Unusually high data usage megathread

We're getting the same thing this month. Absolutely nothing has changed as far as our usage, our equipment, the number of people in the home. We have been watching less TV, have had fewer guests (only the trusted ones have the password), etc.. I don't get it. We have had internet service with xfinity for quite a few years and just left DirecTV maybe a year ago. Is this how it works? Get comfortable with the service and then say we are going over our data limits to squeeze more dough from us? I mean seriously, we have never gone over 600 and something MB per month and that was after my nephew moved in with us and brought his Xbox. Now he has a job and a girlfriend so he hardly ever gets on that thing anymore. Now this month, out of the blue we turn into data hogs? Heck no one is really here that much to use the data. I can't wait to hear what they say about this. They can't show me which devices are using what amounts. The app says we have used X but each device that is connected to the system has very little usage over 30 days, that's what THEIR app says. We are moving in the next couple of months and I'm not sure I want to continue with this kind of practices. Keeping customers in the dark about data usage then telling me we have used too much does not seem fair at all. Anyone else get this resolved? I will be back to post the results of the "investigation".

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@Annapolismike wrote:
The xfi app internet usage activity is live IMO. I see these usage spikes and reser the modem. The next hour the activity is back to low. Something is happening which is using data outside is my devices.

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So I ended up soving my issues first with a commercial firewall appliance, and then with an old laptop running a pfsense firewall (free) and a wifi router (cheap one).  All the cable modem does is the coax to ethernet.  Wifi is disabled on my cable modem (netgear), along with the usual ICMP/remote access/UPnP etc.....  Old PC works great too for a firewall.  Doesn't have to be anything special.  You just need two network ports, or a USB dongle and one port.   Goes like this:

Internet <--> cable modem <--> Laptop port 1 (firewall) <--> Laptop port 2 (Internal lan) <--> wifi router (internal lan) <--> Inside lan/wifi clients.

Wifi router (internal lan) is an access point only.  Network configuration is done with DHCP on the internal port of the firewall.

The default setup in pfsense will keep you out of trouble.  It's just a BSD based OS.  Web interface you can see from the inside.  Snort is an adaptive firewall (free) add on you can do later that creates dynamic rules you can switch on and off.  You'll find it helpful, but if you turn everything on, it's a bit draconian and you'll have to disable some of the rules.  You can also see graphically, and via command line what everything is doing on your network if you want to get into that, as well as capture traffic to analyze with wireshark (ntopng add on).

Still a problem after that?  Dump the Xfi gateway and get a cable modem.

I'll also say that pfsense doesn't have great support for USB dongles.  You'll probably have to disable TCPIP offload -- hardware/segmentation and large frame to get one to work, but some work out of the box.  USB is slower too, but you probably won't notice anything.  PC with two ports if you need the speed.  Tiny hard drive is fine.  I'm using a 40G ssd and barely use 5Gigs with logging everything.

No changes in my usage cut bandwidth from going over, to only using 350 Gb/month, and some throttling took me under 300Gb

Update

Still no return call for Level 3 ticket

Resetting modem/gateway daily now

after reset, 10 gigabyte in 24hr 

After previous post, I tried to logged into modem/gateway via http://10.0.0.1.  Found that passwords were set to default and wi-fi connections options not set to preference previously held. Unusual as the modem/gateway was activated over the phone with Comcast in November, and personal passwords were used, which I verified after that call and then again after call made to activate the X1 cable box recieved in December.

Xfi app is reporting low usage on devices while operational (Turned both the PC and Xbox One on, but left them running at homescreen as well as verifing no applications/services/updatess are running ) but then shows very high spike near time devices are shut off, and shows continued usage though minimal at hours the devices are not operational.

Am not satisfied with response or service. Currently pricing fiber isp.

I am getting calls for exceeding my datacap.  Nothing changed and I am not sure why the sudden spike from 200-300 gb data useage can jump to 1TB+. 

I called customer service and they seems to have no idea. I need help resolving this. This is in houston 77034 area. 

I am attempting to find out why we are going over our limit.  I checked every device... Each device states <0.1%.  How are we over a limit? Where do I find out where it is being used? The last four consecutive months the data limit has increased more each month?? 

Not that it solves anything but at least now I can in this thread that a lot of other people have the exact same issue. It is simply crazy how the data usage can just sky rocket when ones usage pattern has not changed a bit. The Xfi data usage per device doesn't work all and after both being on chat and the phone for about 1½ hour with Xfinity, they are still not able to tell me what has caused the usage to go up that much. I just get the same old message about running virus scan, change our network name and data etc. Xfinity actually had us switch to Xfi with the argument that we can follow the usage per person, device etc. but apparently that doesn't work at all. They also keep telling me not to worry because I have 2 complimentary months of exceeding the limit. I don't care if I go over if I understand why and that is the problem...... 

Same problem here. An hd movie will eat 6 GB. an hour, 4K will eat even more. Check the settings and lower picture quality from auto, or 1080 to something lower like 480 or 360.        With youtubetv  When watching a program,  press the down arrow 2 times (it will highlight networks) then the left arrow 3 times,(highlight3 vertical dots) then down again 1 time, and right 1 time change you picture quality there.  NOTE: changing 1 station will set all stations to the same setting.   Roku tvs when you change the settings for picture quality, it Will revert to the factory default!!!!!!

  Hope this helps somebody.   We were 588 GB over for the the 1st month.   Shootin for under this month.............

Hello, 

I have loved Xfinity internet and tv service since I had signed up for it a few years ago and haven't had any issues and I am still loving the service since it is the fastest in my area. Also have been trying out Xfinity Mobile and so far no issues other than having to "pause" the new phone number and un-pause it to get it to accept calls/test

Anyway 

I had recently upgraded to a way faster teir Xfinity internet plan of 600Mbps (and upgraded my tv package) and while that speed is amazing I was kinda bummed to see that I am still stuck with a 1tb of data that I had on my 200Mbps 😕 . While I never went over the 1tb on my old plan, the first month I kinda did on this plan lol... 

One thing I liked with my old ISP was if you bundled Internet and TV you could get unlimited data, but their fastest plan was 75mbps...  I do understand if this might not be possible for Xfinity to do, and I know you can buy unlimited data for something like ($30-50?) a month but that falls off my budget, and you also get 2 courtesy months, but are you able to earn those back if you use them? (maybe you can, just dont see anything on the page). 

However I do think that each teir should come with more data allowance in reality if I am looking at a 600mbps plan I am most likely going to use it. and really 1tb is going to go fast for some these days. Video games are becoming larger in file size along with their updates, some pushing 150gb for one game, 4k downloads can be way larger than just HD. Next thing you know you could be done with 1tb of data within a day or two... 

If I could suggest something I would say a plan of 600Mbps should get 2tb and 1000Mbps should get at least 3tb of data and maybe all plans if you bundle with tv you get an aditional 1-2tb of data and maybe the same if you bundle a phone plan. 

Maybe what I am saying is I don't see 1tb holding up like it use to with how large downloads are becoming, more shared devices on a network, and how fast speeds are getting. 

Just my thoughts.  

I still have not gotten their accidental mistake refunded yet. it still shows my Account as using 1Tb for the Month of November 2019 and 1 out of 2 Courtesy months used and not yet refunded.

Xfinity Mistake 2019 

Edit: NOT SOLVED

I have had xfinity for over 10yrs. I've never come close to reaching a TB. I was using 500-600GB and that's just this year. My husband and I live alone our kids stop by every so often to visit and we stream Netflix (1080) and all other programming at (750). Such as Prime, or You tube TV. We don't game or really download very much except for updates for our IOS equipment. I watch 1 TV a day with the grand baby when she comes to visit. My router does show there is 7 things online (I watch, I phone, Roku main tv and Roku bedroom TV, my husbands I watch and I phone) however the only one using data is the Main TV. I've called several times and nibidy can explain it to me other than I need to pay $50 more a month fir unlimited? I'm so confused? We have friends that have xfinity that their kids game all night, never shut off the TV and they are always on their phones and watching YouTube videos. The difference between our friends and us is they rent xfinitys modem and we don't. We used to, but after having several technicians out to figure out why Netflix kept dropping the signal I decided to buy my own modem. As soon as I did this I started using triple the amount of internet WHY? No one at xfinity can explain to me why? I called last Thursday and was transferred several times, tried to sell me tv and hike phone and then tried to sell me unlimited data. WTH? I kept saying if they could explain to me why I'm using that much and I felt it was needed I'd upgrade, but I couldn't understand why all the sudden it's trippled. She couldn't explain it, put me on hold and then hung up. It was 48 minutes of my life wasted. And this is the 4th time I've called. I just need to figure out where and how am I using this much data. We went to Disneyland with their grand  kids in December for a week. I unplugged the modem and I still used data while it was unplugged. I was told by xfinity that I needed to change my line and password. They changed the line and I changed the pass word and I still went over. Ugh!! Today we watched the super bowl. We did have 3 TVs streaming the super bowl and I calculated the internet we used (based on xfinitys website) that we used 50gb from 3:30pm to 8:30. How? We did not game, use our phones, or shop online. We just had 3 TVs streaming and none of them were streaming in 4K. I've contacted the modem company and the router company and they can't figure out how xfinitys is calculated their data use. I'm super bothered by this. I don't have time to babysit xfinity. 

3 TVs, running for 5 hours and consuming 50gb (I'm assuming you mean gigaBYTEs) is about 3.3GB/hour/stream which is within the ranges I see quoted for HD streaming.

Did you change your router only, and not the modem or are you using a modem+router combination?

@haavar I am using the Xfinity gateway which is a router and modem combo. I had their newest one but went ahead and swapped it out anyway to see if it would make any difference. It cut the data usage in half. Now it’s back to 650 where it was before the September surge. Interestingly I did just get a notice that someone logged into my account at 1 am this morning. Not sure how they got in but I’m changing all the passwords etc again.