Verizon WiFi overcharge?

2oldman wrote:
It's only wifi from the phone to your computer. The actual connection is 3g/4g data.

monkey44 wrote:
or how I can tell what is causing it if it's real ... as I never use it more or less each month, usually.

You can check your data usage detail on the website, and that will give you an idea of when these large downloads occurred. Perhaps that will give you a clue as to what's going on. Maybe you've been spending too much time on here complaining about Windows 8! hahahahahaha

HAHAHAHAAHAHah - still complaining about windows 8, and I still don't like it.

For all who asked: I don't allow any updates or upgrades on the LT, and I don't download stuff, no movies, videos, nothing - and all the programs are set to manually update, not auto. And it jsut happened a couple times - I don't use more ever, always the same amount online time - pretty much, and mostly email and site lookup for info (And RV.net) ... so I can see how I go from 50% over five years to overage in two weeks - makes no sense.

Was just looking here before I call so I can get some insight - always pays to know something before you call - so I don't have to believe everything they tell me.

I got one of those warning emails from ATT, and I was only 4 days into my cycle. I called them and they said they were having a glitch and messages were sent out in error. She made a note on my account, just to be sure.

So, call Verizon :)

Since you are Verizon, this is not the problem, but I thought I'd share it for others that may not know.

IF you have ATT service and are in an area where ATT doesn't own the towers, you have a very tiny amount of data allowed before you exceed your limit.

We were traveling with friends in the west (National Parks) last summer. They had ATT and we had Verizon. They got a notice that they had exceeded their data limit and their hot spot was shut off by ATT. They were shocked, as they had hardly used their phones or computer. They called ATT to see what was going on and were told that if they had read the fine print in their contract, they would know that their monthly 4 GB data allotment was only good in places where they were using ATT towers. If they roamed into other areas where ATT used other companies' towers, unlimited voice and text were OK, but their data limit was reduced to 200 MB!

I immediately called Verizon and the tech told me that he was familiar with the ATT policy, but Verizon did not do anything like that. Thank goodness!

monkey44 wrote:
Was just looking here before I call so I can get some insight - always pays to know something before you call - so I don't have to believe everything they tell me.

OK, as I said, check your usage yourself first, because that's what they're going to do. Unfortunately the chances that they're wrong are not good.

2oldman wrote:

monkey44 wrote:
Was just looking here before I call so I can get some insight - always pays to know something before you call - so I don't have to believe everything they tell me.

OK, as I said, check your usage yourself first, because that's what they're going to do. Unfortunately the chances that they're wrong are not good.

I looked at my usage meter - have been neglecting it as we're been on the road and plenty of days w/o service. SO, it means we used a lot on less days of availability (camping in NP without 'hotspot'.

MY use meter says 5.2 G in the past 50 days ... I have a 5G a month, so don't see how I can use more than 5G in 30 days ... Very odd, as I've never used more than half (usually) occasionally up to about 3.5 or 4.0 once in a while. But only twice in over five years (both times when Genie was building websites) - that's why it seems odd to me as it simply never happens.

Anyway, got home today, and will call tomorrow. Matter of fact, got another notice today we used 1G in six days, and we've been driving most of each day, not online.

Look into Networx. It's a free network monitoring system that can be configured to show how much data each user is using on each machine or it can be configured to report on data usage on all machines. It shows which apps are using the data, how much they are using and what time they are using it.

Read about it here: Clicky



Below is a comment left on the Cnet site: Summary

I've got 3g internet and have a bandwidth limit of 12GB.

I've been recently going over my limit and didn't understand why. (I wasn't using the internet any different than I have in the past.) I did some research and found this program.

I LOVE it!

I'm able to monitor my usage and was able to figure out which programs were hogging my bandwidth.

It turns out my anti-virus (Avast) had added a bunch of monitoring that I didn't need and was using more than 2X what I was using with browsers alone.

Plus, I was able to figure out that I needed to limit my browsers' settings to not auto load videos and scripts.

I'm now able to stay way under my limit again! :)

They may have sent a major update to your phone.

One of the things I like about my service (T-Mobile) is I do not pay overage charges.

wa8yxm wrote:
They may have sent a major update to your phone.

One of the things I like about my service (T-Mobile) is I do not pay overage charges.

That's what I'm afraid of, the downloads that I don't ask for nor want. And, am wondering if newer webpages simply are more complex, therefore take more usage. I'm too tech stupid to figure that out.

Often, you folks try to answer and assist - then, I attempt to figure it out, and get lost in the 'figure it out' ... :) :)

It's nearly impossible to keep up with the technology, especially if you have limited training. The answer is often simpler than it seems to anyone with at least some tech training - like nearly every kid alive today. Unfortunately, this old dog didn't have that earlier, so always bring up the rear.

I can remember when I was at the university and the public didn't even know what the internet or the world wide web was/is... When we went online and typed in a search address (the entire address, not a simple link) we got all research papers and technical information in the headings.

Now, we type in a search request, and get a million ads that have little to do with the actual subject you want. You almost need a research degree just to find the info. Tag lines and advertising have made a mockery of what was once one of the best education tools in the world.

Normally I disconnect from the Internet when not using A week or so ago I had left CNN.com site connected to the Internet and was surprised to see 500MB racked up in a very short time.

Looking at the statistics page on Verizon manager CNN is continuously sending data I had never seen that before it could have racked up a Gig in no time.

monkey44 wrote:
I looked at my usage meter - have been neglecting it as we're been on the road and plenty of days w/o service.

Look at their usage meter.