

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JAMMAN2110

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#312919 30-Mar-2010 17:22

Do you have WiFi?

johnr

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#312923 30-Mar-2010 17:32

So maybe the usgae meter you downloaded has a issue? I would trust the telecom data counting before some meter downloaded off the net

rscole86

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#312925 30-Mar-2010 17:33

I assume you have not changed plans part way through a billing month? And that your complaint is based on the fact you have noticed this over a few months now.

Have you called Telecom and asked them if there is anything unusual with your usage? Finally, have you checked your usage online to see if it is even usage, or all in one day etc etc.

freitasm

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#312934 30-Mar-2010 18:11

The Occam's Razor principle applies to everything: if there are many different reasons for something, usually the easiest one is the right one.

In this case you instantly thought "I am being ripped off by the big mean telco", but let's look other options.

First turn off your router, modem for 24 hours. Then check your usage. If there is nothing recorded then chances are that any usage is coming from your side.

Next, use those 24 hours to run a full antivirus and antispyware scan in all your PCs. Make sure they are clean. Visit http://free.antivirus.com for tools you can download. Check their "Cleanup" links for software you should run now.

Are you using any software that starts when your PC starts and offer "services"? Last month someone came here complaining about his ISP overcharging, when in fact he was running a Freenet node... He "forgot" he loaded that software.

So, exactly what is missing here? Any software you are running and forgot to mention? Any missing update that might have caused your PC to be owned? Installed any special "codec" to watch xxx movies and just made your PC part of a spam botnet?

There are plenty of things that could be the cause.

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N3verCont3nt

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#313968 1-Apr-2010 17:30

so yeah i am using wireless and i do have it with wpa2... im going to wellington for easter ill be back tuesday I'll check usage, turn modem off then when I come back see if it has changed at all. thanks for advice as always

Ragnor

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#314047 1-Apr-2010 22:12

If you have multiple devices using the net you need to monitor at the usage at the gateway OR put a bandwidth monitor on every machine (which you can't do on a PS3). Putting a bandwidth monitor on just one machine is never going to give you the full picture.

Ragnor

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#314324 3-Apr-2010 00:24

Install Netwox on every PC
http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

Remember to enable the option to ignore local LAN traffic, this will give you a reasonable idea how how much international data each machine is using.

Won't tell you how much the PS3 is using though.

markhodgeNZ

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#315598 7-Apr-2010 00:26

N3verCont3nt: Didn't know where else to post this, so here goes...

I'm with telecom on their 40gb 'Pro' plan, after being switched up from 10 gb a month. This was because I was consistently going over the data limit. I thought this was fair enough as I am an avid gamer and I do watch youtube alot. But recently I have come to suspect Telecom for ripping me off.
[snip]
Any advice on how to solve this problem??

Easy first check - your router probably has a log/statistics page that says how much data it has sent and recieved since last reset. Write/copy&paste the current values down at your next monthly cycle and compare against what telecom report you are using. If they match then the problem is at your end :-)

If you are super lucky it will have separate tallies for wireless and ethernet so you can see if your wireless traffic is insanely high (ie., being leeched from).

You don't say if you've secured your router with MAC address filtering etc. If you haven't, you could also try recording the MAC addresses for all devices that you have connecting to your wireless and compare that against what the router reports as being connected (it might not list devices that it hasn't given IP addresses to via DHCP though).

Cheers,
Mark

Oncop53

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#315606 7-Apr-2010 01:32

and get the Traffic Usage Checker to monitor your account on a day-by-day basis