Exorbitant mobile data usage

[DV45]

Looking for help in trying to reduce mobile data charges on our account. We have 4G mobile internet for our home office with 50GB included, $150/month.

When we first changed to this plan, we were always under. Then a couple of times it skyrocketed to over $1200. I queried it, but on exploration, got it reduced and it returned to under the limit. Over the last 12 months it's been creeping up over again, average $300-400 a month. This month, $1200 again. The usage doesn't change that drastically. We don't run Netflix or streaming devices. On Sunday for instance, the data used was almost 4GB. There was no one even in the house this day. 

We've had our IT guy look at it, and cannot identify where the "leakage" may be. We are at a loss.

we have no option for nbn yet. Adsl is far too slow to run even an internet browser.

[DeltaSquad]

@DV45

Have you considered having this checked out by our Billing Team on 132200?
This way we can check on the rating for you which will identify certain usage "classes".

These are very generic, but are usually enough to point you in the right direction on identifying the cause.

As a side note, even if you're not home, if your computers and devices are on and connected to the network, they can complete updates and other tasks.

P2P sharing is also a common cause for background usages if applications are left running on a computer.

[allankwilliams]

Also not unusual for a neighbour to have connected to your router either accidentally or purposefully and watching video's, playing online games etc. Try changing the wifi password to something difficult.

[ForensicsGuru]

Unfortunately, you do not provide enough information to give you a qualified response...

There might be many reasons for this:

• rogue employee downloading "stuff"
• being compromised and hacker downloading "stuff"
• several of your computers getting updates from Microsoft?

I could come with looooong list of culprits (including one of your employees fleecing you), but as I said above, you do not provide enough info...

If your IT guy "cannot identify the leakage", you need to sack him... Perhaps he is the one misusing your connection...

[DV45]

So some more information. I have contacted billing but have not had a sufficient response apart from we must have used it to be charged. It is a home office located on an acreage property. There is no wi-fi accessible from halfway up the driveway let alone the road. There are 5 computers running, not all used every day. 3 only 2-3 days a week and never all at once. There is one ipad connected (only used at night) and 2 x phones intermittently. Our computers run on Office 10 and give me data usage for the last 30 days, 2 ran at 12 GB last month each, one at 7.5 GB and the other at 5GB. The ipad has used less than 1GB and the phones roughly the same. That's 45 GB tops. Our data usage for this month was 85GB. 30GB over our allowance. We do not run Netflix or streaming through the TV's..... Our IT guy is not based in the office, only on an on-call set-up. He has turned off regular updates to Microsoft, so that at least we are prompted if we want to download. He has made sure that Dropbox or OneDrive are not running in the background using data. Can our mobile number for the 4G be hacked into and a username and password used to login remotely to use it? Is there a tracking device that can be plugged into the server or modem that can tell us where the leak is? IT guy said Onthenet have this service but didn't know if Telstra did. For the entirety of last year, our bill was right on the 55GB allowance, only 4 times going over by 2-3GB which is fine with one in December being ridiculously high. Since then it has been fluctuating but the type of use remains the same. But not this crazy 30-90GB over! What concerns me is that on the weekend when there is no one in the office and we are outside working on the property, then we can record some of our highest data usage. Saturday just gone, 4.5GB and no one was here! In the meantime we have changed to the $89 80GB plan (from $150 for 50) which should help some, but I'd still like to get to the bottom of it.

[ForensicsGuru]

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@DV45 wrote:
What concerns me is that on the weekend when there is no one in the office and we are outside working on the property, then we can record some of our highest data usage. Saturday just gone, 4.5GB and no one was here! In the meantime we have changed to the $89 80GB plan (from $150 for 50) which should help some, but I'd still like to get to the bottom of it.

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Telstra will not "invent" your usage - if Telstra reports it, then there must be usage... 4.5GB is not that much - current Apple OSX update was close to it... 

• You still might have someone stealing your WiFi even though you do not think so - your IT guy should be capable of setting "whitelist" access on your router, meaning only authorised devices can connect. If he is not capable of setting that up, sack him...
• Try to switch the router off whenever you do not need it (I know pain in the proverbial and not the best solution).
• Is the data usage all download? How much is upload?
• Your Windows 10 computers will not record correct data usage unless their network is set as being metered. Is it set up that way?
• What version of iOS is n your iPAD? There has been recently large update and latest iOS is by default set to update automatically... Same your phones... 

There are still too many variables to give you definitive answer - all I can say, if Telstra says that you used that amount of date, then you did... How, that's the question we need to address...