data usage

What might be the reasons for a sudden increase in data usage with no change in the amount or pattern of data use and most of the use being wifi connected. I do not download movies or music. My data use is only for email and facebook, most of the time connected to wifi.

Accepted answers

EdBeNice

This may not fix your problem but it may help find an answer.

I have made several comments on another forum and this forum about my high data usage. The forum name is "HIGH DATA USUAGE". One thing I have found effective in my trouble shooting is to make sure all devices are off and will not auto connect to the WiFi.

1. Turn on the WiFi (this starts a data session) writing down the time in a log file and make a log of everything that you do and with a time.
2. turn on only one device and do what ever you want to use that device for. (ALL other devices off}
3. Wait about 5 minutes when finished and then turn the MiFi off.
4. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before turning the MiFi back on to make sure all data got registered.
5. Do these steps for each device and keep a log of sites visited and what was done on each device.
6. Log into your Verizon account and go to data, then click on the bold word “Data” then down nearer the bottom there is a box where you can select a device by selecting the down arrow in the box. Select the router phone number and it will give you a detailed listing of data usage and times. The time in the listing is the time the session started (also known as Net Session) and will add all data used until the MiFi session is ended. (You do not see a session end time so this why you have to turn the MiFi off and check your log). If nothing is connected but the MiFi is left on it will check about every 160 minutes ( 2 hrs. 45 minutes) you will see a small data usage. If something is connected you will see data usage totaled every 6 hours (approximately). By turning the MiFi off you can stop the 6 hour totaling and only total the session up to that time. Of course you have to wait long enough for their computers to get the total data usage. At one time I would have to wait 3 to 4 days for some of these to show up but recently it shows up within a couple of hours and has always been updated over night. I have been downloading the detail usage daily every morning since August. I made an Excel spread sheet that will total on a daily basis the total data used for a day when I do a copy of my Data Detail Usage download and paste it into my spreadsheet. This way I can easily track days of high usage and go back to the times of the usage to see what I did during that time. I do not have or use an I-phone so I don’t have to worry about air time.

I hope this helps in determining what is using large amounts of data. You are not alone with a problem. I hope you can solve your problem and if you would not mind posting a reply to me as to what you find if you can solve your problem. I thought my problem was solved but it is back and I have run out of ideas as to what else I can check or change. Today I went to Sprint store and can switch to one of their plans and save $18.00 per month but the problem with that is that the Sprint connection is not quite as good where I live.

I no longer leave my PC connected all the time all day long and it’s only connected for about 3 minutes every fourth day to update my anti-virus. My Laptop is no longer connected 16 hours per day and is only connected long enough to access the VZN website to make the data download 1 time daily and anti-virus is usually updated at this same time. I connect to G-mail (simplified basic version) to check mail. I do not connect to links or download any pictures. I do not use I-Cloud. About every 4^th day my laptop checks for Windows Defender updates and every month checks for Windows and Microsoft program updates. I no longer go to MSN , CNN or any other website to check the news (I would only read and never watched videos anyway). I now use Free TV with my outdoor antenna. I no longer access accounts to download statements or pay bills and have changed the status on all my accounts to mail me a statement with a return envelope. I no longer do a search for information and just figure that it must not be important if I do not already know or cannot find it in the local library. When I want to find work I just go to their office and tell them the reason I can no longer apply over the internet. I do not hesitate to tell them that I used to be able to do things on the internet until Verizon suddenly made changes that makes my data usage go over a reasonable amount of data usage. Now if it is not the fault of Verizon then they need to push back on the sites that are causing problems. Follow the money to find the problems. WEB sites put more advertisers on their sites to make more money even though it causes more data to be used. Verizon will not help because they can charge more for more data being used. The Government will not help because the more money WEB sites and Verizon makes the more taxes they can collect. The higher your Verizon data usage and services are the higher the taxes you have to pay every month because the tax is figured as a percentage on your bill. Eventually my data usage will be under 4 GB per billing cycle and by then I will have discovered that I no longer use or need the internet anymore so I will be able to save $60.00 + taxes every month. That is $840.00 per year or $8,400.00 in 10 years to use to pay off my house. WOW, No Verizon bill and no house payment anymore.

All comments

EdBeNice

Go to this forum and join the others with the same problem

"HIGH DATA USUAGE being used" and have received little help in resolving the problem. VZN does what it wants to and lets the customers just suck it up and take it in the you know what.

Verizon_Support

betteann,

I am sorry to hear about the sudden change in your usage. We definitely want to get to the bottom of this. What version iPhone do you have? Did you update any apps or software on the device around the time this usage changed? If you to to Settings>Cellular>Scroll down what shows the most data usage?

LindseyT_VZW

Follow uso on Twitter @VZWSupport

EdBeNice

This may not fix your problem but it may help find an answer.

1. Turn on the WiFi (this starts a data session) writing down the time in a log file and make a log of everything that you do and with a time.
2. turn on only one device and do what ever you want to use that device for. (ALL other devices off}
3. Wait about 5 minutes when finished and then turn the MiFi off.
4. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before turning the MiFi back on to make sure all data got registered.
5. Do these steps for each device and keep a log of sites visited and what was done on each device.
6. Log into your Verizon account and go to data, then click on the bold word “Data” then down nearer the bottom there is a box where you can select a device by selecting the down arrow in the box. Select the router phone number and it will give you a detailed listing of data usage and times. The time in the listing is the time the session started (also known as Net Session) and will add all data used until the MiFi session is ended. (You do not see a session end time so this why you have to turn the MiFi off and check your log). If nothing is connected but the MiFi is left on it will check about every 160 minutes ( 2 hrs. 45 minutes) you will see a small data usage. If something is connected you will see data usage totaled every 6 hours (approximately). By turning the MiFi off you can stop the 6 hour totaling and only total the session up to that time. Of course you have to wait long enough for their computers to get the total data usage. At one time I would have to wait 3 to 4 days for some of these to show up but recently it shows up within a couple of hours and has always been updated over night. I have been downloading the detail usage daily every morning since August. I made an Excel spread sheet that will total on a daily basis the total data used for a day when I do a copy of my Data Detail Usage download and paste it into my spreadsheet. This way I can easily track days of high usage and go back to the times of the usage to see what I did during that time. I do not have or use an I-phone so I don’t have to worry about air time.

betteann

Thanks for your information. It was helpful. I guess this is a much bigger problem than I realized.

Sent from my iPhone