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OT - Is giga byte usage monitored?

P

Prawn Farmer

Member
Go to the gas stations and the pumps have an inspection sticker that they are certified, scales at the grain elevator, truck stops, grocery store, lumberyard, etc. have a sticker, electric, natural gas and water meters certified. How do you know that the GB charged for your computer usage from the IP is really factual?
 
You don't!

A few years ago I had an issue with AT&T. They showed me using an insane amount amount of bandwidth over several short intervals, an amount my modem at that time was not capable of handling.
I argued with them and finally got them to remove the overage charges.

The companies probably can monitor the rate moment to moment but when you look it up I've only seen the total for each "session".

I guess the gov could go in and monitor the companies the way they do the gas pumps, but then the gov will want a cut to pay for their services. I would be a great excuse to implement an internet tax!

Now I just squint at the whole bill and say "yeah, that looks about right" and go on.

I believe you can install your own monitoring program to monitor yourself and then compare with provider records.
 
Sure don't want or need another governmental agency to support. My issue is with AT&T after taking over Altel a few days ago. My router is showing us using almost 1.75 GB in just 5 days. We only averaged 3.5 for the whole month with Altel - nothing has changed, i.e. no streaming, You Tube, no kids or a computer savvy dog . . .
 
prawn,

I'm barely competent on the simplest technological things, so my opinion is not worth much.

I have Verizon wireless internet access. I can, and very frequently do, log into their website and look at my usage. They track it and post the usage in increments about five or six times per 24 hours. The increments are identified as to what time of day the usage is being reported for.

Like Centex, I had a huge dispute with my ISP a few months ago. It was before I started closely monitoring my usage. I fought and fussed with them. They finally forgave 1/2 of the overage charges, but that was still way too high for my situation.

In any event, your ISP might have some way of reporting usage to you without your having to wait for the bill to come. It's not exactly what you asked, but it might give you some confidence that the usage seems right.

Tom in TN
 
prawn,

Do you have a good virus detection program and a good anti-malware program running?

If not, there's a chance that you have some malware that just blasting bits and bytes that you don't even know about.

Tom in TN
 
I have "Glasswire" software installed on our computers. Google it and it's a free download.

It monitors and evaluates the Internet usage on the particular computer it's installed on.

We get our 'Net service from Verizon, and I regularly compare what Glasswire shows against what Verizon shows for usage. They come out pretty dang close. It's not that I don't trust Verizon, I just don't trust Verizon.

I just got a new laptop and Glasswire helped me identify and uninstall several pre-installed programs that were using Internet time, but that I don't need and will never use.
 
This is almost the same problem I had.

I'm guessing that you're using an aircard? I think the problem has to do with the ability of the tower and their system to keep separate the data streams. One of the times the record showed that I used a Gig in 10 minutes!

I was using a good anti-virus and double checked the computer for shadow programs and that sort of thing and all was clean. Sometimes windows has to update itself and occasionally those files are big but not that big.

I believe you can argue your case based on your historic usage.
I've heard of the program that Goose mentioned and that or something like it would be a good backstop.

I haven't had AT&T for about a year and a half. I got tired of the aircards burning out every six months and having to argue with them for a replacement.

Haven't had that problem with Verizon; not that they're any more trustworthy, just lucky I guess.
My usage is way up, but it's from known reasons.
 
Appreciate everyone's input and I'll look into the "Glasswire" that Goose mentioned. I do have virus and malware protection. Apparently, this has been an occasional, on-going issue with some of AT&T customers. As mentioned, I got AT&T by default when they bought Altel so we don't have a contract and have to make a decision whether to keep them or not in the next few days. I must say that AT&T had their act together during the transition. Hopefully, the usage issue can be resolved - if not will see if Verizon has any towers in this area.
 
I have run into bandwidth limits with my satellite service on several occasions. Pay a few bucks and get more BW till the next billing month starts. So I know they watch the satellite service. They do tell you what are your big BW users and movies are the main problem. What I don't like is that you can't go to a site without a video or so running somewhere while you are trying to read the text. On some sites you can put your curser on the lower left corner of it and the parallel bars show up whereupon clicking on them will stop the video.

Mark
 
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