mifi data theft, fraud by verizon class action lawsuit 2012

Before you start paying the lawyers take a good look at the contract that you signed. You will see that litigation through a class action lawsuit is not possible. Your only option is small claims court where you can approach VZW as an individual and only for your bill. There are numerous threads out there that will tell you the same thing.

Hope is not lost. Someone recently sued ATT and won under similar conditions that ATT imposes on its customers. Visit his website for the details on how he did it:

http://taporc.com/

john thanks for the information, the small claims option is a plausible alternative...i am wondering how when verizon has already nullified any contract that any provision to which i would be held would even be effective? (just trying to stimulate some discussion) as for paying lawyers i have only three words "Pro Se Litigant". :smileyhappy:

Take a good look at the contract.

Sounds like the website that I linked you is right up your ally.

On 3.30. at 12.52 I had 90% warning (5GB data plan). I IMMEDIATELY LOOKED up the email from Verizon (I have a Google email messenger that made me aware right away. No good. Just SEVEN minutes later, while checking my usage at Verizon.com at 12.59 I was already over 100%.

THE FOOLS WANT TO TELL ME THAT I USED 500MB OF DATA IN SEVEN MINUTES !!!!????

Even in ideal conditions you cannot have such a volume of traffic!

(They claim I used close to one GB (0.87GB) in just thirty minutes after 12.30..IMPOSSIBLE)

On plain vanilla TEXT surfing? (I was NOT downloading/uploading ANYTHING) THE ONLY thing I did between 90% warning and 100% in next seven minutes was that I logged in into my Verizon account to check up what was going on. To find out it was already LATE!. (I switched the hotspot off immediately...still got 5.017GB. So checking my data usage ALONE cost me 500MB in DATA!!??????

THEY ARE STEALING FROM ME.

I am in a mood of smash the hotspot against the wall.

If they do not make good on this atrocious demand I may well do so. This is theft, abuse, scam.

There is NO explanation for this pattern. I run a thorough scan of my system if perchance I may have a virus or something bad with my computer that would run up the traffic. The deep scan took ten hours - nothing found.

It is simply no way such a heavy volume could run up so fast

....I am NOT paying $50 a month to be able to check up my account information at Verizon ten times and be done and over 5GB JUST FOR THAT.

....I am not paying $50 for ...several hours of PLAIN surfing. (NO streaming/downloading...NADA)

askjeeves

You need to take into effect that, hello, that information is not exactly real time. It could've taken a few minutes to get to you. Chill.

The emails are not sent in a timely manner as we have seen in various threads before. VZW does make an effort to inform you but the response time is not immediate.

For example, if you call the 1-800 number and check your data consumption you will see that VZW will only report on the previously completed session. Sessions can take between 20 and 60 minutes to complete in my experience. If you ask VZW for a data report the report will display the same behavior. The data that they report on is not real time so your email notifications will not be in synch with your usage at the time you recieve them. Depending on what you were doing at the time it is very possible to be well over 100% of your data plan by the time the email notification kicks off for hitting 90%.

Data is consumed everytime your MiFi requests anything from the VZW network. Data could be traffic from a website that you initiated on your own. Data could also be updates from Microsoft, Adobe, video games, etc that run in the background automatically and without your knowledge. This is nothing specific to a MiFi, it is how computers interact with the networks they are connected to.

My point stays. I DID NOT USE THE DATA.

There is no way I could splurge 0.87 GB (the usage I saw reported after the delay period) in just under 30 minutes.

I DID NOTHING. Literally. I just opened my browser and went to SEVERAL web pages. Not hundreds - you cannot make that much in a couple of minutes.

I DID NOT UPDATE nothing. There was NO update running at that time (I have update log in Microsoft and NO update was downloading at that time; there was NOTHING for Adobe and Zone Alarm also did NOT update at that time.

Half a gig of a download would be a hell of an update!

I was extremely cautious NOT do go over limit as there were similar unexplainable charges to me in the past of the same billing period. I was supposedly downloading something as huge as 1.2 Gig in about three hours. Again, that was plain surfing. NO DOWNLOAD (Checked the log, did not initiated anything) NO STREAMING, NO VID. Plain text browsing.

I already elaborated on me checking throughly for any virus/bot or anything what could be the source of this mysterious traffic. I found nothing.

I DID NO INITIATE it and do not intend to pay for it - not now and not any time in future.

IF THIS IS THE RATE THEY FEEL ENTITLED TO over CHARGE ME - i.e. if I get in exchange for my $50 severals hours spent on autonomous downloads before I "go over" I AM OUT.

I did not buy this over expensive device for that.

In the past billing periods I did exactly the same what I did this time (as a matter of fact MORE -more day/hours of usage) and got only under 3Gigs. I was even considering that a cheaper plan would be enough.

By an independent research (discussion at Gizmag and elsewhere) the data plans of ANY big Wireless are overcharged by TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. That is the real cost of providing the service is just about 1% of what they make on charges and fees. This just adds to my overall aggravation with this whole matter.

To make a point I may well still smash the sucker against the wall. Irrational, sure. But a point it makes.

Then post on You Tube.

Not smashing the hot spot yet:). I am getting the abnormal data volume investigated. It looks like I still can work with the support on this issue. I am really curious what transpires. (A bot? A hacker?)

I DID NOT initiate this mysterious volume.

evdotech

I came to my own conclusion last time, Again just a theory, However something similar happen to me when I switched over to a LTE in the first 2 weeks I had consumed 5GB, keep in mind I have comcast at home so I only use my aircard as a backup for traveling or failover, however I was thinking because Verizon doesn't assign you a Static IP address unless you fork over $500 bucks, I wonder if the next Dynamic IP address that cycles through your modem you are getting someone else's data usage with that IP address?

Verizon Wireless Billing system has a 72 hour delay in some instances for reporting data usage, longer if your roaming it can take up to 30 days.

We all would hope that VZW does not bill according to IP address but instead by SIM card hardware ID. Thats supposed to be the point of a SIM card network from my understanding. SIM cards are the only truely unique identifier on the LTE network. Even the IMEI numbers on these devices are prone to change on the VZW website over time as I have recently discovered.

We can only speculate at this point. Fraud and theft suggest intent and knowledge of the crime at hand. An accounting error or mistake is something else entirely and should be correctable once identified. Hopefully boboko will post back his results.

tonyad11

I am on board! This started for me at the end of December 2011.
I have had the device for over a year prior and never reached 50% data usage
per month. Now, by the 4th day of the cycle I received notices that I am at 75%
usage and 2 days later I have exceeded my usage. In January I receive a $1,200
bill (which is normally $280 for all devices), and when I called to inquire
about something being wrong, I was told by Verizon that there was nothing they
could do. I even went out of town for 2 weeks and turned it completely off and somehow
it used 75% data during that time period. This is a scam…and Verizon needs to
own up to this and correct this issue immediately!

Walnutwood

I have to call them every month to have data charges removed from my cell bill; I have Data blocked; thieves, there should be a thorough investigation into Verizon's tactics.

Ed_M

I also am curious about this. The last few days I have been jumping leaps and bounds and what’s funny is my download speed is pathetic. How could somebody use my data if they don’t use my Mifi? I’m a bit perplexed…I will be over my 10gb this month and my norm is 6-7.

--------->malware/virus<--------

computer program updates

windows updates

netflix

weak password getting cracked

the mifi isn't ment as a home internet like a cable or dsl, its ment for travel and on the go mostly..

kellieh

Can someone explain to me how I can view my data usage for a past date today and when I look at the same date a few days from now there will be additional data. Customer support were adamant that the data usage details come directly from my device so I commented that my device must be saving usage and sending it to Verizon arbitrarily to which I was met with silence on the line.

Here's an example - on 4/1 I checked my data usage details for the date of 3/21 and it looked like this:

03/21/12	08:43:00 PM	0.02518
03/21/12	09:17:00 AM	0.01475
03/21/12	07:20:00 AM	0.01730

then on 4/7 when I checked my data usage details for the date 3/21 it looked like this:

03/21/12	11:45:00 PM	1.15382
03/21/12	11:38:00 PM	0.24853
03/21/12	08:43:00 PM	0.02518
03/21/12	07:50:00 PM	1.03191
03/21/12	06:55:00 PM	1.18499
03/21/12	06:10:00 PM	1.03968
03/21/12	09:17:00 AM	0.01475
03/21/12	07:20:00 AM	0.01730

The red rows have been added between 4/1 & 4/7, but where did they come from? This is just one example, it's happening all over my bill and Verizon cannot justify the anomaly and certainly won't consider removing the $40 in overage charges I have this month. Which brings up another question, why doesn't Verizon offer more than 10GB for the mifi? If I want to use more data and am willing to pay for it, I have to go to another provider?

i was told by verizon techs unless the battery was removed there could still be data transfer also there is an 80 page report by the department of justice detailing data breaches via verizons data network, also since im not an electronics expert i dont quite know how to explain it but one of the 3 devices i had to return actually functioned for several hours with the battery removed! the screen and the led remained on!

i absolutely agree, i was told by verizon customer support that i was the ONLY person who reported these issues, also was told there was a parent ticket where more than 50 thousand complaints were issued on the subject.....

mifis dynamic ip is actually harder to breach.......

your experiencing the 3 gb data theft event lol welcome to the club!

kellieh wrote:
If I want to use more data and am willing to pay for it, I have to go to another provider?

yes

awesome presentation of evidence! i would remind everyone to also look around in the account usage details via the website account. ive found some shady stuff going on ! the info goes by calender date and mine goes from january 2012 to feb and then back to january!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink

pzedoffatverizon wrote:
i was told by verizon techs unless the battery was removed there could still be data transfer also there is an 80 page report by the department of justice detailing data breaches via verizons data network, also since im not an electronics expert i dont quite know how to explain it but one of the 3 devices i had to return actually functioned for several hours with the battery removed! the screen and the led remained on!

Assuming we are still talking about the MiFi 4510L:

The MiFi 4510L uses an E-Ink display. The great benfit of E-Ink is that it does not require power to provide an image. This is why E-Ink was originally designed to work with E-Readers like the non-color/non-tablet Nook and Kindle. You can go for days on a single charge where a similar color tablet can only go for hours due to normal power consumption habits of that technology. E-Ink is also easier on the eyes because it does not require a backlight to view where as a LCD/LED screen does.

You can easily reporduce this feature by pulling the battery on a MiFi while it is booted up. The screen will freeze and remain frozen for a long time until either the battery is reinserted or the device rebooted.

For more info on E-Ink:

wyldblu

I had this same problem - thing wouldn't turn off until I completely removed the battery and card, etc.

wyldblu

I appreciate the explanation of what circumstances constitute "data usage" when a computer is on, however no-one seems to be able to explain how data is used when (a) the computer is off or (b) the mifi is "off" - there seems to be many many people (myself included) who have been hit with usage charges under these circumstances. Nowhere in the users manual does it say "WARNING: Turn off the unit when not in use" or does it explain how this thing works. Mine never really turned off - I shut it, it would go back on! I noticed the thing flashing even when the computer was off - didn't think much of that, becase my modem would do that. It wasnt until I got hit with a whopping $800 bill that I finally not only pulled the plug but the battery too. Apparently this thing is using data regardless if the computer connected to it is on or off. Does that make any sense??

agreed , upon further study of the mifi4510l i concur the elink display is inherently flawed.

MrElvey

There's some confusion about how class actions work. Class members don't pay the lawyers. All that's needed to get things started is for one class member to convince one attorney to file a case on behalf of the class, using the member as a class rep. The attorney (the attorney's law firm) takes on the risk of not getting paid. Of course, the attorney won't do that unless there's a strong case with lots of class members, and a defendant with deep pockets. The last two of these three are probably no problem in this case.
I think I read all the posts, and none of them demonstrated an awareness of automatic software updates. Many operating systems and apps these days will automatically download and install updates. I see no clear indication of who's keeping what logs - with one exception - kellieh - but as I said, all that's needed is for one class member to convince one attorney to file a case. Lots of class members all providing a consistent story is helpful for convincing attorneys that the problem is real, but it's not strictly necessary.
*IANAL*
I have tons of archived evidence (PDFs, saved HTML, web archives, and screen shots showing that the Verizon Wireless Account Analysis has not been working, and account logs and posts here showing that I complained about it, and written requests for them to provide the Verizon Wireless Account Analysis feature as advertised.) If I ever do go over, they're not going to get paid by me voluntarily, and I'd say they're likely to shoot themselves in the foot if they try to force me to pay using the legal system, as I have gobs of evidence that they haven't provided the service they've been billing me for for the past year that I'm happy to dump on the FCC and or into court records or on the web to make or defend an arbitration claim. Anyone want to buy some good legal exhibits?

Skyemama

My husband and I are using the MiFi Mobile 4510L hotspot for home internet use, because we are in a rural area with no other options other than dial-up. It has been working flawlessly for about a year; we have the 5G plan and have consistently used only about 2+G per month during this time. We don't download anything like movies or other big files. All we do is surf the Web, maybe download an occasional product manual or something of that nature. However, on Monday of this week we noticed that our usage was at 90% with 4 days to go in the month. We didn't think that much about it at the time, but we made sure to turn off everything that night. By the next morning we were already over our limit - how did that happen? I just looked at the usage again (today is the last day of the billing month) and discovered that we downloaded over 1.5G on May 1! Our computer locks up when you even try to download a SMALL file. I too have noticed that even when the device is unplugged and turned off it will turn itself on again in a few minutes. You shouldn't have to take a battery out of something to get it to turn off. We as yet have not contacted Verizon regarding this, but are waiting until tomorrow to see what they actually try to charge us. I had no idea that there were so many people with this issue until I looked at this forum. If you just go to Google and try to find anyone with this problem, you basically find nothing about it other than all Verizon sites touting their wares...

Skye,

VZW will bill you for the overage, no doubt about it. If you read back through this thread you can get some kind of an idea of what it takes to get VZW to change its mind about what they report and print on the bill. With these devices it is truely charge first and ask questions later.

Turning off your device at night was a good idea when you noticed the surge in data use. I like to advise that to anyone in a overage situation. Its one of the best defences that we have when trying to dispute overages. I wouldn't wait and contact VZW right away before it gets out of hand. If your device is defective it will be covered by VZW. Keep a close eye on your data as you move into the next month. Catch any unusual behavior and bring it to VZW's attention before it is too late.

in Broadband & Netbook Community

Yes, this is EXACTLY the pattern I observed: for the first three months I had low volume like you report. (Plain vanilla browsing, no downloads and no streaming.) Then, all of a sudden, in the first three days of the next cycle I have consumed next to all of my volume (with one charge of 1.2 GB in very short time). I stopped using it to avoid the overage. Then, shortly before the billing period was over I saw I have still about 1 GB left. Under my regular ordinary usage of the previous months that would last me for two weeks! It was gone withing half an hour!!! It took me even slightly over (I was something 5.017GB). What did I do when I accumulated the huge volume? My high volume activity coincided with CHECKING THE VERIZON ACCOUNT ON MY USE !. Allegedly the volume check cost me half a gig! High on emotion (see above) I called Verizon. They graciously agreed to drop overage this time for the insignificant 0.017GB after I complained about the failed monitoring attempt and huge data inconsistency. It was only because I called IMMEDIATELY that they made the adjustment. I doubt they would drop the overage if I did not complain IMMEDIATELY.

I called many many times about the data volume inconsistency. They play it out telling me "they are concerned for me too" and similar BS. A couple of times they even promised to call me back themselves with the results of their "investigation." They never did. When I do my next call they try to weasel out by suggesting the somebody broke through my password!

The device probably does not deserve to be smashed against the wall. I believe it needs to be aimed against a moving target for a better impact.

When I cannot use the hotspot w/o fear of being robbed, which it is what it is - I am not using it. Hence I will push for termination without premature fee. For faulty device /faulty service. This thread will help

VerizonFraudInvestiga

Re: Excess data usage with Mi-Fi . . Jun 17, 2012 9:54 PM (in response to cbj2248)

Just wondering where you are with all this....pzedoffatverizon

I saw this forum after I had posted

similar subject & post for some more information and feedback

Bandwidth Usage excessive????? HELP

ronaldj

I would be very interested in any of these actions !!! I was told from the get go that I would enjoy "4G" what a joke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Verizon is a <offensive langauge removed per the TOS> corporate giant that is abusing the people !!!! And the thing is that they get your zip code, area code and all just to get you to SIGN the contract. and you have to pay or screw up your credit. I wish that I could afford a lawsuit because of their FALSE Advertising !!!!!!!!

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

VerizonFraudInvestiga

Ronald, I'm available if I can help you....

I'm having a hard time ''posting"

But ~~- see this topic~~-->

EDITED 6-21-12

ANYONE LOOKING FOR INFORMATION OR HAVING INFORMATION TO SHARE :

PLEASE GO LOOK AT

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/827045

h6. *<![CDATA[<a _jive_internal="true" class="font-color-meta-light" href="https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/825317#825317">Re : Excess data usage with Mi-Fi]]> <span class="j-post-author ">. . *Jun 17, 2012 9:54 PM (in response to cbj2248 )

Just wondering where you are with all this....pzedoffatverizon

I saw this forum after I had posted

in <a jiveinternal="true" href

="https://community.verizonwireless.com/community/broadband">Broadband & Netbook Community

similar subject & post for some more information and feedback

h1. Bandwidth Usage excessive????? HELP

</body>

When you are roaming you will get delayed billing. Since you arent on a verizon tower at the time verizon doesnt know how much data you used on that day till they get the info from another carrier. I dont know if that is whats going on here but it seems more likely than vzw scamming people

So if you are picking up on another tower in the area that isnt owned by verizon you will never know it, and inside the united states you have no roaming charges.

VerizonFraudInvestiga

I worte about my bad deal with MIFI since July 21, 2012. This editor does not allow to copy-paste a corrected text. Pl see the attached file. Summary of my position is that claims of data calcualtion is misleading, data counting is equal to data stuffing. Since the contract signed assumed fair & honest deal but in reality is turned out to be misrepresentation of the capabilties & practices by Verizon, I must not be forced to pay several hundred $. How can we show any contract under these conditions is null & void.

-robin

MIFI JETPACK Data countinf Abuse.doc

i can tell you a disadvantage of using verizon period. mifi ... i paid 175 for a device and 90 for 10 gb... withing three days they say i used it all! i downloaded 10 episodes of dexter.. low res,,, less tha 50 minutes each.???????? so like a da i bought another 10 gb for 90 ... within six days of 1 hour day surfing the net. no facebook, no social apps at all, no streaming video or downloads... i have used 5 gb of data. i am looking at having dropped almost $400 in less than a month. this is not possible

TWO HOURS ONLINE AND PHONE SIMULTANEOUSLY AND I GOT "ALTHOUGH YOU CANT ACTUALLY SEE HOW OR WHERE OR BY WHOM YOUR DATA IS BEING USED, EVERYTHING APPEARS TO BE WORKING FROM OUR END,"

I AM CURIOUS TO SEE HOW MUCH DATA THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SESSION CONSUMED

CANT SEE MY ACCOUNT USAGE ON MY PAGE

well, well: then why all this cloak of contracts?.just deliver it plain.

They can throw 5 tons of info on data counting, facts from the users

will still remain.

If it was "exclusively" meant for "travel"........such was never

stated during the signing process.

Your take on this is getting worse by the hr.

If you are not paid by Verizon, pl do not waste your precious time

responding as only those from the company will have any validity.

We do not need a Good Samaritain in the context.

-robin

Ann154

Robin,

Since this is a peer to peer community forum, there are very few people posting here that are actual Verizon Wireless employees. They are clearly marked as Wireless employees by their rank and avatar. Everyone else is a customer like yourself.

If you need to speak with a customer service representative, you can call the customer service number at 1-800-922-0204 or use the "Contact Us" link at the top of the website.

gino32

During my August and September 2012 billing cycles I’m confident I was ripped off by erroneous data usage charges. I’ve been on 150MB and 300MB plans for about 18 months and have never gone over. I did not change my data usage habits at all yet, allegedly, I used about 10 gigabytes during each of these months. After my first month of erroneous charges I checked my data usage per “My Verizon” and I supposedly had used approx. 9 GB of data in 7 days on a 3g phone that was connected to Wi-fi at home and work (only during my 20 minute commute to and from work and running misc. errands was I off Wi-fi) – Is this even possible?? I have spent countless hours on the phone with customer support and they will not budge. I did not initiate this data usage and am confident that they are erroneous. Verizon data usage charges are a scam. As soon as my contract is up I am cancelling my plan and switching carriers – I suggest we all do the same! Why would they gouge customers….and expect us to stay with them. Hopefully a class action lawsuit is brought forward and in the mean time I will continue to dispute these data usage charges and will go to small claims court. Tell all friends and family to never choose Verizon for any services or products.

gino32:

pick up pants & cancel now, it is only money not aggarvation.

Prepper

I would just like to add the following, SOMETHING is going on!

We had a Jetpack for nearly 2 years with 5GB limit, never went over. Just me and my wife, one laptop, 2 ipads, no gaming, no videos, no photos, JUST emails and general browsing. UPGRADED to MiFI 4G last December and have since been over the 5GB limit 3 or 4 times in the first 6 months of having that device!! Nothing else changed that I can find at all. We even started making sure all devices were off and MiFi was off completely when not in use.

This is about our only option for faster internet at home, rural area, no cable, no DSL, only a pathetic wireless provider that was very slow and very iffy whether it would work or not at any given time.

Could it be something specific to this device? I don't know but definitely something.

That has been my point to them.

I use 1 byte, they add 10 or even 100

Also: I think the gadget itself transmits on its own & you pay for it.

I cancelled after 20 days of incessant complaining without end in sight.

This is abuse deja-vu once again:in the '90 AOL massively abused on all

sorts of things.

No you cannot sue. No such provision.Too big for us piggies to takle biggies.

Just take it in the chin. You do have an option: pay up ppenalty, &

sleep happy ever after.

That is what I did.

mlpham32

Just got notice that data has reached over 20gb of data and we don't watch or do much at all with the data except use it when we need it. I thought I had an isolated issue but it seems like this has been happening to tons of customers since last year. It seems like since we upgraded from the regular 3g to LTE, the problem has been cropping up.

Someone please help, the Verizon reps have no idea what the I'm talking about and tried to blame it on Pandora, the online music service. The heck??

Thanks,

Concerned

Well pandroa uses roughly 35mb per hour from what i've seen...

So did you use it for more than 100 hours?

Actually Pandora uses 56 MB - 84 MB an hour. So 8 hours of Pandora streaming a day can use 20 GB in a month. I bet many of these complaints are due to people not securing their mi-fi. An most of the others are people just not realize how much data things use. 20 GB is NOTHING people. We use that every 3-4 days on our cable internet connection. Sometimes we've use more than that in ONE day.

tikibar1

Brian68 wrote:
20 GB is NOTHING people. We use that every 3-4 days on our cable internet connection. Sometimes we've use more than that in ONE day.

that's a lot of streaming!

BenDover

Here is my situation.

I switched service from AT&T to Verizon on 10/22, traded up to iPhone 4S, & bought Verizon Jetpack broadband for internet. I signed up for 4 GB data. I received an e-mail on 10/29 (7 days later) that I had used over half my data, 2.389GB.

My AT&T plan gave 200MB data and in two years I only went over 2 times, minor amount.

I'm 72 y/o Retiree, don't stream music or videos, only use e-mails & facebook to keep up with our family, & read google news on my homepage. After signing up, I installed Thunderbird for e-mail and that was the only download and should only be 2-300MB. So what's the deal with Verizon ?? I'm reading all the posts re. over data usage and that's scary because I'm just starting a 2 yr. contract.

I could turn off my desktop and laptop as well as the broadband modem each night (Very inconvenient) if that will help. My Jetpack is password protected.

I called customer support (not really helpful) and he looked at my usage printout. One big usage was between 10:30PM and 4:30AM. We are retirees so we are not awake during that time. I have turned off automatic updates & now unplug the Jetpack, turn off both computers and iPhone. Last check, I've used 3.5 GB of 4GB plan in 2 weeks.Question: If I am doing the very same things I did for 2 yrs with AT&T (updates, etc. etc.) & got by with 200 MB per month, why am I suddenly burning through 4 GB plus per month with Verizon ?? Am I to blame or Verizon ?

Counselor2002

I have called, written,called and written again about the data problem. The reps are clueless. I have a tech ticket out there somewhere. No call back. This is the problem. Data is incorrect. In one evening my data was at 75%. I had just turned on my jet pack and had not used it all month. I have turned it off. I just filed a complaint with the FCC.

I too have been victimized by Verizon. Paid my overage charges that they said were 115GB in a 5GB/month plan. Cancelled all my Verizon services, phone, internet and two cell phones. Have been a Verizon customer since NYNEX days 1987. Shame on them going forward they will loose more than the $1800 I had to pay.

Everyone should file a complaint on the FCC website fcc.us/billshocks

amcon

Hopefully some of you may have gotten your issues resolved. I figured I would post my story here as it may be help to aid in the final result/possible suit against Verizon Wireless. So lets begin...

I am currently using the MiFi Jetpack 4G LTE. I am a natural/gas oilfield worker that has to email, send reports, and sometimes entertain myself for hours. I am also an avid video game player, simply because some nights at work that is all there is to do.

Here is where the trouble begins. From day one I have been monitoring my usage on this thing like a hawk. My first bill, was normal, started out with 8gigs, ended up bumping to 20gb figuring this limit would be more than enough. To my surprise, about every 10-15 minutes I started to receive overage messages via text message/message on my data card. Not one, not two, but sometimes up to 8-9 within a span of 5 minutes. Fishy right?

Well lets start by saying, I pay for top tier FiOS at my house as well. Being a tech nerd, I watch my data usage there as well. I pay the max amount you can pay, for the highest amount of speed you can receive in FiOS. I have had this connection for over a year now, and in my years worth of use I have NEVER...EVER been able to download 7-8gbs worth of data in Five minutes.

Pictured above is Verizons detailed data useage for my account. From 8:02 PM to 8:07 PM my MiFi card had somehow downloaded 7.6gbs. This is when I began to question verizon. So I began to call.

Here is where thing's got interesting. Upon calling and questioning this, I asked their tech support if it was possible for me to download a movie around (8gbs) on their top tier FiOS in under 10 minutes? The tech support rep, simply laughed and said no. So I continued to ask him how my 4g LTE MiFi was capable of such a thing. He responded it isn't. But it is displayed on my bill?

So I asked to be transfered to a supervisor. This is when things got extra hairy. My bill currently sits well over $1000 due to overages. I had asked this supervisor to take a look at my detailed billing from last month. With the information sitting in front of me I asked him how much data I had used last month. He responded, "7gbs". However, there was an unbilled charge for 18 extra GB's that would be added to this month (11/07/12) bill that had occured during that billing process. I asked him how this is possible and this was one of his answers.

"Your 4G LTE MiFi card will search for the nearest tower to give you the best reception. This tower maybe a Sprint, AT&T, RIM, T-Mobile etc...There data maybe received faster, or slower, and may use more data when connecting to these outside towers. So the 18GB of unbilled charges, were because your MiFi card connected to a tower that was not Verizon and they had billed us late, so we would just add that to your next bill."

Ok Verizon so now, you are telling us you are hiding charges and randomly applying them to bills you deem fit? ALSO, if I am paying for Verizon service, despite the lack of Verizon towers I EXPECT to be paying Verizon. Still not convinced I had used 18GB's worth of data in a few days I continued to dig deeper.

I logged into my Verizon account and begin to check my jetpack bill. (pictured below)

Screen Shot 2012-11-07 at 8.47.40 PM.png

According to Verizon Currently I am over 8.301 GBs on my data package. No big deal. 8gb at $15 per gb, That is $120 + tax. The ball hasn't stopped rolling. I did the math, with my Jetpack costing me 120-150 a month. Thats almost a $300 bill. No biggy, but currently my bill is displaying I owe over $1000. So I began to check out a detail break down of my billing with all my lines. Maybe someone else on my family plan did something and caused a major amount of overages.

Screen Shot 2012-11-07 at 8.55.29 PM.png

Well, well, well..What do we have here? So According to my individual breakdown on my MiFi card as pictured above I had only went over 8gbs. But on my bill I have to pay the unbilled 18gb from another random tower that doubled my usage, and now all of a sudden im paying for an extra 7gbs.

With all of this going on, I kept my cool, I wanted to get to the bottom of the data numbers. So I started last night to play World of Warcraft on my data card. Keep in mind, this is what I do every single day I am in the field. So I monitored my usage from 6:16 PM to 3:49 AM the next day. (pictured below)

Screen Shot 2012-11-07 at 9.00.45 PM.png

These are my numbers in GB features. From 6:16pm to 3:49am I played World of Warcraft straight, and managed to only use a little bit under a half of a gig. Knowing this is a normal occurence for me I began to question how in the heck I am having 30-40gb of overages a month.

So I began calling. BOY did this cause me to take a Xanax. I attested my issues, and spoke with 5 technical support advisors. I spoke with 5 customer service representatives, and 4 supervisors, and 2 billing department specialists. Not one of them could explain how in the world I only use roughly .50gb to .60gb a day, but I am managing to receive 30gbs worth of overages in 10 days.

I spent roughly 5 hours on the phone trying to have this explained to me and where this extra 30gbs were coming from and why I am paying for them. The only tech that was able to help was the one I had quoted above.

In which some of his final words were, "We just receive numbers, and we charge you for them."

I will put this in bold...

VERIZON ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. YOU ARE SCAMMING LOYAL CUSTOMERS FOR HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS AND NONE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES, SUPERVISORS, OR SUPPORT GUYS CAN EXPLAIN WHY US MIFI USERS ARE BEING CHARGED ASTRONOMICAL FEES FOR DATA OVERAGE WHEN THEY ARE QUESTIONED ABOUT WHERE THE OTHER RANDOM GBS OF DATA ARE COMING FROM. YOU SAY THIS IS A PRIVACY ISSUE, AND WE CANNOT INVADE YOUR PRIVACY AND MONITOR WHICH WEBSITES THE DATA IS COMING FROM AND SUCH. UNDERSTANDABLE.

However, you are charging some of us for data that wasn't even used or was used against our will. How could, who sits in the woods on a drilling rig, with 1 bar of service from my MiFi card manage to download 18gbs worth of data in a day, let alone a few hours.

This cannot be let to rest, this needs to hit the courts. Verizon, you need to be sued. It is plain and simple. You are simply frauds.

Technically even at 3G speeds it's possible to download over 35 GB in a day. With 4G you can easily do 100 GB - 170 GB or more in a day. Not saying you do but it's is very possible to download 18 GB in a day over 4G.

Way to go amcon it is people like you who know what is going on that might get us some relief.

Anything is possible but I am a 70 year old senior and am not awake that many hours in the day :-)

Seriously though my wife and I use the internet for email and occasionaly Google, something is wrong. Verizon customer service doesn't have a clue and I like amcon have spoken to many of them. The store manager where I purchased the jet pack arranged a $350 credit and waved the $175 charges to stop my service. Still I had to pay for 165GB overage for a month and a half of service. I went back to CenturyLink and won't have to deal with Bill Shock anymore. If these overages are a possibility it should be explained to the customer prior to purchase.

Lilybramble

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Downloading full movies? What exactly do you mean by that? You mean STREAM movies like Netflix? If you're actually watching in HD that would use 2 GB and hour or 4 GB per movie which means more than 2 movies and you're over you 10 GB limit. Most place that have Hughesnet reviews most of the reviews are BAD. not a little bad VERY bad. And honestly if I was going to get satellite internet I would have go with WildBlue's Excede internet over Hughesnet.

As far as your claim Verizon is "fraudulently charging customers for data they have not used." That is pretty serious charge and frankly you could be sued for liable and you have have to prove your claims. Can you do that? Um nope.

Lilybramble

Wow. Anger issues?

Doesn't matter what other people say, my experience with HughesNet is extremely positive. If you don't want to use them, don't.

So sorry I didn't use the correct geek speak. I did "stream" movies. However, I also DOWNLOADED movies to my hard drive. Believe whatever you want, that's what happened. I couldn't care less what you think must have happened.

As for proving my claims, threats of liable, etc.: You have no idea whether I can prove my claims or not.

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i wish i could see you face when you realize what you just said.

prettyppam

Have you had the same problem I've had in ALWAYS being diverted to financial svcs and having to get an act of congress to get to POSSIBLE support?? I've rarely personally been able to talk to ANY tech support.

Is there actually a class action suit pending??? How do we get something like that started???

prettyppam wrote:
Is there actually a class action suit pending??? How do we get something like that started???

First, talk to an attorney.....

Lilybramble wrote:
Doesn't matter what other people say, my experience with HughesNet is extremely positive. If you don't want to use them, don't.
So sorry I didn't use the correct geek speak. I did "stream" movies. However, I also DOWNLOADED movies to my hard drive. Believe whatever you want, that's what happened. I couldn't care less what you think must have happened.
As for proving my claims, threats of liable, etc.: You have no idea whether I can prove my claims or not.

A) I don't have to use Hughesnet or Verizon because I have real internet. If a chose to live in area without real internet I would expect that there are some limitations.

Well keeping enjoying you obviously low rez movies. Glad it's working out for you.

C) No I don't know what you can or can't prove but please keep us informed on your lawsuit against a multibillion $$$ corporation. I have a pretty good idea how that is going to turn out but I don't want to say anything because you'll just get all angry.

Bluehouse

I've call and call VZW so many times. They sent me the new device and put in the new sim card. The speed changed from 3G to 4G earlier November. But we were having the "over the usage" issue since October. They told me that maybe I download the movie or song. Which I don't even do that because I know we only have 5GB date limit. They said since I got the new device and the sim card, it doesn't looks like it's "their fault" to cause the data usage to go up so high. For example, I was paying TWO online banking bill, within 5 minuts, I was done and happy about the speed of the 4G. But guess what, later on, I saw the usage on that time fram, I used "0.33 GB". Hello... I'm not the computer expert, but to use that much by just paying two online banking bill?? This is not going anywhere by calling them and I hate to pay them the money that I didn't even use those data. Can we print out all these communications and send it to FCC or BBC?

prettyppam

File an FCC complaint www.FCC.gov/complaints, I think or just google FCC. They allow you to upload files regarding the complaint. You can copy/paste specific conversations and posts into your word processing document and then upload that single file. I sent them all of my postings to that point in time.

Good Luck!!!

INterestingly, VZ has NEVER followed up on a SINGLE promise... now several out there just hanging.... 16 days and 700$$ into this mess, plus 130$ of erroneous designation of a monthly phone as a 'contract' phone so they could steal the upgrade to give my Mom a better access point, all without explaining the real cost to me. She believes she got a great deal!!

Bluehouse

Thanks. I will do just that. I hope everyone who has the same problems like us could see this and file the complaint with FCC. Don't let the big company like VZW to "steal" the money from the customers. People needs to stand up together.

"data confuses me. and my bill be high. fix it verizon"

johnnylove24

To pzedoffatverizon:

I`m fully with you on your class action law suit against Verizon Wireless. I called Verizon`s headquarters about three weeks ago in regards to my Droid X. I didn't notice that my phone was only getting 3G service, when I downloaded an app I realized it was going extremely slow. I never truly paid attention to the speed of my phone, because when I bought it; the verizon store told me it was the only phone that had 4G Lte at the time, and the 4GLte Sim card made me think of Christmas opening that one gift you really wanted. Then when I found out that It was false advertising I felt betrayed remember specifically asking the verizon representative; if the 4G Lte would work in my area, and without hesitation the representative said yes. When i exhausted everything that I could have done I stated reading posts after posts on the "fake" DROID4LTE; i WAS betrayed and hurt.This is nothing but a SCAM, FALSE ADVERTISING LIE. I was outrageous, and called Verizon wireless that day. I spoke with two people, which both of them sounded like they knew that my phone "sim card" wouldn't work because of the other complaints, but don't waste my time acting to be sincere. in In the past they always worked out all my problems no matter how long it would take. This phone call was different this time it seemed like they were just giving me the round about, and they had me repeatedly shutting my phone on and off, as well as taking my sim card out "like that was the ticket.) Another representative told me that i have 4G in my area, and didn't know what the problem was. Its funny to me though; that through my verizon app my plan is in plan site of them, yet they did nothing to inform me about the situation with the Droid 5. i full heartedly believe that this is false advertisement and fraud at its best. Its obscene that they did not connect with any of their customers who spent 300+ dollars on a scam. I have all my receipts and have been a true verizon customer for almost 15 years, and i`m with you 100 percent. If i can help in anyway, please dont hesitate it contact me.

Please.

I got an overage alert Thanksgiving day at about 6:30 a.m. It said I had used 16.34 GB. I am on a 14 GB plan and had never used anything like this in a month's usage, much less the first day of my billing cycle. I called Verizon's service center and went through seven or so reps. No solution. Wrote them that day, but being a holiday, it wasn't picked up until Friday. Haven't heard from them yet. I filed a FCC complaint. Gathered up all my information and sent it to Verizon Wireless' President and CEO. I got a confirmation it has been delivered. Haven't heard anything from him or his office. I will call the Alabama Lawyers Referral Service today to find out if there are any lawyers here that specialize in class-action law suits. Wade

RidgeRider wrote:
I got an overage alert Thanksgiving day at about 6:30 a.m. It said I had used 16.34 GB. I am on a 14 GB plan and had never used anything like this in a month's usage, much less the first day of my billing cycle. I called Verizon's service center and went through seven or so reps. No solution. Wrote them that day, but being a holiday, it wasn't picked up until Friday. Haven't heard from them yet. I filed a FCC complaint. Gathered up all my information and sent it to Verizon Wireless' President and CEO. I got a confirmation it has been delivered. Haven't heard anything from him or his office. I will call the Alabama Lawyers Referral Service today to find out if there are any lawyers here that specialize in class-action law suits. Wade

What basis do you have to either file a complaint or a lawsuit when the issue may or may not be your own fault or Verizon's for that matter? The phrase "jumping the gun" seems to apply here. Let us know when your lawsuit gets dismissed for lack of evidence.

On the advice of an attorney that practices in Alabama's Federal Court in Birmingham when he isn't in Belgium. I have been keeping him posted and up-to-date. I call him "son."

Thanks for the link, John. If I ever get back on Verizon's network AND not encounter overage charges, I will check it out closer. Wade

Interesting, Brian68. I have lived out in the woods for twenty-something years. Used dial-up for a long time, then got WildBlue. It was so bad! They cut you off for a month when you went over their usage plan in a day. I called Dish and took off all my movie channels, as they are connected. Then I pitched such a fit that WildBlue said they would let me out of my contract. Next was Hughes. Terrible service, but not WildBlue bad. They only cut you off for a day when you went over their limit. Then, a few months later they doubled my download usage. I never went over again because they were still so slow. While checking out why I couldn't get on the internet except from the evening until about eight a.m., a service technician found that fruit flies had started nesting inside a broken plastic part of the receiver, cutting my internet off until they left the next day. Ahhh, the joys of country living. The technician told me Hughes was acquiring another satellite and their speeds were going to improve. Then I found out Verizon had 4G service on my county road. I got it June 14, 2012, and was very happy until Thanksgiving eve. Wade

You're right Ann. I should have gotten the second notification email from the Verizon system containing the link to my action page. I didn't, but now when I bring up abc123's profile it says awaiting acceptance. I had sent them another "follow" request as soon as I saw I had "un-followed" them. If I don't get a link email, but a notification emai from anyone that wants to follow me, I'll know to go to my actions/notifications page and see what's up. Awaiting my conformation of DM from you. Thanks again, Ann. Wade

Johnnylove24 I got a Verizon notification that we were following each other, but no link to the actions page so that I can accept. So far every time I have tried to follow someone it has worked in different ways. I went to my actions pace, but I had no actions. I clicked on the notifications and it said I was following you. The only option giving me was "dismiss." I'm thinking that would un-follow you. Maybe you can look at your action/notification page and make a connection. Wade

conzboneeus

Verizon is stealing. Plain and simple. They have changed something so that they can charge overages.

I have never used more than 5G in 4 years. Then in the last 3 months I have used 10,10 and 11G? I have done nothing different my internet habits have changed not at all.

I just logged on this morning went to Yahoo mail, logged off and now have a 40 MG usage. PUHLEEEZE!!! They knwo they are scamming somehow, I know they are scamming somehow, and so do the thousands of people, more everyday, who are starting to realize it.

Sad part is you can complain, write the Attorney General, lawsuit, call your mom, whatever and it will do no good. These companies pay our government billions in taxes, excessive fees, kickback, and god knows what under the table deals for the privilege to bend you over and and have you grab your ankles without fear of being prosecuted or held accountable.

Want to get their attention? DON"T PAY YOUR BILL!!! If your like 50% of all americans your credit is already in the toilet let them go to collections. When 10s of thousands of customers don't pay their ransom fees THAT will get their attention.

Okay, that rant would have made Dennis Miller proud!

I sent you a "follow" request. If you will approve it we can talk off line about your propensity to sugar-coat your thoughts. Wade

aurealius

Same thing happened to me: got warning then suddenly went past my 4GB data limit - but like others have reported, it seemed impossible that I could have gone past my limit, especially so quickly. Verizon was telling me to upgrade to 5 GB so I did for substantial increase in cost. Then later, I felt just completely duped by Verizon - because I checked my data usage over the past 6-9 months, and I averaged only 1 to 2 GBs per month. And now they were telling me I went over 5 GB (and in just about a week or less too). So after I upgraded, I decided that this wasn't right so I contacted them to try to get my original plan back for 4 GB but they said they couldn't because this plan was a promotional one. Bottom line, this is fraud on their part; the part about my data usage suddenly going up past my limit when I most likely didn't go over my limit. The key here is how do we prove it? Because, no matter what's in the contract, this is fraud, and if they did this to hundreds and possibly thousands of users, then I'm sure this is could be litigated as a class action suit in at least one or more states.

I got my computer back from a local computer tech and he said my computer was as clean as a factory restored one. He said he did take down a potentially malware-prone tool bar that was o.k. in and of itself, but had back door holes in it. He said it is downloaded with some software. He also said my Advanced System Care Pro was good, but that Windows had a better one for scanning for viruses, Microsoft Security Essentials. He told me it was on the internet for free.

I haven't heard back from Ben in executive assistance/technology, nor from LaShelle. I'll call them tomorrow.

I did speak to a local lawyer's office in North Shelby County. Robin called me and got the information we had been posting on Verizon Community. She took it back to the lawyer and told him. Robin told me while we were talking that they had used Verizon, but when they got a bill for $700 overage, they got another provider.

Robin then went back to talk to the lawyer, but he said he didn't do these types of class-action suits. He did give me the name and 800 number of someone that did. I'll contact them tomorrow. Wade

prettyppam, I got a verizon email to something you had written to on the

Re: Overage Alert!! Verizon Jetpack -?Inviting Trojans in to use your computers? thread.

I clicked on the Verizon-supplied link but got a notice that I wasn't authorized. I'm beginning to think I am paranoid. What? Why do you say that? Wade

let me know how much money you end up wasting on a lawsuit just to get your case dismissed.

Last time it was 40% of the settlement. Wade

tytrav

I know someone had made a post/comment earlier today that they thought this thread has run it course and should be closed and I'm guessing that comment was removed by a moderator because it's not showing now.

I'm glad this thread is still here because I'm still having issues of being charged over data use charges and come here for updated information and advice.

I went from having 75% of data use to 91% in just over three hours and it can't be explained. VERY frustrating and it's starting to effect my job because I do my job at home and if this continues with the over charges I will not be able to afford to work from home much longer. I have until January 9th until my new billing cycle starts!! Not good!!

It is very interesting reading this thread how many people have had or having this same issue!!!!

android_wiz

See the real issue is you all have your computers on automatic update so when theres an update needed on your computer will update automatically in the background so its not FRAUD its your computer doing what its designed to do but your just now noticing it and you trying to make hype about it when you can go to your computer settings and turn automatic updates off because the updates take anywhere from half a gig to 6 gigs in the matter of hour nad a half so its very possible and the reason they cant tell you what it is is because they see data times and amount no exactly wat used it or web page was entered due to privacy reason so class action lawsuit is not need and maybe the thread should be closed because its a bunch of bull

Yeah, that's the trouble Xavier.

How do you account for those of us who have their updates turned off?

Or if my updates were turned back on by magic, it only happened once in months, and on that one time it used up over 20 GBs?????????

Read post 71.

Maybe that explains his figures, huh?

I am now on my fourth billing cycle day and have used half a GB. But overnight on Thanksgiving eve, I used more data than I had ever used in any of my previous months. And I had my computer checked to make sure it was working properly. It was. Cost me $125, but there were no Trojans, viruses, etc. found. And updates were turned off. Wade

RidgeRider wrote:
Yeah, that's the trouble Xavier.
How do you account for those of us who have their updates turned off?

So you say you NEVER do ANY updates even though some are actually critical? And you wonder why you have issues? Your PC is probably full of exploits. Which would explain the higher data usage.

tytrav

I work from home and checked with my IT dept about any possible updates since a few of you think that is the answer to the data over usage and was told there is no way any of the updates I receive ONCE a month would use that much data. I also wrote on an earlier post that I have worked at home for seven years and nothing has changed with my job to explain the over data usage. If you are tired of the things that are wrote on this thread then the simple answer is DON'T READ IT!!!!!

Also Xavier how do you have any idea how any of us have our computers set for updates?? In your own words, that is a bunch of bull....

tytrav wrote:
I work from home and checked with my IT dept about any possible updates since a few of you think that is the answer to the data over usage and was told there is no way any of the updates I receive ONCE a month would use that much data. I also wrote on an earlier post that I have worked at home for seven years and nothing has changed with my job to explain the over data usage. If you are tired of the things that are wrote on this thread then the simple answer is DON'T READ IT!!!!!
Also Xavier how do you have any idea how any of us have our computers set for updates?? In your own words, that is a bunch of bull....

If you don;t update your computer you are asking for trouble. I assume you have anti-virus on your computer. The best ones update DAILY. So you are saying you don't update anti-virus daily? Well that's asking for your PC to be infected.

tytrav

Yes Brian I have a anti-virus program on my computer that is constantly updating. My fault for assuming when I wrote about monthly updates I didn't mention that did not mean my anti virus update.

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/785730?start=0&tstart=0

Brian 68. I think you may be on to something. No program or provider is going to be perfect, but Verizon says it's never their fault.

Others, here are some more dissatisfied Verizon customers. Wade

RidgeRider wrote:
Brian 68. I think you may be on to something. No program or provider is going to be perfect, but Verizon says it's never their fault.

I'm just saying that just because Networx says something doesn't mean it's right. Networx is free so it has no incentive to be accurate. Verizon has every incentive to have accurate meters since they can be sued and invested by the government for fraud if their meters are not correct. Now could they still be wrong? Sure, but as I said they have more incentive to correct errors.

I still say many people have issues because they do not have their connection secure. Doesn't apply to everyone but quite a few I'm sure. The same people that insist that is not the issue also admit they are not very good with technology either. What gets my goat is their insistence on not even bothering to see if that is an issue.

rayv0ne

Millions of wireless subscribers probably don't realize that since a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year, consumers can no longer file class action suits against their carriers.

Spaccarelli sued AT&T because, as he argued, AT&T had stopped offering him an unlimited data service. Instead, he said the company was slowing down his service when he used 1.5 GB to 2GB of data in a given month. Spaccarelli's service was "throttled" as a result of a new AT&T policy designed to curb heavy data usage by its unlimited subscribers.

But thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 2011, which upheld a company's right to include a clause in contracts prohibiting subscribers from suing the company as part of a class action, Spaccarelli had only two options when fighting AT&T's new policy: He could enter into an AT&T-funded arbitration program or file his suit in small claims court.

Hey, rayvOne.

I read that post. But it can't be true! You don't really think that our Supreme Court would sell the American citizens out, do you?

That's sarcasm, Sheldon.

What I'm really wondering is why two law firms that specialize in class-action suits don't seem to know/believe this. And I can't find the contract I signed.

I went on-line, but can't find it. And I'm really convinced Verizon will send me a bill. That's why I asked if anyone knew the URL to the contract. Wade

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rcschnoor

Actually, yes it is a violation of the Verizon community policies. You have posted this reply multiple times and THAT is a violation.

yelekaw

Hi, I was browsing through these conversations looking for info on a different situation I'm having but thought I would drop in and pass on a little info I have on this. I have several remote sites that connect to my main office using Verizon 4G LTE modems. Each site has up to 2 users with laptop using them for an internet connection and their data usage is pretty consistent. Our plan allows for 10G data before we get an extra charge for extra Gigs. Last month one of my remote sites usage spiked for no apparent reason resulting in a $210 overage on the account. I trekked on over there to check things out.

Each laptop has an antivirus program, but what I found (or rather can't find) on one of the laptops is a running process that the AV would not detect as a virus or malware. By running a simple command at the Windows command prompt, I was able to determine that one of the laptops was making dozens of HTTP connections per second with no browsers running. I proceeded to close all programs and the connections persisted. I turned off the laptops wireless card, and the connections stopped. I enabled the card and the connections started up again within a few seconds.

Just for grins, try running this command at a CMD prompt if you are using a windows computer:

netstat -a -b

if you would like it to repeat on an interval, type in:

netstat -a -b 5

and it will repeat the command every 5 seconds. Press CTRL-C to quit. The -a switch will show ALL network connections your PC is making. the -b will try to resolve their IP address into a domain name you can read or recognize. You may be surprised to find your computer making a LOT of connections as I did for no apparent reasons.

The behavior stopped when I logged off of the account I was in and logged back in as an administrator, then started again when i logged off admin and back in as the user. If you try this and see a bunch of random HTTP connections (they will be clearly labeled) you may want to get your computer checked out, having and antivirus on your computer does NOT mean you can not get a virus on your system and junk can so easily slip into your systems through perfectly legitimate (but compromised) web connections.

Good luck.