- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
First a little background, I am a professional software developer, I work from home and have a long history working for companies like Microsoft and Macromedia. I was actually a programmer on Microsoft Office among others. I have been waiting for a while to get to the point where I could find a good solution for working on the move. The 4G LTE service by verizon is exceptional, it works amazing, the only problem I have is it seems to report data so innacurately that if I were to use it the way I think could be deemed reasonable usage, it would overbill me by literally $1500 per month.
Let me explain...
I recently signed up for 4G LTE hotspot to use for work while on the road. I tested it for the first time today and wanted to get a feel for how much data I would be using so I ran the following network traffic monitors:
- Windows Network Monitor
- VZ Access
- Another 3rd party tool (wire shark)
- netstat
With some of these tools I monitored the data directly to the MAC Address for the device, that way all traffic is accounted for, it wouldn't matter what applications I am running I just see the raw data going in and out of the machine down to the individual UDP and TCP ports.
For a baseline, I did the following test:
First I logged into My Verizon, my usage was nomina (close to zero) because I hadn't used the adapter. Next I did the following:
1. A 10 minute skype call (~7 megabytes)
2. I opened facebook, then closed it (~320 kilobytes)
3. I opened bbcnews.com then closed it. (~300 kilobytes)
4. I ran speedtest.net (~10 megabytes)
So in total I saw ~18 megabytes of data be processed through the mac address associated with my wireless card and through to the 4G LTE wireless adapter.
I closed the machine and waited for My Verizon to update. Imagine my frustration when I saw my data usage at 1.15 GB. Is it just me or does this feel almost criminal?
Notes
How can my machine send in and out about 18 megabytes and my data plan show over 1.1 gigabytes of usage? Verizon might counter that the numbers measured don't matter because they have a footnote in VZAccess that says:
"The Statistics View should not be used to estimate or monitor data usage during your billing cycle. Please use the network tab to view estimated data usage for your current billing cycle".
However in my opinion (and I would think most other customers opinions) the reason for this disclaimer should be to cover obvious technical difficulties in reporting data usage since actual numbers are very difficult to provide due to network latency and packet dropping. But these kinds of errors should be more like rounding errors in the 1% or 2% range, for this number to be off by 1 GB on 18 MB is criminal.
Oh and by the way, this has appears to have nothing to do with network packet dropping. How do I know this, easy you can see too - just open a command prompt on windows and type the following in it:
netstat -e -t 1
You will see all data coming in and out of the system and the number of dropped / discarded packets are among the statistics. If the packets are being dropped en masse it's happening somewhere in between on verizons network and I don't see a good reason to be charged for that.
Bottom line... I can see no good reason that my test with 18mb of data sent/received should result in 1 gb of billed usage.
Update
Still waiting to hear back from Verizon like everybody else on different threads talking about this... If you are experiencing this problem please contact me. I am trying to get a large group of people together so I can make a case for us all to get this addressed. As one person I can't do much about it, as a group I feel we stand a chance. Especially since my business partner has a law firm and would call on our behalf. This is flat out manipulation and wrong. I promise to respect your privacy and use your email address for nothing other than this intended purpose.
How far is a company willing to go to cheat their customers ...
... It appears pretty far. I just did another test to see I wasn't crazy - 5mb (I mean how low can I go here) got translated into about 200mb of usage. This is wrong and needs to be addressed for all of us.
Respectfully,
Steve
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Exactly how did you set it up, and when did you set it up? How long have you had the card?
I know that the meter changes. I have seen it go up and down on my phone. One day I have seen it at 600mb and 3 hours later drop to 440mb. So if you are looking almost immediately after then everything hasn't been factored in.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
I am using a wifi adapter so I can check using my PC. I looked at data usage thorugh wireshark, through windows network monitor (you can add colums to show bytes transferred) and also through VZAccess. I also used netstat as stated above. The numbers I am seeing are only going up Even if they went down by the amounts you mention it would still be over by hunders of megabytes.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
You are running a VPN to the Mac address?
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Wondering if there's a large amount of packet loss and that's why there is the discrepancy. That's what I believe when my usage drops on MyVerizon. They adjusted the meter for packet loss.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
If it's packet loss it's over 90% - the network would be at a stand still, performance would suck.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
It could happen and it might be a down or about to go down DNS server in your area. It might be Verizon tower have connection issues which could cause it as well.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Just trying to figure out
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
I have tried this test in both San Diego, CA and also in Tampa, FL. I got the same bad result. This is not the first time I have tried this service. Last time in Tampa I took it back in the first 15 days. Looks like I will be doing that again.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
This seem to be a common situation recently because I have seen the same issue on my account and I agree if this is correct this should be corrected.. I have seen about a gig difference between the Verizon data system and actual data use from the device.
This could lead to a surprise bill for some customers because of the level of inconsistency.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
I agree with that especially those who are on tiered plans.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
No VPN
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Could it be a bug? Like it's showing KB usage instead of GB usage?
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
We can speculate all day about what it might be, what I know for certain is neither myself or anybody else seems to have a good answer from anybody over at Verizon. I would like to see a response from them on this issue and if they plan to address the concerns of myself and other customers..
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Ya that is true. This is a peer to peer. It's honestly best to get a tech to talk. I would suggest 611 and tell them you want to talk to an engineer and not a service rep.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
I am in that process right now. I will post anything they send to me. Right now I have this escalated to second tier technical support, in a 72 hour holding pattern.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
trouble ticket will come back valid usage...
i mean how do you prove what you are saying is true? How can verizon see their system is untrue?
All they can see is time and connections of data usage.. what can you do?
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
That is basically the truth in a nut shell.. Its difficult to prove anything that has a electronic history...
Basically it the users word against the network computers and software.... None winning battle.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
There are independent network audit companies who can help me get the credibility I need to build a case here. I will be working with some in the near future if Verizon try to sweep this under the rug.
The FTC, the Better Business Bureau & the Illinois attorney general are all good places to complain about this lack of accountability.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Steve, thanks for your posts on this matter. I am getting ready to buy a hotspot of some kind for my new tablet and I will keep this in mind and check usage (I'm not that computer savvy but I have friends...). If this is happening en masse people should be furious and Verizon should be prosecuted, if this is not happening to everyone...well wouldn't it be good to find out. All you people out there already connected, start checking your usage against what you are billed. If you don't know how...find someone who does or research it online and calculate. Verizon is a large corp that has a lot of power but people actually have more power if they band together as Steve said. I am not accusing Verizon of anything but saying it's worth looking into.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi - I am (ironically) relieved to read this. My wife and I are in our early 60's and even although I am a retired electrical engineer, my level of expertise is not all that great on this subject. However, I feel something crazy is going on with regard to data usage being reported to us by VZ. We live in a somewhat rural area and our only source of broadband is a VL600 USB "air-card". We are capped at 10G a month. We are very careful with our usage and pace ourselves throughout the month. We receive the warnings at 25%, 50%, etc. Most of the time we are somewhere slightly over 9G for the month. However, once in a while we may get the 90% warning with a day to go. Then the bill comes and says we went 1G or sometimes even 2G over !?!? This may only happen every 3rd month or so. But our usage habits never change. How could the usage spike so severely in a 1 or 2 day time frame ? Calling the VZ service number is a royal exercise in futility. We are given all sorts of mumbo-jumbo about the billing cycle and warning times and yada, yada, yada. I have a feeling there are legions of folks like ourselves who don't have the tools or skills to prove our case. I am not a village idiot when it comes to the world of electrons, but in this arena I am woefully deficient. Very frustrating......