Sudden huge increase in internet data usage

Contact billing to sort out.

Thanks and good luck.

Hello, @user_1b52da. I'd like to look into the data usage with you further. Please send us a Direct Message with your first and last name. The message icon is located at the top right of the Community Forum page, clicking on the message icon will allow you to initiate a chat conversation with us directly. Please ensure you are sending your message to our 'Xfinity Support' handle. 

Thanks for contacting our Xfinity Team on our Forums. You came to the right place for help and we are happy to look into your data usage. I would also be concerned if my data was having high usage and we will get to the bottom of this. To get started please select the "peer to peer chat" icon (upper right corner of this page), click the "new message" icon, type/select "Xfinity Support", and then type/send your name with your address.

@user_f8b550​ [Edited: "Solicitation"] because I’ve been told by xfinity I’ve used 0 gb for two months now everyone else says they have been over charged 

@user_096bb9 Sorry this is also affecting so many users and to imagine Xfinity is acting like this is a new issue.  They are completely aware.  It has been stated elsewhere that this might be the result of the 5G impact.  Not sure how true this is but something has to be done to protect us from this onslaught.  According to the their website, here is what we should get from 1.2 GB monthly:

1.    Streaming - 18 hours per day

2.    Music - 21.6 non-stop music

3.    Shows - 500 in HD

4.    Video Chat - 3.5k hours

5.    Gaming - 34k hours

My usage therefore should not exceed 1.2GB as I am nowhere near this.  No non-stop music, no gaming, minimal video chat/zoom, minimal streaming.  

How on earth is my usage so high Xfinity.  From 200-300 GB prior history to 409 in October, 918 in November and exceeding the 1.297 in December.

[Edited: "Solicitation"]

@user_6f3d8a   extremely frustrating [Edited: "Solicitation"]

@user_6f3d8a​ 

I am so tired of the people in India telling me they understand (and obviously do not) and telling me is easy to fix, pay more for unlimited.  HOW is Comcast getting away with this???

@user_f481e0 Did you go Satellite?  Can you help us??

@user_cb443b​ mine went up about 600% have spent HOURS on the phone with them-no help at all.

@user_cb443b

It's pretty easy to blow a 1.2T data cap.  To avoid it, I'm throttling traffic.  Streaming devices are my data hogs, so I limit those to 5Mb/s or less.  They'll still work fine.  How much is 1.2T?  Well, it's a bit less than 40Gb/day.  It's 3.7Mbit/s if you run data 24/7.  You'll exceed that rate constantly just using the internet.  Phones can be pigs.  Worse than streaming devices.  They can really be a problem and are the least secure device you own.  You can also do it easily if you've got a device flaked out, maulware'd, or otherwise compromised on your network.

Some geek race examples of running wide open without throttling?  Steaming services aren't equal.  Sling is pretty tame.  Starting the app draws 3.5Mb/s to load images.  Firing up a channel will briefly pull 23 Mb/s to load a buffer, then it will settle in on a stream and pull around 6-7Mb/s at my location if I let it.  Better connection will probably pull more.  When you watch a stream, there are multiple streams (could be up to 12).  Buffer loads, and then the connection is tested to try to deliver the highest resolution stream without exhausting the buffer causing playback stall.  This is done continually.  You can see the resolution change, when the stream you are watching is changed.  It might up-shift up to full 4K if you let it.

Same thing on Hulu?  It's kind of a pig.  It pulls about 40Mb/s when you start a video for a couple of minutes, and will stream the video pulling about half that at 20Mb/s if I let it fly wide open with no throttle.  Then, every time you run into a commercial break, it jacks back up to 40Mb/s to load those videos, and stays that way for around 3-4 minutes to continue to load your video and resume before backing down to 20Mb/s again to maintain the buffer.   Watch the data in real time.  All the services are a bit different in how they work.

Youtube is going to be all over the map on data burned, depending on the content uploaded.  Some high res.  Some not so much.  Some say the Peacock network is a pig.  I don't know.  I don't use it.  Netflix can be a pig sometimes.  Renting a movie on Prime can be a big 4K data burn too. 

So every minute you are exceeding 3.7Mbit/s is time to make up where you need to use ZERO data to keep under the cap.  Yes.  I do think 1.2T is a bit low for data these days with increased streaming use, and the content being delivered.  Personally, I'd be really concerned if I didn't stream anything and still blew a data cap.  You have a major network issue and hijacked gear in that case.  Don't do any banking or use credit cards on that network until you figure out that problem.

I've also found the 'max bandwidth' features on TV's and streaming devices are a lot less useful lately, or fail to even work with some apps.   Also remember when you shut a TV off, an external streaming device may be still streaming data and won't timeout.  Youtube doesn't timeout now on Roku TV's or external boxes until you hit a data buffer error, and Hulu is hit or miss.  My wife has issues forgetting about that constantly with external boxes.  TV's with built in apps are easier because you can shut them off, and they are in fact...off...sort of.  It breaks the streaming connection but it's still alive.  By the way, a web browser left open 24/7 can do the same thing by constantly refreshing and paying videos in the background for hit counts.  That's a common tactic for a revenue boost. 

Nobody will be able to tell you what is happening in your specific case.  How do you throttle and analyze traffic in real time and collect stats on every device?  You have to run the traffic through a firewall appliance or firewall box to do it.  Buy it.  Make it.  Pay for unlimited.  Your call.  Xfinity gear and 3rd party gateways don't have the capability, and customer support can only give you the same advice you see on the first page.  Guessing where the problem is won't cut it.  You have to be able to see it.  Old unused desktop box and free/open source software works fine for this.  Dusty gear in your closet might be a free solution if you are trying to avoid unlimited.

@flatlander3 We “used” 1.5Tb in three hours on January 3 between midnight and 3am! Is that even possible? Typical usage would be 400Gb/month. 

@user_bc8209

Possible by January 3rd?  Sure.  40Mbit/s = 432GB/day.  Blown cap in 3 days?  Might be able to do it in a day.  Your gateway will be warm.

Do a speed test at any number of sites.  "Average" broadband speed coming from Xfinity IP according to one pretty large common one, is around 65Mbit/s (702 GB/day).  Another one claims average at Xfinity is around 103Mbit/s (that's 1.1124 TB/day).  Xfinity tools will say something else.  It's pretty nebulous testing and really isn't telling you much.

What matters for speed?  What you are talking to, what they do on their end for load balancing/throttling, and the equipment in the middle between you and them.  Your millage will vary but you can slam quite a bit down the data pipe.  No, you won't ever see "up to" top tier 3000 Mbps between you and a web site.  It's silly they even use that in marketing materials.

Another thing.  I have 3rd party gear.  The data use notifications stopped working for me a long time ago.  At one time, it was possible to set an alert starting 50%.  I don't even see the option on the account page with 3rd party gear now.  That was OK, but what always  happened is their email alerts  would come in at the same time, or within a few hours of each other saying 50%, 60%, 75% were used.  Are they telling you that you used 25% of the data cap the same day?  No, what that means is their email alerts have always had a queue problem, a big lag in reporting in first place anyway,  and have NEVER worked right.

I went over 75% last month.  Never got an alert.  After I mentioned it in a post here, it did show up on the billing page a day or two after the fact.  No text alert.  No email alerts.  Doesn't matter.  My firewall sends daily stats or I could just look at it.

1.5T data used on your network?  Dunno.  Maybe you got a network problem, compromised device, massive virus STD problem, hacked IOT devices.  Can't tell from here.  All I'm saying is it's possible to log your own data use, and then you'll know.  You'll also have your own logs.  Perhaps a better chance of disputing a bill, or pointing out a data collection error, firmware bug, hardware issue or network problem on their part. 

@user_49ed86 We need to do something about it apart from switching to another provider.  It is so sad.  I too was called but two different representatives whose only interest was to sell. They were not interested a resolution of the issue.  Now my data usage is still climbing fast and my internet has been overly slow and messed up since my reporting. 

Hello and thank you for taking the time to reach out to us here on our Xfinity Forums! I definitely understand the frustration and we don't have the tools here to trace data and where it was used. If you haven't already tried contacting our Customer Security Assurance team at 1-888-565-4329 I definitely recommend you give them a call. They have more tools at their disposal to assist with concerns such as yours. Their department is open from 6 AM - 2 AM EST 7 days a week.

I also always recommend, if you have an Xfinity modem, to use the Xfinity app to see what devices are connecting to your internet and pause any unknown devices. 

Called the support team yesterday.  If they have helpful tools they may need to be trained on them since I only heard about options for paying more for unlimited data.  I was shocked to hear that coming from a Level 2 technical support person.  He was clearly prepared to give the upsell speech.   I plan to file a complaint with the FCC tomorrow.

@user_7f34a6​ I called FCC [Edited: Solicitation] 

I have increased 5-6X what I have used for 14 years, two retired people who watch tv and use facebook on a laptop-period. Wasted hours listening to them tell me to buy unlimited.

@user_d263b5 I'm sorry to hear that you are having concerns with your service and Data usage. It would be my pleasure to assist you. Can you provide some details about your data concern?