High Broadband usage

My usage jumped yesterday for no apparent reason - have talked to BT about it and they have said the usual change the passwords , monitor usage ... and their system is accurate.
I am on the 10GB package and the usage monitor went as follows 4 June 0.17/0.04 to 5 June 3.61/0.04 (rec'd/sent)
However this is the data from my HH3
Internet Connection Configuration
Connection Information
Connection time:
11 days, 15:34:40
Data Transmitted/Received (GB):
1.5 / 0.4
Broadband username:
[email protected]
Password:
Not configured
TCP/IP settings
Broadband network IP address:
86.148.47.38
Default gateway:
172.16.15.135
Primary DNS:
213.120.234.22
Secondary DNS:
213.120.234.34
Disconnect
Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.94.1.37 (Type A) | Time and date 18:39 06/06/14
Obviously the data from the hub contradicts what BT say.
I don't particularly want to change my wireless password as to me my connection is not being used by anyone else because that usage would be reflected in the hub stats.
I would point out that I can use BT WiFi a lot and that it does rack up 1GB quite easily but that should not appear on the usage monitor - it doesn't appear on the hub stats.
BT are supposed to be monitoring the usage for the next 3 days and will ring me next Tuesday.
However should I continue to use BT WiFi during that period for consistency or not and see what happens?
Finally I am also posting here so that I have a record of what's happened.

conrad wrote:
I am aware of the resetting but would point out that the total usage was 4.2GB ( based on connection time) with the Hub showing 1.5Gb sent? and 0.4Gb rec'd ie the reset occurred well before the 4.3GB limit.
Having just looked at the hub data is it showing 1.5GB sent ?? If so that is not what the BT monitor is showing @ 6 June it is only 0.06GB.
I am taking regular readings of both the hub and NetWorx - fortunately I have only one device that can be connected to the internet. The 6 June monitor stats were 3.69/0.06 total of 3.75GB.
What is likely to be the case is that the screen print of the Hub data you have shown is incorrect in that the values should be 1.5 GB sent and 4.7 GB received (0.4 + 4.3) . This gives a total of 6.2 GB usage for the 11 days 15 Hours usage. Assuming that your usage for the end of May is 0.55 GB (as you have stated) and we subtract this from the 6.2GB, we have the usage recorded by the HUb for June as 5.65Gb. This is more than what is recorded by the monitor.
What the HUb records should always be equal or greater than what is recorded on the monitor.
Without regular Hub stats it is difficult to reconcile Monitor values with what the Hub is showing.

Similar Messages

Very high broadband usage

The first month we got BT broadband was option 1 the 10GB package, I left my house for 2 weeks and the monitor was at around 6/7GB and with no one in the house and no one with access to it i came back to find it was now at 12GB, thought this was a bit odd...
Last month we upgraded to option 2 the 40GB package. Ended up watching lots of videos and things and by the end of the month it was at 45GB.
This month, it's 7 days in and the usage monitor is showing 12.87GB used, I haven't been doing anything other than browsing, no games, no videos, no downloads, nothing...
This surely cannot be correct and I'm still concerned about the first month when it hadn't been used by any one and it was still racking up the data.
One phone call said there was nothing BT could do to check, I think it's a bit odd that I have to pay for usage I haven't even used and for this month that it's so high already and I haven't even done anything!
Forgot to say I had a 20GB package a few years back and I practically used to live on my laptop, used to play xbox live for hours each day, watch a lot of videos, and download a hell of a lot of music and videos and I didn't exceed my limit once in 18 months..
Seems a bit odd to me...

If this is the first month you have gone over, the £5 for an extra unit of 5GB might be waived.
For more information visit www.bt.com/broadbandusagepolicy
The broadband usage monitor is accurate and is updated at 23:59 every night.
Uploads are also counted towards your 10GB allowance.
1) Make sure that you don't have any malware or virus on the computer.
2) Make sure your private Wifi network is encrypted otherwise other people might be suing it.
3) Make sure that there isn't a device in that is using the home that you didn't know was using the internet - Smart phones/portible devices can automatically connet to your wifi (if known) and can update software in the background without you knowing. Some devices will allow phone calls and texts to be recieved over wifi.
4) there are free usage meters that can be downloaded to see when and what is using the 10GB usage on your computer.
cheers
jac_95 | BT.com Help Site | BT Service Status
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Unusually high broadband usage over March and Apri...

Have others noticed that they appear to have used far more of their monthly broadband allowance in the last two months? My 'alleged' usage was quadruple my usual but on Friday when I called the billing team they didn't want to know and weren't particularly helpful. However I persistedwith the BT technical team on Sunday and they admitted that they had been receiving an unusually high level of calls from customers complaining about seemingly high usage. They were informing the billing team of the problem so I will continue to chase them this week. Apparently there was some issue with the usage monitor giving out incorrect information so it might be worth people challenging the billing team if they think the same thing has happened to them.

*** please ignore this as I am still having the same issue even without Skype
I've been checking my usage monitor since I installed it this morning and couldn't undestand what these huge red spikes in download activity were every few seconds and my usage was going up and up.
Looking on the internet for solutions I saw lots of mentions about Skype, which I have but have only used once or twice a couple of months ago. Oh, but wait a minute, that was when my usage skyrocketed. And guess what.. I just uninstalled it and now the huge red spikes are no more on my monitor!
I have no idea of the why and how but even though my Skype was not open it was doing something over the internet and something very big.
So if you have the same issue and you have some kind of video calling software installed it may be worth uninstalling it just to check.
The monitor I have been using is here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Bandwidth-Tools/NetMeter.shtml

Unusually high broadband usage

We have been having problems with our broadband usuage since March of this year, when we nearly went over the 40Gb. Then in April it suddenly shot up and went over our 40Gb allowance, up to 64GB. We have not changed the way we use the internet and we have never gone over our 40 Gb allowance in the past. According to BT you should be able to browse the internet for 120hrs with 40Gb!! I have now been in touch with BT on three occasions and it has not yet been resolved. We were advised to stop using the internet which we did only using it to check e-mails or the My BT usuage page and on using the internet for a total time of 30 mins in that one week, the BT usuage monitor said we had used 11GB!! I have now starting checking our home hub and looking to see what devices are connected to our Wi Fi and I have deleted any devices not recognised. However I noticed tonight that there are two devices back on which I don't recognise and have tried to delete but can't. I would really appreciate some help with this matter as I am reluctant to use the interent at present as it seems to use a lot more GB than it should.

cgd20 wrote:
We have been having problems with our broadband usuage since March of this year, when we nearly went over the 40Gb. Then in April it suddenly shot up and went over our 40Gb allowance, up to 64GB. We have not changed the way we use the internet and we have never gone over our 40 Gb allowance in the past. According to BT you should be able to browse the internet for 120hrs with 40Gb!! I have now been in touch with BT on three occasions and it has not yet been resolved. We were advised to stop using the internet which we did only using it to check e-mails or the My BT usuage page and on using the internet for a total time of 30 mins in that one week, the BT usuage monitor said we had used 11GB!! I have now starting checking our home hub and looking to see what devices are connected to our Wi Fi and I have deleted any devices not recognised. However I noticed tonight that there are two devices back on which I don't recognise and have tried to delete but can't. I would really appreciate some help with this matter as I am reluctant to use the interent at present as it seems to use a lot more GB than it should.
Hi, welcome to the forum.
There have been a few similar posts to this recently. There are far more experienced posters who may be able to assist you further but I would be interested to know if you are using broadband TV - Netflix or similar? also I'm wondering about this cloud storage thing & if this uses monthly allowances?
You mention 2 devices that are not recognised. I do not use a home hub router but a netgear device - where I can secure wireless connections down to a mac address in a trusted device list. Not sure if this can be done with the HH.
Hope that you soon get this resolved.
S.

Snow Leopard's High Level of Broadband Usage

Has anyone else experienced and/or resolved the issues of a high level of ISP-metered broadband usage using a Mac running Snow Leopard? Not only have I seen this with my own eyes, this has been widely reported and discussed in the Apple Forums and other sites. As recommended, I have installed Surplus Meter and Little Snitch, un-sync'd everything I can find and changed IMAP e-mail accounts to POPs (except for AOL, because I cant find the settings anywhere). SL still uses a great amount of broadband because it is constantly using mDNSResponder to broadcast the Mac's presence, apparently as part of a virtual network. Apple Support was initially helpful then would not get back to me on this issue.
Metering is going to spread beyond broadband cards and isolated ISPs. SL and related Apple products apparently create more broadband use. That's what the recent AT&T trial balloon, re iPhone limitations was about.
SL's Bonjour use appears to add usage and Safari refreshes constantly, creating more usage. Apple would be well served by addressing this issue by providing the user with a software switch that would shut off the high usage apps when attached to a metered broadband.
Has anyone found such an app? Has anyone found a Mac broadband log/meter that saves to a file to compare against the ISP's calculations of usage? Has anyone set up an AOL POP account? Thank you.

Hello and Welcome,
NJEsq wrote: "Has anyone set up an AOL POP account?"
AOL is... "not well regarded" here or anyplace where there are people knowledgeable in matters of personal computer and internet use. I believe others responding to your questions have already questioned whether your ISP (i.e., AOL) is playing straight with you IF as indicated by your statements, AOL is telling you that your Mac and OS 10.6.x are exceeding their limit on usage.
You evidently don't know that AOL has, from its earliest days, played this game wherein they sell what is claimed to be "complete" Internet access but then put limits on your access and use. You should know that they "for your protection" put you behind their firewall and that's how they keep such close track of your usage.
Including myself, I've known a lot of people who start out going through what might be called the "AOL Phase" but soon learn there are far better choices among ISPs. To put it politely, when these folks discover this they FLEE to the better ISPs.
So, despite your impression, such limits are not likely to spread beyond ISPs like AOL, regardless of what they have told you or what you may have heard. Macs and OS X are NOT (suddenly!) some abnormal broadband gobbling phenomenon.
Your mention of the supposed effect of iPhones on broadband brings up another thing: what you say is ONE way of perceiving what's going on. The actual truth is that iPhones did become part of a trend which puts greater demand on ISP / telecom providers. - But so do a lot of devices and that includes automobiles with the "On Star" type crash detection and crash response systems. But the iPhone (and its competitors) did NOT "start" this trend - not by a long shot.
Basically, what you've been told is just... BS!

Broadband usage unrealistically high?

Hey, we are into our second month with BT (i think). The speeds are much faster then there were before, though they still are not anything special because of our location (7mb/s).
We are 5 days into this month and already the broadband usage monitor is showing that we have used almost 9GB of our 40GB internet already, this seems very high. Granted, we have a lot of devices connected to the internet but only for Facebook, gaming, surfing the net, etc. I am the person in the hoise who uses the internet the most and all I have done recently is watch a few Youtube videos and i usually watch them in 320p.
Last month it said we had used 60Gb which means we will have to pay an extra £20 on our next bill. How accurate is the broadband monitor because I find it hard to believe that we have downlaoed 9Gb in 5 days. Is there an alternative checker that we could install?
Thanks

BT Total Broadband - Speeds of 6 - 8MB/s (estimated 6.5)
VPI/VCI:
0/38
Type:
PPPoA
Modulation:
G.992.1 Annex A
Latency type:
Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up):
13.0 dB / 22.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up):
25.3 dB / 15.0 dB
Output power (Down/Up):
19.8 dBm / 11.9 dBm
FEC Events (Down/Up):
977 / 51
CRC Events (Down/Up):
62 / 12
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
HEC Events (Down/Up):
100 / 1
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):
56 / 7

Broadband usage high and jumping in usage

Hi
I've been with BT for 6 years at my current address and I had this exact problem back in 2014. It is now happening again. - It turned out my on Demand service was being counted to my broadband usage!!
I took up Netflix (as the On Demand servcies being withdrawn) on the 5th of May, I received the You View box on the 8th May and set it up over that weekend. Sine then my usage has jumped, but I had not realised this until I received an email to say I'd used 6GB of my 10GB allowance.
I checked the usage monitor on 22nd May and my usage was 6.77GB. I telephoned on the 24th May as my usage was showing 7.11GB. I have changed my wireless password and have done everything BT has asked. This morning 6.30am I checked my usage and it showed 9.5GB used! As I've had to come to work I have not been able to telephone you. I've just logged into my account (10.50am) and my uasage is now 10.36GB!!
My average usage is about 3.25GB p/mnth. Nothing has changed except for the new You view box and this weekends usage is impossible! We were away from the house during the day coming home in the evening, only watching some Netflix. It is just myself and my partner. My PC has been turned off since Thursday and my Chrome book was turned on, on Sunday Morning to change my wireless password, then off again. Our mobiles connect to the BT wifi hot spot and not our hub.
I am hoping your going to tell me that something similar is happening and you (BT) are going to fix this and reverse all charges as I have received an email to say I am now going to be charged for this excessive use. Please help as this is very worrying!

I have started with the BT you view box a few months ago and have taken on Netflix with BT when I took on the contract. Since then my broadband usage has rocketed and is going way over my 20gb usage allowance. However I am not using my laptop or other devices much and in fact less than I have done for some time. The only reason for this must be that the netfix usage is being added to my general broadband usage. In some cases this was adding on 2 and 3 gb per day when no other devices were being used at all . BT had promised to call me and had even sent me a text telling me when the call was coming ....but it didnt happen. I have now done an experiment for the first week in June were I have not used the you view for netflixs or on demand at all but continued to use my laptop for emailing etc as per normal. this has shown my usage as only 0.23gb. Clearly there is something wrong and the you view box usage is 'leaking' and being counted in my general broadband usage. I am very unhappy about this as I was sold the benefits of using the you view box on demand services and netflix on the basis that its usage did not count towards my bills. I have never had netflix before so there isnt any confusion about it previously being used by me. Niether have I used it on any other device ....its all been through my BT box .....and I dont want to be charged for it. If any of the ondemand and netflix is being put onto my broadband I was obviously miss sold the device in the first place. Whenever I call the customer service helpline I get different answers and am told that someone will call me back ...they never do ...check your CS phone tapes of my calls and you will see.
looking at the community forum I can see that I am far from unique with this problem .
Can someone call or communicate with me to solve this asap it is of great concern to me.

Broadband usage extraordinarily high

My broadband usage seems to have gone through the roof over the past few months without any great change in what we do with the internet. Granted we have a lot of tech connected to the WiFi but I can't see that what we do should be sucking up so much data. We were on the standard BT Broadband with a 40GB allowance which seemed to be quite adequate, in that I never got an email from BT about charges. Recently we chanegd to BT Infinity with the same 40GB allowance and suddenly usage has gone mad, over 80GB for each of the last 2 months.
We have:
2 laptops: One of these is used pretty much constantly by our daughter for Youtube, Facebook and email after school, so maybe 4 hours usage in the evening. Once or twice a week we'd watch BBC iPlayer or 4OD for up to an hour in bed. The other laptop is only used intermittently and then usually to play Minecraft and a bit of Youtube.
1 desktop: I play World Of Tanks on this for maybe 10 hours max in a week. Usually it's a struggle to get near it when there are 3 boys who constantly want to play Minecraft on it and then watch Youtube videos on it (about **bleep** Minecraft). The desktop would be on from 4:30pm - 10:30pm during the week and about the same length of time daily at the weekends (I do kick them out to the street occasionally!)
2 XBoxes: I is mine and is used very seldom and rarely online. The other is used by the kids but the only online stuff is Fifa 11 by one of the boys. Even at his worst this would be maybe 20 hours a week online.
2 iPhones: We download email and occasionally surf the odd page. I tend to download apps and updates at work and my fiancee rarely downloads new apps.
BT Vision box (which doesn't count towards the usage).
Currently the usage meter stands at 77GB and we're only 3 weeks into September so we seem to be on course for 100GB or more this month. The kids are back at school so computers don't get switched on till at least 4:30 and they're all off by 10:30 at the very latest. Also there's a hiatus for homework and dinner so they aren't on constantly. We don't use Skype or uTorrent so I'm baffled as to how we're using what must be 3GB per day!
I've seen stats that said 1 hour of XBox gaming is about 20MB and I'm assuming similar stats for PC multiplayer gaming. Even if I double the estimates of our XBox and PC gaming that's still only 1.2GB in a week!
Constant watching on Youtube is supposed to be around 100MB an hour if you allow for searching time. Even if our daughter was doing nothing else but Youtube every evening that's still only about 0.5GB a day. The boys occasionally interrupt their Minecraft playing to watch a Youtube video (about Minecraft!) but you'd struggle to see Youtube using up 1GB a day.
I guess that leaves our BBC iPlayer and 4OD watching. Possibly this is the culprit at 500MB per hour but we don't watch it every night and usually it's only 1 show which tends to be 30 minutes long. Even 1 hour a night would only add 0.5 GB to our daily total.
We do watch iPlayer via BT Vision but again that's not every night and BT Vision isn't meant to count towards your usage rate.
So adding up an overestimated account of our daily usage:
Youtube: 0.75 GB
iPlayer: 0.5 GB
Gaming: 0.2 GB
That's roughly 1.5GB a day or 45GB a month. Throw in a few Windows and virus updates, a World of Tanks update and some Minecraft texture packs or whatever and you could push that to 50GB a month, but not 80GB and certainly not 100GB.
One evening last week Networx showed that the desktop had downloaded 1.2GB but it had only been on for a hour and our daughter swore blind she'd only watched some Youtube videos.
I use BT's Netprotect Plus and downloaded Trend Micro's Housecall to search for viruses but they didn't find anything. I'm wondering if there's something on one of my PCs that they didn't detect? Is there a difficult to detect rootkit on them or some kind of bot infestation? Are my estimates wrong? Do I need to ban Youtube in my house?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

HI Do not forget uploads are also included in your usage allowance also facebook any social media gaming on face book can use up to 200+ mb per hour also possibly a little extra usage during the schol holidays soon mounts up
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Increase in broadband usage

I have been using BT Infinity 1 since July last year with no problems.
For the last two months I have been warned that I am using more than my allowance of 40G incurring extra charges.
I have no explanation for this.
Is it possible to retrieve my usage stats (as a graph) for the last twelve months from the BT billing platform.
Kathy

This link may help.
Why is my broadband usage so high?
I don`t think BT keep your usage stats for that long. Its best to check it on a daily basis, using the usage monitor on MyBT.
There are some useful help pages here, for BT Broadband customers only, on my personal website.
BT Broadband customers - help with broadband, WiFi, networking, e-mail and phones.

Broadband usage monitor

I have also experienced the excessive BT broadband usage. I opted for option 1 because I have no interest in downloading Video's/music, apart from reading both BBC and Sky news the only other use is my wife using the online facebook game.
I received an email from BT last month saying i had reached 7GB of my 10 GB usage and just cant figure out why
I have downloaded a usage monitor which greatly differs from BT's own monitor,
What I would like to ask is, does the monitor I downloaded only monitor what is open on my desktop, 2 whould there be a differnce between High Speed Broadband and those who's broadband is connected via telephone line.
if this is the case as i suspect, then someone downloading a file on high speed whould use less bandwidth than someone downloading on slow speed. look at it as sending a fax, it may cost 10p to send a fax on a cheap machine but to send the same sheet on a quality machine may cost 6p, I dont no?

Deke wrote:
I have also experienced the excessive BT broadband usage. I opted for option 1 because I have no interest in downloading Video's/music, apart from reading both BBC and Sky news the only other use is my wife using the online facebook game.
I received an email from BT last month saying i had reached 7GB of my 10 GB usage and just cant figure out why
I have downloaded a usage monitor which greatly differs from BT's own monitor,
What I would like to ask is, does the monitor I downloaded only monitor what is open on my desktop, 2 whould there be a differnce between High Speed Broadband and those who's broadband is connected via telephone line.
if this is the case as i suspect, then someone downloading a file on high speed whould use less bandwidth than someone downloading on slow speed. look at it as sending a fax, it may cost 10p to send a fax on a cheap machine but to send the same sheet on a quality machine may cost 6p, I dont no?
Hi. Welcome to the forums.
You say you received an email last month for reaching 7GB - that was for April.
May I ask what usage monitor you are using, and how does it compare with your current May usage online meter from BT ?
The downloaded monitor will only record what that particular computer is using (won't include other computers, games consoles, mobiles and TVs etc). And then there are various settings in different programs to cater for usage within a home network etc.
What Facebook game is being used may I ask? Some of these applications can use many 100s of MB per day, so this alone could account for a lot of the usage.
There should be no difference between any "high speed" user and standard ADSL in terms of usage. In your example of downloading a file. The high speed (e.g. fibre) user will use exactly the same data content as a person on a slower connection. The speed is irrelevant with regard to how much is being used.
You can't compare with a fax machine, because typically these used normal phone lines which are charged on a timed usage - so the longer the call, the dearer the cost. In your example it could actually be dearer to use a quality fax machine, because it may take longer to send a higher quality copy.
http://www.andyweb.co.uk/shortcuts
http://www.andyweb.co.uk/pictures

Broadband usage surge

My average monthly broadband usage is 6MB. In the the last 24 hours I have apparently used 2MB. No iplayer, no films, no skype, no downloading - just an hour or two on on the web checking emails etc. How can I get an explanation? Many thanks for any advice.

There have been many threads about sudden increased usage for no apparent reason - BT tell you to change the wireless password as standard.
I myself had this problem recently https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/High-Broadband-usage/td-p/1284701
You will need to keep a daily record of usage per the monitor and what the hub shows as well.
Ring 0800 111 4567 to say you dispute the usage and hopefully they will say that they will monitor it for a few days - whether they actually do is another matter.
If your upload has jumped then this is indicative of a virus/malware running which would have to be removed from your system.

Another one with much higher BB usage than normal

Hi,
This is probably going to sound familiar to lots of people, but we also are recording much higher BB usage than normal. We are only on the 10gb package, as our max 512kb broadband doesn't make it worthwhile trying to do much with the www.
Our usage is usually pretty close to the 10gb, and in fact we have probably gone over it 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years (I work away a lot, so Skype gets hammered, which I know could be up to about 350mb/hour). Our average usage has been 9.87gb according to BT. I was home at the end of June, and decided to reactivate BT FON, and my wife and I also installed the Smarttalk app. Now, halfway through July, we are already up at over 7gb used.
The warning e-mail for 6gb used was last night, the usage monitor is already showing over 7gb - that is a heck of a lot of broadband usage for a property with such a slow connection. I have tried tackling BT in the past, and got absolutely nowhere, being told that although they could give me details of the previous weeks usage, they couldn't go back any further because that informaton was unavailable - unsatisfactory response, but that was all I could get.
Obviously BT are saying we could always go unlimited, but I'd rather find out what the issue is and why this sudden increase - we aren't using that much internet.
Iain

Iain_L wrote:
Hi,
This is probably going to sound familiar to lots of people, but we also are recording much higher BB usage than normal. We are only on the 10gb package, as our max 512kb broadband doesn't make it worthwhile trying to do much with the www.
Our usage is usually pretty close to the 10gb, and in fact we have probably gone over it 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years (I work away a lot, so Skype gets hammered, which I know could be up to about 350mb/hour). Our average usage has been 9.87gb according to BT. I was home at the end of June, and decided to reactivate BT FON, and my wife and I also installed the Smarttalk app. Now, halfway through July, we are already up at over 7gb used.
The warning e-mail for 6gb used was last night, the usage monitor is already showing over 7gb - that is a heck of a lot of broadband usage for a property with such a slow connection. I have tried tackling BT in the past, and got absolutely nowhere, being told that although they could give me details of the previous weeks usage, they couldn't go back any further because that informaton was unavailable - unsatisfactory response, but that was all I could get.
Obviously BT are saying we could always go unlimited, but I'd rather find out what the issue is and why this sudden increase - we aren't using that much internet.
Iain
Got the same problem, see my seperate Post.
Don't wish to hi-jack your post but how can BT be tackeled?
It's hard to keep a daily check, I would say impossible!

Broadband usage suddenly rocketed - can anyone hel...

Hi All
We are on Infinity1 so have 40GB/month broadband usage. We typically use 15GB per month. The main use is internet surfing, EMail etc. We have 2 iPhones and 1 iPad.
Just after Christmas, we got a second iPad and a smart TV. We watched a single HD film on the TV through Amazon Prime (Red2 - think it's a couple of hours long). I was off work for a week and did a lot of surfing, but we haven't downloaded any other TV and have spent less than 1 hour streaming YouTube.
We have now exceeded our 40GB limit and are incurring penalty charges.
I'm pretty annoyed as the second warning EMail ("you have reached 38GB") was received last night, and looking at the usage monitor online, we had already clocked up 41.69GB and that was a 24hours out of date anyway.
I don't see why we've used so much bandwidth. We streamed a single HD movie (say this was 5GB) and maybe we are surfing for 30 mins per iPad in the morning, and 2 hours per iPad in the evening, with the phones downloading EMails etc through the day when we're home. I did also have some windows updates download and install yesterday, but the damage had already been done so it won't be due to that.
Our contract is up for renewal in April so I don't want to switch to unlimited broadband right now as it will lock us in for another 12 months. Where is our high usage coming from? It doesn't make sense that we're on track to use 3x what we normally use and the only difference is a single streamed movie and one more iPad which is used for a small amount of surfing.
Can anyone help please? Normal settings apply to the router and I'm happy the security is ok (ie the neighbours haven't hacked into our wifi!)
Many thanks.

You can upgrade to unlimited at any time, you do not have to wait untill the end of your contract.. If you have gone over your allowance, and upgrade before the end of the month, any excess usage charges are waived.
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36401/~/how-can-i-upgrade-my-bt-broadband%3F
If you were on a discounted package, you may find that the amount of discount will be subtracted from the upgraded package.
You can also try Customer Options on 0800 800 030
They are very helpful when it comes to upgrades, and will usually give you the best deal.
There are some useful help pages here, for BT Broadband customers only, on my personal website.
BT Broadband customers - help with broadband, WiFi, networking, e-mail and phones.

Broadband Usage Problem - Need Proper Help From BT

Hello,
A day ago I received a message from BT saying that I was approaching the usage limit for my BT broadband. I am on Option 2 and normally use around 20GB in a month. I checked my usage on My BT and found it was 38.64GB on 14/2. I checked again this morning and found it was now 42.73GB for the 15/2.
I've tried calling BT, but have only got through to the BT help in India. The first person I spoke to said it was because I was being charged for my BTVision usage and wouldn't accept that it was independent of my broadband. I tried again, and the second person said the same, but upon my insistence checked with a colleague - and came back apologising, saying that the BTVision usage was separate and so I would not be charged at the end of the month.
I am scared to use my BT broadband and BTVision for fearing of incurring more charges. I have not done anything that warrants high usage: I don't watch films or play games on-line. I read news, check e-mails, do banking, view video clips - the usual everyday stuff.
Please can somebody from BT help me? I am tired of trying to explain the situation and getting the same scripted answers. The stock response from the BT staff seems to be for me to upgrade to an unlimited package, but I want to know why this is happening (is it a mistake on BT's part? I did not use 4GB yesterday), how I can go back to my normal broadband usage, and whether I will be charged for this excessive usage. In short: something is wrong, I have little control over the situation despite trying repeatedly to talk to someone from BT, and I would like some help.
Thank you
Paul
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PaulP1966 wrote:
I've received a very helpful message from a Forum Moderator explaining my problem. The usage monitor also included my BT Vision usage, so I have not exceeded the limit with my broadband. Hopefully this problem will be sorted out in the next few weeks.
It seems a great shame BT's staff in India aren't aware of this problem - it would save a lot of time, telephone calls and worry.
This is extremely interesting. I've been having this problem since last summer and still am. I have a similar type of usage to you with browsing, emails etc. My work IT department are gobsmacked how my usage can be so high.
I've been through exactly the same where I've stopped using my BB service for fear of being charged and i have always suspected BT Vision usage was being included. During a 1 hour phone call with India and several times since I have been told it is "IMPOSSIBLE" for BT Vision usage to be included. This admission appears to prove otherwise !!

Broadband usage - no emails?

Hello all! 1st post here after much trawling and reading of threads so hopefully I've done the right thing by searching the forum first for an answer prior to posting...if my searching was substandard then I apologise in advance...
I've searched the forum a lot over the past few days/weeks and I see that I am one of many that has experienced unrealistically high usage according to BT'S usage monitor. Notwithstanding the fact that I think it is inaccurate based on my experience with my previous ISP when I had to try really hard to get up to 10GB usage (to get my money's worth ) and I'm now using up way more than this monthly, I have the following questions which I would be grateful for any enlightenment:
My broadband usage monitor has disappeared and I can't find any thread on here or any explanation on the BT site explaining why this has happened (the other thing I see in MyBT is that it's unavailable and that they hope to restore it soon). I know it was acknowledged to be wrong due to inclusion of YouView figures but is this the reason for the disappearance? Any thoughts on this?
After a livechat conversation this morning I called Consumer Billing - Broadband on 0800 800 150 to try to get some usage figures. Apparently I am at 18.23GB so far this month, following 24.53GB last month. The PC is virus/trojan free so I just don't fathom it...HOWEVER my issue is that I've never received an email from BT flagging up the heavy usage. I've checked my BT Internet (Yahoo) email address as well as my email address as supplied to BT but nothing - again, is there any logical reason for this?
We have TV (YouView) from BT and often use the catch up TV service through the set top box but I'm assured by BT that this doesn't count towards usage. This is how I was sold the service and what I read on the BT site - I am correct here aren't I? (by the way with my previous ISP I often accessed iplayer, sky catch up and never got close to the usage figures given by BT). Does anyone know whether the above figures would include YouView usage? I suspect the answer is no (but can only explain it if the answer is yes) but the person in the overseas call centre just pointed me in the direction of the thinkbroadband usage monitor...
Like others, I am a bit lost as to why the usage is so high but feel I have little option other than to upgrade to an unlimited package at higher cost. Not ideal and I do feel a little unhappy given I (and others) don't believe or understand the usage numbers.
Thanks,
Jason

If you do decide to upgrade follow these links.
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25633&s_cid=con_ppc_m...
They might tell you this deal is for new customers only and that an existing customer has to upgrade via this link
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=27281
which costs more but I'm sure if you haggle with them and point out that you are a loyal customer and will stay loyal at least for the length of the contract they will do a deal.
You can also contact the options team on this number 0800 800 030 they are UK based which might be a better way so that you can haggle with them to get the best deal.

High Broadband usage

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