Unusually high data usage megathread

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@vinny21 wrote:

My issue happned 4 days ago, so the problem was not fixed apperantly. 

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Or you could have an altogether different issue. Our teams are looking into the specifics on your account and will reach out directly. Thanks for your patience.

  https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@karineh426 wrote:

We just got Xfinity internet in Sept. We tracked at 800GB in Sept, 1.3 TB in Oct (1st courtesy month overage), and are on track to exceed the 1TB cap this month as well. 

 

My husband says there is no way we are using that much data but I cant find any detail in our account, only the monthly total to date.

 

How can I get more info and - as it appears that the issue has been supposedly resolved for most accounts - how can I figure out if my account is tracking correctly or not?

 

TIA.

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@Freemans723 wrote:
According to the data meter my house has used 2.7TB of data, including an insane 1TB in a single 24 hour period on 11/18. Prior to October, when I was offered a speed upgrade, I have always been below 700GB a month. Since upgrading We have seen huge spikes daily, 100GB, 300GB, 500GB and now 1TB. I have made multiple phone calls where I’ve been asked if I know that streaming and video games use a lot of data.... There have been no device or usage changes in my house other than the modem to take advantage of the upgraded speed. I’m am literally pulling my hair out trying to track down the data use on my network. All of my PCs have been checked for viruses/malware/etc. and my router is showing about 10-13GB used by the devices connected. I am disconnecting my modem tonight and will check the data usage on Comcast’s meter Thursday morning before reconnecting. From there I guess I’ll reconnect a device daily to find if the data usage culprit is real or imagined by this stupid meter. Don’t know why I expected Comcast to help me find anything since they just want me to pony up an extra $50 monthly...

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@Anon1284864 wrote:

Same message "You've used 90% of your data plan this month". I logged into my account to find Data Usage by MonthData Chart Month Total Monthly Usage May 287 GB, June 269 GB, July 332 GB, August 369 GB, September 421 GB, October 363 GB, November 931 GB

 

November is reporting 3 times more than my average. Makes no sense!

 

So I looked up Traffic Manager on my router and found out I've only used 105.69GB in the past 3 days. Is Xfinity/Comcast trying to rip us off?

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@gthassell wrote:

@ComcastTeds , add me to the list as well!

 

On Tuesday (11/19) at  8:55 PM Central, I received the message "You've used 90% of your 1024GB data plan."   Then, the following morning (Wed 11/20),  at 6:41 am, I received the "You've used 100% of your 1024 GB data Plan", and then at 10:56 am, I received "You've used 1128 GB, 104 GB more than your 1024 GB monthly data plan"

 

To supposedly use more than 200GB in a period of 14 hours seems completely impossible, even if I were trying to burn through it all.

 

I've examined every device for traffic / usage, and while my AppleTV 4K (which some people have reported as being a data hog, even when not being used) did appear to have several apps open (no shows being watched), that seems impossible.  (Note, the device is hooked up to a 1080P TV  - which was turned off the entire time) so even if it were streaming in the background, it should not have been at 4K sizing.

 

Please let me know if you need more information to investigate.  Not using X1 / Xfi - but do have an enterprise grade network system that allows me to examine individual usage by device.

 

I'm concerned that - based on what Comcast is measuring - I've now lost one of my free overage months - but given all that is being reported here - it seems that I've been a victim of the same situation that has been reported - a monitoring bug.

 

Please confirm and let me know how the overage "free month" will be restored.

 

Thank you.

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

ComcastTeds (Official Employee)

Thank you for your response and willingness to help. Here is an update for your information.

Comcast store rep texted us yesterday to advise that Comcast managers do not know how to resolve this matter. They advised us to call the corporate office to resolve. 251-286-1700    We are not going to do that, since we have already received the "hand-off" or "runaround" or whatever you wish to call it from every single Comcast employee we have reached out to.

Here are the facts:

1. We have had excellent service from Comcast for 18 years. No issues.
2. We use Internet only @$66.63 a month.
3. We use our own modem and router...again NO issues.
4. On October 5, 2019, we switched our cellphone service from Verizon to Xfinity and BAM! Our Internet service quadrupled. We asked if there was a correlation and Comcast reps at Comcast store said NO!
5. We have NOT changed any devices, streaming habits, etc. Everything in the home is exactly the same as it was before we switched cellphone service.
6. We are monitoring our usage with our own router and modem. Usage does NOT compliment the numbers that Comcast indicated.
7. We have changed all access information to a strong encrypted language. The data usage is still outrageous.
8. Customers have confirmed on this form and through neighborhood/homeowner site NEXTDOOR, and as news media reports and articles also confirm, that this issue has been and is ongoing with many customers. One customer published an article about his personal experience. He was charged for excessive data usage while he was on vacation. No one was home. He did an experiment when he got home and disconnected all devices fro 24 hours....the Comcast meter kept reporting usage.
9. Homeowners in our area tell us that they experienced the same issue. Comcast advised them that the only way to correct it is to up your plan to unlimited data and rent only Comcast equipment. That advice is tantamount to extortion.
10. Calling the 800 Customer Service is worthless. They only read from a prepared script and cannot offer any assistance. We asked to be escalated to a supervisor and was told "we don't have any working her at the moment." We advised him that we know all call centers have managers on the floor. The poor customer service person was so stressed, he went back to reading his prepared dialog script.
11. Comcast Security was even worse. They had no clue, or were playing dumb. Said that they never heard of any experiencing this issue.

Full disclosure, we have contacted the Better Business Bureau this morning and filed a complaint in hopes that effort will escalated us to the right persons in order to resolve this matter amicably.

Meanwhile, our last resort will be the FCC and Attorney General. But at this time, we will patiently await your contact to reach out to us with a solution.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Attached documents:

1.  Screen shot of message to another customer on Comcast Community Forum advising customer about software issue relative to erroneous data overage.

2.  Article about man being charged overage while on vacation.

https://www.slashgear.com/comcast-overcharges-for-bandwidth-usage-find-out-if-youre-affected-28420070/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/comcast-admits-data-cap-meter-blunder-charges-wrong-customer-for-overage/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/comcast-usage-soars-34-to-200gb-a-month-pushing-users-closer-to-data-cap/?comments=1

Unable to share the plethora of additional information from other customers. You only need to read this forum to grasp that Comcast has a serious problem that needs to be addressed honorably. If you want to be seen as a leading ISP provider you should treat your customers better. Exemplary customer service is the key to the success of any company.

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@CD70 wrote:
Exactly what's happening to my account! There's absolutely no way I've used the data they've claimed and I never have in a year of service as suddenly the last two months way over a terabyte...No way!

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@The_Schwartz wrote:

My data usage sky rocketed in Oct and Nov of 2019. My average usage prior was 650 gb per month with the information the usage calculator can provide. I almost went over in October and this month I have went over and it is not over. There are less devices being used since September in the house then these two months.

 

I asked the SQA CSR what applications will Xfinity/Comcast agree about the usage logs? The tech said only if I rented their modem. I stated I bought an Xfinity approved modem Arris. Since, I have redone all passwords and ran virus scans. I am still using massive amounts of data according to the data usage monitor.

 

The tech also stated it was my ondemand and DVR usage that could be causing my issue. I asked how is coax affecting my data usage to my modem? She began stating my smart TVs were the problem if they are connected. I stated RX/TX handshakes are not going to get me 200 to 400 GB increase on my data consumption. How is my ondemand and DVR recordings affecting my data cap they are on co-ax. I could have a DVR with no internet. She told me to clear the recordings and to quit using my computer, tablets, phones, etc. to view my DVR. We do not use our devices to view the recordings we use the DVR.

 

Again, I ran my anti-virus and my devices are clean. This all began when I was going to sign up for Xfinity Smart TV application instead of having boxes to save money. To find out not all Samsung 4k Smart TVs can download or find the Xfinity application. We had to cancel and continue to use the same boxes. To find out they had to perform a firmware update to get my boxes to work again. Something is fishy with Xfinity and I want some assistance. This is the first time I have ever went over my cap. I have one free overage month. Can a representative who actually knows something contact me?

 

I reached a CSR with no knowledge on the subject. All they could do was constantly read responses from their console. Also does Xfinity/Comcast respect the findings of network usage from WireShark, McAfee, etc?

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Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

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@Dsize06 wrote:
I thought I was the only one having this problem, until I checked these forums. My wife and I have only had xfinity for two months and didn’t even realize there was a cap until we received the 90% notification the other day. We do stream videos and play online video games but this is done mostly at night and it is just the 2 of us. There is no way we have used that much data. This needs to be fixed and looked into.

---

Apologies for the issue and the experience.

I have asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly for any next steps. Thanks for your patience.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

---

@midtenner wrote:

 

ComcastTeds (Official Employee)

 

Thank you for your response and willingness to help. Here is an update for your information.

 

Comcast store rep texted us yesterday to advise that Comcast managers do not know how to resolve this matter. They advised us to call the corporate office to resolve. 251-286-1700    We are not going to do that, since we have already received the "hand-off" or "runaround" or whatever you wish to call it from every single Comcast employee we have reached out to.

 

Here are the facts:

 

1. We have had excellent service from Comcast for 18 years. No issues.
2. We use Internet only @$66.63 a month.
3. We use our own modem and router...again NO issues.
4. On October 5, 2019, we switched our cellphone service from Verizon to Xfinity and BAM! Our Internet service quadrupled. We asked if there was a correlation and Comcast reps at Comcast store said NO!
5. We have NOT changed any devices, streaming habits, etc. Everything in the home is exactly the same as it was before we switched cellphone service.
6. We are monitoring our usage with our own router and modem. Usage does NOT compliment the numbers that Comcast indicated.
7. We have changed all access information to a strong encrypted language. The data usage is still outrageous.
8. Customers have confirmed on this form and through neighborhood/homeowner site NEXTDOOR, and as news media reports and articles also confirm, that this issue has been and is ongoing with many customers. One customer published an article about his personal experience. He was charged for excessive data usage while he was on vacation. No one was home. He did an experiment when he got home and disconnected all devices fro 24 hours....the Comcast meter kept reporting usage.
9. Homeowners in our area tell us that they experienced the same issue. Comcast advised them that the only way to correct it is to up your plan to unlimited data and rent only Comcast equipment. That advice is tantamount to extortion.
10. Calling the 800 Customer Service is worthless. They only read from a prepared script and cannot offer any assistance. We asked to be escalated to a supervisor and was told "we don't have any working her at the moment." We advised him that we know all call centers have managers on the floor. The poor customer service person was so stressed, he went back to reading his prepared dialog script.
11. Comcast Security was even worse. They had no clue, or were playing dumb. Said that they never heard of any experiencing this issue.

Full disclosure, we have contacted the Better Business Bureau this morning and filed a complaint in hopes that effort will escalated us to the right persons in order to resolve this matter amicably.

 

Meanwhile, our last resort will be the FCC and Attorney General. But at this time, we will patiently await your contact to reach out to us with a solution.

 

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

 

Attached documents:

1.  Screen shot of message to another customer on Comcast Community Forum advising customer about software issue relative to erroneous data overage.

2.  Article about man being charged overage while on vacation.

 

https://www.slashgear.com/comcast-overcharges-for-bandwidth-usage-find-out-if-youre-affected-28420070/

 

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/comcast-admits-data-cap-meter-blunder-charges-wrong-customer-for-overage/

 

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/comcast-usage-soars-34-to-200gb-a-month-pushing-users-closer-to-data-cap/?comments=1

 

Unable to share the plethora of additional information from other customers. You only need to read this forum to grasp that Comcast has a serious problem that needs to be addressed honorably. If you want to be seen as a leading ISP provider you should treat your customers better. Exemplary customer service is the key to the success of any company.

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Thanks for the additional information. I have shared that with our team. 

The referenced Fall 2019 issue impacted about 2,000 customers. To put that in perspective, that's about .008% of our high speed data customers.  While unfortunate and certainly not intended, we identified that issue,  addressed it and worked to make that right with the customers that were affected.  

You may be having a different issue.

Either way the team will review and reach out with their findings. Apologies that you did not have a great customer experience initially and thanks for the opportunity to make this right.  Thanks for your continued patience. 

Only a very small percentage of our customers use a terabyte of data in a month. But for those who choose to use more, we want to make sure you understand your options and choose the data usage plan that works best for you. Our data plans are based on a principle of fairness: those who use more Internet data, pay more, and those who use less Internet data, pay less.

For all - the link below has some general information on how to avoid overage charges and tips to conserve data usage: 

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-avoid-overage-charges

We received this message this morning via email. You need to escalate us immediately. We will not pay anything to Comcast until we resolve this matter immediately.  There are plenty of other companies offering us better deals. But as we have been told repeatedly by every single employee of Comcast, "You are a valued customer and have been with us for 18 years. We need to resolve this matter. Thank you for your patience."

Our patience is wearing thin.

Wow, and i thought i was alone, but came across this thread.

Essentially i can report a very similar experience:

* I own my own Modem and Router.  Have had no problems except a few years ago when Comcast decided to CHARGE ME for my own Modem, thinking that i was renting it

* Have averaged 250-300GB Usage in my house for the prior 6 months, and even got Comcast Data Usage Escalation team (Philippines team) to read and confirm that

* I got pinged today (mid-morning PST) that i was at 90% of my 1TB cap

* I got pinted at ~2.04PM PST that i had now reached 100% of my 1TB cap

I did support chat w/ Xfinity and was eventually told to contact the Data Usage Escalation team (Philippines team).  

Spoke with them, and while she was 'nice enough', she was not able to provide much information to me, aside form saying that I should change my password on my Router.

I'm willing to concede that i will change the WiFI password on my router, but how on this green earth do they think i went from ~300GB average usage over the prior 6 months to OVER 1024GB usage (by the 25th of November, no less)??!??

I feel like a mushroom right now...

Hoping for some clarity here.

**********************

Fearing the worst, when returning home i immediately virus-scanned all laptops/desktops in the home.  I went on my Router and ID'd every device in the house and that was on the Network. None were found to be an "unwelcome Guest", as Comcast Philippines support team so nicely put.

However, when looking at my Traffic Analyzer on the Network, i found that as i was researching my devices that the very desktop i was using...was gobbling up a good amount of Internet data!

Luckily for Windows 10 users, there's a Data Usage option. For newbies, it's under Settings and then under Network and Internet.

• When i looked, at the top line, I saw that I had used 608.57 GB within the last 25 days!!!

I fell out of my chair.

More research said that sometimes Online Drives (DropBox, Google Drive, Amazon Drive, etc.) get "stuck syncing". In my case, it was iCloud.  Worst was that i never even got the documents i wanted from iCloud.  I logged out of iCloud, and promptly uninstalled the program (both profiles, me and wife). The data usage immediately fell to minimal levels...

TL;DR: Scanned all devices, no bad guys (seemingly) on network using my data. Found out that massive data being used by an Online Drive--iCloud in my case.  This Online Drive was stuck syncing. I never got data downloaded, but uninstalling iCloud worked in reducing my data usage immediately.

I have been loyal to comcast internet, but the last two month's my data usage has spiked over my limit.  I was never close in the 2 years I have been in Florida.  What has happened in the last two months?  How do you fix it?  No way I am using all the data Comcast is claiming.  How do you fight the overcharge?

thank you

@SarasotaRon123  We will soon find out.

Comcast Security called us today, based upon comments we left here. They seem sincere in getting to the bottom of the problem. But much of what they told us we have heard before. As soon as we get a viable answer, or even no answer at all, we will post here for everyone's information.

It just baffles us how many people across the country have had this problem and Comcast pleads ingnorance.

Thank you.

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@AspenWhite wrote:

Wow, and i thought i was alone, but came across this thread.

 

Essentially i can report a very similar experience:

 

* I own my own Modem and Router.  Have had no problems except a few years ago when Comcast decided to CHARGE ME for my own Modem, thinking that i was renting it

* Have averaged 250-300GB Usage in my house for the prior 6 months, and even got Comcast Data Usage Escalation team (Philippines team) to read and confirm that

* I got pinged today (mid-morning PST) that i was at 90% of my 1TB cap

* I got pinted at ~2.04PM PST that i had now reached 100% of my 1TB cap

 

I did support chat w/ Xfinity and was eventually told to contact the Data Usage Escalation team (Philippines team).  

Spoke with them, and while she was 'nice enough', she was not able to provide much information to me, aside form saying that I should change my password on my Router.

I'm willing to concede that i will change the WiFI password on my router, but how on this green earth do they think i went from ~300GB average usage over the prior 6 months to OVER 1024GB usage (by the 25th of November, no less)??!??

 

I feel like a mushroom right now...

Hoping for some clarity here.

 

**********************

Fearing the worst, when returning home i immediately virus-scanned all laptops/desktops in the home.  I went on my Router and ID'd every device in the house and that was on the Network. None were found to be an "unwelcome Guest", as Comcast Philippines support team so nicely put.

However, when looking at my Traffic Analyzer on the Network, i found that as i was researching my devices that the very desktop i was using...was gobbling up a good amount of Internet data!

Luckily for Windows 10 users, there's a Data Usage option. For newbies, it's under Settings and then under Network and Internet.

• When i looked, at the top line, I saw that I had used 608.57 GB within the last 25 days!!!

I fell out of my chair.

More research said that sometimes Online Drives (DropBox, Google Drive, Amazon Drive, etc.) get "stuck syncing". In my case, it was iCloud.  Worst was that i never even got the documents i wanted from iCloud.  I logged out of iCloud, and promptly uninstalled the program (both profiles, me and wife). The data usage immediately fell to minimal levels...

 

TL;DR: Scanned all devices, no bad guys (seemingly) on network using my data. Found out that massive data being used by an Online Drive--iCloud in my case.  This Online Drive was stuck syncing. I never got data downloaded, but uninstalling iCloud worked in reducing my data usage immediately.

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Thanks for sharing your experience. 

Our teams see many instances where applications like online drives (iCloud is just one example) syncing constantly and/or "getting stuck" can cause significant data usage.