Forum Discussion

catkins's avatar
catkins
Explorer II
Nov 27, 2013

MiFi and huge data draw

Using a Verizon MiFi hotspot and suddenly am having HUGE amounts of data being used. No videos, no games, no streaming, no online voice even. In 30 minutes has used over 1.2 Gb while I am reading emails and accessing a very small number of websites.

Always use a good security program and ran a scan - nothing. Did a Spyware check - zero. Cleaned caches, cleaned temp files. All give no answers. Have had data spikes over 6 gb and 2.2 gbs all in short times and generally using mostly my Comcast email account.

I cannot think of anything else to do. Am replacing the hotspot in case it is faulting. Verizon was pretty unable to assist in three tech calls. Sigh.

Any ideas of what has changed?? I have used a hotspot for over three years............. my internet habits have not changed. Just the data being used is now unreal!!! I need internet access on the road and this has always worked before. HELP!!!
  • monkey44's avatar
    monkey44
    Nomad II
    Nov 30, 2013
    Jumping here late - but same thing for me. Can't figure it out, except as updates keep using my data. Tried everything to shut them off, but soon will revert back to Wdw7 and see. Mine started happening as soon as Wdw8 began. Not sure if it's that, but will find out -

    Otherwise, my best guess is continuous updating of every toy program and app known to man.
  • ReadyToGo's avatar
    ReadyToGo
    Explorer
    Nov 30, 2013
    Even if you have ad blockers on, they don't necessary stop the download to your browser. What most do is block it from appearing on your computer. In other words, the download is still happening and going through your router to your computer.
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Nov 29, 2013
    access to firewall "allowed apps" permissions

    click on picture for full size view

  • 1492's avatar
    1492
    Moderator
    Nov 29, 2013
    Hardware issues aside, you may want to consider installing some type of bandwidth monitoring software. At minimum, you'll have a secondary log of data usage to compare against Verizon's logs. In any case, you need to determine what is specifically using your data bandwidth if you're going to fix the issue.

    NetWorx is a popular free app. Besides daily, weekly, and monthly data stats, it also displays bandwidth usage by applications. Though a little more involved, you can optionally set data monitoring from your router(MiFi), instead of your computer.

    NetWorx does allow one to set notifications based on data usage, but doesn't provide a way to actually control or set bandwidth limits. There are a few free apps that allow basic bandwidth limiting. But, a little more involved in setting it up.
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    Nov 29, 2013
    It's really pretty easy. If you're not sure what firewall you're running then it's probably Windows Firewall. Go to Control Panel, Windows Firewall. In the top of the left pane there is "Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall", click on that and that will bring up a list of programs and protocols that access through your firewall.
  • thgoodman's avatar
    thgoodman
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    fj12ryder wrote:
    Again, why not check the firewall log and see what is doing all the downloading? That would certainly stop the guesswork.


    Well..... My answer to your question is: "I don't know how to do that". Perhaps you could point us uninformed to a tutorial.

    Actually, I don't know what firewall I'm running. Perhaps something from Microsoft.
  • jhilley's avatar
    jhilley
    Explorer
    Nov 28, 2013
    docj wrote:
    jhilley wrote:
    I have a 30MB cable connection at home and my wife and I average about 3MB here at home, again accessing the same WEB sites and email.


    I think you may be confusing the speed of your cable connection, which may be 30 Mbps with the amount of data you use which is measured in MB (megabytes). You couldn't possibly have a 30 MB cable connection per month because that would be a trivial amount of data.

    Most likely you have a cable connection capable of providing up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second) and most likely you are using 3 GB/mo of data for your surfing.


    You are right, the cable connection is 30Mb. Actually that is one of my pet peeves (people using MB for megabit). It was a typo on my part.
  • docj's avatar
    docj
    Explorer
    Nov 28, 2013
    jhilley wrote:
    I have a 30MB cable connection at home and my wife and I average about 3MB here at home, again accessing the same WEB sites and email.


    I think you may be confusing the speed of your cable connection, which may be 30 Mbps with the amount of data you use which is measured in MB (megabytes). You couldn't possibly have a 30 MB cable connection per month because that would be a trivial amount of data.

    Most likely you have a cable connection capable of providing up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second) and most likely you are using 3 GB/mo of data for your surfing.
  • jhilley's avatar
    jhilley
    Explorer
    Nov 28, 2013
    Bill.Satellite wrote:
    Hopefully you understand that being on 3G or 4G does not effect your data usage. However, since you can do so much more in the same amount of time with a faster connection it's much easier to eat up more data.


    I'm saying that something changed with the change from 3G to 4G. I used the same email and visited the same forums that I had the previous two years. I had the same equipment, a Pantech 290 modem and Cradlepoint router. It may have been more ads, but I put ad blocking on my browser. I have a 30MB cable connection at home and my wife and I average about 3MB here at home, again accessing the same WEB sites and email.

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