Contributor
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99 Messages
High data usage
I'm seeing a steady increase in data usage over at least the last 3 months. We are a streaming household. But nothing has changed in streaming content consumption over the past 3 months and yet the growth curve continues to advance.
I don't see any way to get data usage info longer than 3 months. Is this possible? What other data usage statistics does Comcast offer?
My router doesn't offer any useful info (AX3000 4-Stream Wi-Fi 6 Router). Modem is Motorola SB8600.
3 month data usage:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J7QLOci0gVpwtoF-OCn2SbU3x-S--QLb/view?usp=sharing
flatlander3
Problem Solver
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1.5K Messages
2 years ago
"get data usage info longer than 3 months. Is this possible?" : If you log into Xfinity.com as an administrator account, then after logging in, the top left banner has an internet drop down link that will show your current services, equipment and data use in a "Your Plan" section. If you click on the data use, it will bring up a monthly use bar graph. There is also a small link that will show a data table with 7 months of data use or so.
What other data usage statistics does Comcast offer?: None. That's all you get.
Every time you connect a device to the internet, you are doing something different. You are checking for updates both program and os, you are looking at content originating from different sources, plus templates originating on 3rd party sites, cloud servers that could be anywhere that change all the time, a lot of trackers and ads that all check in elsewhere, broken scripts that run in loops (intentionally sometimes), and you are exposed to traffic both solicited and unsolicited and interacting with all of it. Some of it is malicious as well.
Streaming content is delivered in different bit rates and varies quite a bit due to network conditions and it happens in real time while you are watching the stream. You'll notice stream quality also changes dramatically when ads cut in. That's because there are typically fewer delivery options for those. Most other content is broken up into as many is 12 other bit rate options to smooth out play back for streaming devices. Software feedback between your device and the content provider selects which one you watch -- that is what decides what the data burn rate will be at any given time, for any given stream.
Streaming providers are also not equal. It's going to depend on the codec they used (H.264 vs H.265 usually), all the settings they used to encode it, and how they deliver it. There is also quite a bit of 4K and 8K content out there these days, so you can expect some high data use on a lot of them. Hulu and Peacock these days are kind of pigs. Other ones like Philo and Pluto really aren't that bad, but can be on paid/purchased content. Youtube is all over that map.
If you are running into this frequently, your options are running blind and paying for unlimited, or running all of your data including WiFi through something that can see the traffic being used by every device, and throttle data use so you can control burn rates. If you let a streaming device run wide open, it will pull whatever it possibly can in data, limited only by your network connection and it's own hardware/software limitations, whenever it can. You can't control that behavior with Xfinity equipment, your Motorola, or Router.
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user_e21916
4 Messages
2 years ago
modem and issue similar - https://www.reddit.com/r/Comcast_Xfinity/comments/1623fwu/exceeded_your_monthly_data_usage_plan_but_router/
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Jojo999
Contributor
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99 Messages
2 years ago
I spent over an hour on the phone today getting shuffled from one Comcast department to another. All tried to either upsell me on an unlimited data plan or switch to a Comcast monthly rental modem. When I inquired as to how to cut my 800mbs speed in half to 400mbs to see if that had any affect on data usage, as per the Reddit post above, I was told that since I was on a promotional plan (right, $70/month for 800mbs isn't a promotion!) that I would lose the promotional rate, have to pay a termination fee and then would have to pay MORE for the degrade to a lower speed! [lol]
Comcast employees do everything possible to box in customers w/o helping.
There doesn't seem to be any interest on Comcast's part to actually technically investigate the huge number of people complaining about their accounts suddenly using much more data than previously while they didn't change their internet habits.
[Edited: Solicitation]
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Jojo999
Contributor
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99 Messages
2 years ago
Since I have not heard anything form Comcast on this problem, I filed my FCC complaint on Tuesday. Didn't take long at all. [Edited: Solicitation]. I also spoke with a customer service person at the FCC. She explained that the they will definitely be in contact with upper management at Comcast.
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user_eym09c
1 Message
2 years ago
I received a call last month from xfinity about hitting my data limit. I asked him how many more days were in my billing cycle & he said 1 & I said ok...no need to upgrade. Got a message
this month saying I am over for data use again. Checked my data use tables & it appears I'm over. But I was nowhere near over last month when they reached out so now I'm left to
think Xfinity is simply trying to get us all to upgrade. Super annoying.
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