Data Usage details do not agree with VZAccess session logs

[RMRoth]

Hello folks,

I'm going to try this again. I have noticed in other threads as far back into 2009 that there were questions on a month’s data usage according to Verizon's data not being correct but have not found a reasonable explanation (especially from Verizon).

I do not have a problem with the current 5GB cap (not that I wouldn't like it to be higher), what I do have a problem with is the account data usage reflects a lot more than the VZAccess manager sessions logs. I have been told by Verizon support that the session logs are not accurate....

One suggestion was that my wireless router was being hijacked by someone in the local area. Not that it is impossible, but my router is not wide open and I am in a rural area with the closest homes being 100 to 200 yards away. Also, the data usage is usually extremely different even when the USB720 is connected directly to my laptop. I have run other point to point tools to check for error rate thinking maybe there was a hardware issue, this proved to not be the case. If there are error packets eating up my permitted data, it is within the wall of Verizon.

And the delta between the official "Usage" compared to my local session log is all over the board. Some sessions the official usage may only be 2 or 3 times the data amount in the log, and other times as much 6 to 8 times my local session logs.

Tracking data throughput is not rocket science and would like to know how they can be so disparate. Something is quite amiss here and I am sure it isn't me.

I am hoping for someone from Verizon being able to explain the differences (and always in Verizon's favor). I am fortunate in at least being a customer that started the plan prior to having to pay exorbanate overage fees and instead just have my bandwith throttled, but I work from home one day a week and makes it difficult when throttled to 350 kbps.

I watch my data usage very closely and have gone as far as connecting, transfering files of a known megabytes and disconnecting, and then compare the Usage verses session log (not to mention the specified file size); and yes, I know there is overhead with the packets and protocal, but unless there is an extremely high bit/error rate within Verizon's own internal networks I can think of no other explanation. And if it is due to Verizon's internal error rate, I should not be billed for that.

Case in point, my usage was just reset this morning. I am connected directly to the USB720 modem, and the ONLY connection/web site I have been on is this forum. I have read a thread that started in 2009 and extended into early 2010, read the responses to my first post on this topic, started typing this one, logged off for a while and just got back on to complete this post and the Usage is already over 9MB. My session log reports 4MB, so where are the other 5MB coming from??

[D1927D]

Have you determined what the problem is?

I have a similar situation. I live in a rural area, nearest neighbor 600ft away, 3G service with a UM175VW modem connected to a Cradlepoint router, wireless on this router turned off,  then via LAN to my Linksys router where it is distributed through the home both with ethernet and wireless (via a "G" connection with limited distance). Linksys wireless is a secure WPA with robust password, but there is no way anyone would be close enough to hack into it anyway.

Recent Verizon data usage shows up to 322MB in a 24 hour period, where my local logs show about 1/10 of that total (DUmeter, which also contains data transferred between computers). In one case Verizon shows (on their "My Current Usage" detail page, the data you download to a spreadsheet) 354MB usage in a three minute period at 1:50AM. This is physically impossible!

I just noticed this problem today, although I have experienced some of this in the past. As a consequence, I am planning to collect the usage information from my Cradlepoint router on a daily basis, starting next week, as I will be away from home. This should provide very accurate data transfer numbers, since this data is collected at the point where all of my data usage funnels through the router to the 3G modem. I haven't done this in the past since there is no way to automate it.

Any resolutions to your problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks

[#3]

D1927D, thank you for your inquiry. One thing that may cause your device to show usage at 1am is based on your location. You mentioned this is a rural location. Do you know if you pick up extended network in this area? If so, that means you are picking up another carrier's towers and roaming on their network when using data. It normally takes this data a few hours or sometimes even days to be transferred to our system. That could be why it shows data during late hours. 

Also, do you turn off or disconnect the device when not in use? If it is still connected to the internet, it is possible applications or updates are still running in the background. 

[steve_sheldon]

No, I know only my pc is attached because I can see the connection count on the top of the deviceI did a "netstat -e" to see network traffic. Nothing is still running this is a test case run in a controlled environment, I could also see the data/packet loss rate.

I was billed 1.1 gigabytes on < 20 megabytes of transfers. Nothing external or in my control explains this trickery, it's stealing plain and simple.

[mmlowe]

I have removed my Verizon Modem from service.  About 2 weeks ago, it utilized 2.5 gig in one day.  My log is showing

1/10th of that.  I do NOT stream, download, do movies, nor music, NOR did I do so on this date.  I called Verizon

for help.  I think they accused me of some sort of mis deeds.  I am not savy enough nor do I care enough to do.

I wrote to verizon, who suggested a number and a trouble ticket.  I have requested numerous trouble tickets to no avail with these modems (had a 4g which just did not work since February, backtracked to 3g, service was great until that

1 day). I have spent around 100 hours this year with customer serivce/tech support on this service to no avail. 
The charge for 2.5 gigs on that 1 day is BOGUS.  I am told the logs mean nothing, if so, then why are they there?

I removed the device from service, and since I was threatened with a penalty for cancelling, I am just counting down to

contract end date. 

At the very least Verizon should know their clients are being assessed unfair charges, and then simply abused by

customer no-service.

[wxgrl]

I have had the same problem recently.  I live in a rural area and got the USB720 modem so we wouldn't have to have dial-up.  I got the 5G plan when we first signed up, but after a couple of years we never used even 250 MG and we even got emails from Verizon suggesting we could save money on our bill by switching to the smaller plan.  About a month after we switched to the 250MG plan we started getting messages from Verizon that we were over our limit and according to them we had used over 478MG in just a few days.  We don't download, stream videos, do webcasts or anything like that.  I called and after looking up the past 3 months of useage and finding that I had not even used half of the 250 MG they did agree to give me a credit for the overage.  This billing cycle, however, I've only turned my computer on 3 times and gone on my facebook for only a few minutes and I've already gotten messages that I've gone over my alloted 250MB????  When I check my useage log, I can only find about 14MB used.  How can that be??  I've even started unplugging my modem when I'm not at home.  I did find a Trojan horse virus and used my AVG software to delete it, but I'm still having problems.  I will admit I'm technoligically challenged so I'm not sur how to fix the problem.  Any help?

[steve_sheldon]

I am seeing the exact same problem and I am in downtown San Diego, this is not a rural area. Can we get a decent response to this problem?

[commonsense101]

problem?

hmm, let me re-read it for a 5th time, i couldnt see a problem

[scott21]

If it takes you 5 times re-read this you gotta bigger problems.

[rall_g4]

scott21 wrote:

If it takes you 5 times re-read this you gotta bigger problems.

LOL

[commonsense101]

hint: there is no problem

*woosh*

[steve_sheldon]

Respectfully, do you have anything to add here? Everybodies opinion has some merit but all you seem to do is throw out negative comments and detract from what the rest of us are trying to do here.

Verizon are billing customers for data they can't or won't explain, That is the  the problem. If you are happy with being billed  hundreds of megabytes in overage and it doesn't effect you, great, go be happy.

For others that do care and professionals like myself who work on the move, These overrages cost me over $1000 per month in unexplained charges. Maybe they are valid, maybe they are not but the point is that right now there is no accountability,

Over the weekend I ran exactly the same length skype call through both my IPhone thether (AT&T) and my Verizon 4G LTE wireless hotspot. AT&T data usage showed 30 mb (within a few megabytes of the in/out traffic to the MAC address). Verizon billed be 500mb for the same duration call with a comparable amount of in/out traffic to it's MAC address. Clearly something stinks here

Update for everybody else ...

I am still waiting for Verizon customer support to get back to me. Amusingly, they blocked one of my threads in less than 24 hours because they didn't like what I had to say about their service but it's been 5 days and I still haven't heard back about this issue.

The solution to this problem is now obvious to me - don't do business with Verizon, As great as their service could be it is unusable until Verizon address their data usage fees, something they seem unwilling to explain and unable to address.

Steve

[commonsense101]

Its impossible to prove either side. A connection was made from your device to the data network.

You can spend all the time you want, but honestly how can you prove you didnt use the data?

maelware, updates, etc etc

[wherder]

Actually, you're quite wrong, commonsense.  An inline network monitoring utility is not PC or application specific.  It doesn't care if it's malware, updates or interactive web surfing.  If packets are moving - they are captured.  You should read up on the OSI model.  I'm not saying the OP is right or wrong here.  I'm only saying that it's actually technically very feasible to show pure network utilization, including ports, protocols, source and destination without regard for whether it's malware, etc.  Now, it's a very different story to discuss whether VZ would accept the information - as I doubt they would.  VZ   I could, for example, put a packeteer as an out of band packet shaping tool between my data devices and my hotspot.  In that case, it would trap, track, categorize and summarize ALL traffic - period.  In that case, from a technical point of view it would be absolutely conclusive as to whether VZ is accurately reporting utilization.  However, they are under no legal obligation to listen - and it would likely take legal action (very ineffective) in order to force the issue.

[jen40]

Iv had the same problem past two months with overage bigtime and we cannot figure out what its from. I found some of the excess usage by cell phone but not enough to explain the amount of overage I had. I have a 4G LTE and it has never worked very well. It disconnects almost page to page and most of time it shows full bars but when I attempt to connect to internet my computer shows excellent connection but no internet access.  I talked to customer support and was on the phone for over an hour troubleshooting and ruling out hijacking as possible cause. My device will show at bottom how many are connected and it showed 4 but only one should have been. We finally found 1 was my kids Xbox which didnt have a wireless card in it and my wireless printer. I cant imagine either of these two using any data since they dont have the capability but can hold a connection. It is frustrating that I had to pay for those overages and a mobile hotspot device that has monthly plan fees and the it wont even stay connected to the internet long enough to open a web page. The device was purchased new at a verizon store along with a monthly rate plan and it worked great for about 2 months. Finally today after being on the phone two different times and for an hour I have convinced tech support that my device will not connect. They instructed me to take it to a local store. I am really pleased with verizon in comparison with the provider I switched from 6 months ago in regards to my cell phones but the 4GLTE has some serious problems though unintentional and I will cancel it when contract is up.

[commonsense101]

how can the xbox  connect but not use data? there is your overage...

[wherder]

I would strongly advise you to not assume facts not in evidence, commonsense.  You've already made clearly inaccurate statements regarding the ability to measure utilization - including maleware, etc.  I agree that I'm confused about the comments regarding the xbox without a wireless card that shows a connection, and it is POSSIBLE that it's involved and/or could have consumed some data.  However, it is hardly a fact.

[commonsense101]

Clearly I said its a fact

maybe read all the words next time

[rall_g4]

I don't think he said you "stated a fact". I believe he said you" assumed a fact".

[wherder]

What you said is meaningless, and its NOT a fact.  You are making assumptions, as you have done repeatedly in this thread.  Your earlier statements (not possible to measure and contrast billing statement versus actual utilization) are absolutely false.  They are technically and logically incorrect, with no basis in truth.  The fact that you insinuated that malware, etc could be consuming data that is not capable of being measured shows a lack of understanding of the OSI model, and a lack of awareness of tools and techniques used routinely by professionals every single day.

Again, the orignial statement about the xbox confuses me as well, as the post indicates a lack of wireless capability of the xbox, but also shows later a connection.  Because of that, neither you nor I know if the xbox for example is consuming bandwidth or not. 

I would again strongly recommend educating yourself in the area of data communications before making strong assumptions of "fact" which are hardly that.

[commonsense101]

I didnt even read OP, when i said  maleware, updates etc I was referring to the way most people end up using data they arent aware of

but i'm glad you're taking a networking class at your local community college, really putting that outdated osi model to good use