Unusually high data usage megathread

[Devetta]

I have never gone over 300Mb of data usage until the corona virus. We have not changed our life at all but our data usage hs been way over 1.2 TB a month for the last 3 months. We have called xfinity a few times and no one can give us an answer. Is this happening to anyone else? We live in southwest Michigan 

[Devetta]

My data usage has gone up since coronavirus. We were using less than 200 a month and for the last 3 months it's over 1500. We have call xfinity 2 times this month and even talked to internet security no one can give us an answer.

[Hari-bhari]

Having the same issue. Before March we averaged 700gb per month. March through June is showing 4000, 3000, and 2500GB with no changes in our use or habits. This data cap is just a scam to get you to sign up for unlimited

[bolohead]

@Devetta 

Good luck getting any type of acknowledgement from the CSRs.

Mine refused to acknowledge that there could be any problem on Comcast' side.

Despite the multiple long outages I had experience in June (long = more than two hours).

I would suggest a few things that I saw some people do (even from a year ago).

If all your devices go through a router (like mine do), you can try to get the usage from your router to compare to what Comcast reports.

Otherwise, see if all your devices track their own usage and sum them up (requires technical savvy on the devices being used).

One non-arguable method would be to disconnect the modem (or at least all data using devices) for say a day and a half.

e.g.

Disconnect on 12PM friday.

Check using a non comcast connection (cell phone?) what your data usage is on Saturday morning. (Disconnecting on Friday allows some buffer for their delayed reporting)

Then check again on Sunday morning.

If it's gone up, then something is obviously wrong if it went up while the modem was turn off or everything was disconnected.

This is the most inconvenient solution I had seen, since you're offline for more than a day, but definitely something that can't be argued.

Especially if you call CSR and they see that your modem is not reachable, though I don't know if they have statistics on how long it was offline.

FYI:

I'm experiencing this the San Jose, CA area.

[strega7]

I would say wait at least 24 hours before the first data reading.    Otherwise, if you choose any lower time, they can point to the 24 hour statement on the meter and say that it could be that.  (And they might be right or it might be an excuse but either way, you've been offline without proving your point.)

[BobWang]

Date Nest WiFi  Xfinity (Reported Usage in GB)
7/18       10.3         15

7/19       10.4         25

[joechang]

Still seeing inaccuracies of data reporting on the bandwidth meter.

Over the weekend, ~40GB reported  (527GB -> 570GB), averaging 20GB a day.

Problem is, I wasn't even home, and limited network use, as confirmed by my router, which shows under 500MB download, and 900MB total.  So to give benefit of the doubt, let's call it 1GB total upload and download.

40GB reported vs 1GB used

40X difference

I think I'm going to have to protest charges at the end of this month.  Problem is I'm not looking forward to working my way through 10+ levels of CSRs to reach someone that may know something.

[ComcastTeds]

@joechang 

Apologies for the issues and the experience that you described above.

The monthly data usage on your account has steadily increased. 

If it's helpful, we are seeing lower than average usage on the following days in July:

July 4, 5 , 18 and 19  

Please see info below on the metering system and timing.  

Actual data usage shown is not real-time and may be delayed up to 24 hours.

I've asked a colleague to review your account and contact you directly. Thanks for your patience.

We offer tools to help you track and manage your usage so there are never any surprises about how much data you use:

• Data Usage Meter in My Account - Monitor how much data you have used with our Data Usage Meter.
• Xfinity My Account App - You can also monitor how much data you have used in our mobile app. (Download the Xfinity My Account app.)
• Notifications - We will send you an 'in-browser' notice and an email letting you know when you approach, reach and exceed a terabyte. You can also elect to receive notifications at additional thresholds as well as set up mobile text notifications. Usage notifications will not be sent to customers who enroll in the Unlimited Data Option.
• Data Plan Website - Summary of plan features and additional tools and tips related to the data plans. To visit, go to dataplan.xfinity.com.

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

Providing some additional information, background and tips below from our team that does the data overage reviews.

Customer owned devices
- One example are devices like Ubiquiti uNiFi, which our team most commonly sees as an issue with data usage. The device has an internal metering system along with a periodic speed test built into it. The speed test can accrue massive amounts of data usage without reporting to its own internal metering system because it is part of its system functions, not a device using data even though it is using data. We report its usage because we monitor for all data traffic going to and from the modem/network, not per device connected to their network.

- The number and kinds of devices connected to your network matters. Suggestion is to log into your router to see and verify all the devices connected to your network" (very applicable with customer owned devices).

Metering System:
- Comcast does not have direct access into the metering system to the extent to be able to artificially input or output data usage results or information. Our metering system is regularly audited as well where information on it can be gathered from https://www.netforecast.com/.
It includes everything from the yearly audits to how the metering system works on a technical level. This is done third party outside of Comcast.

Comcast data metering accuracy reports at the link below:
https://www.netforecast.com/comcast-internet-usage-accuracy-reports/

- The metering system is delayed by up to 24 hours. "I watched my meter and it went up by 100GB in the last 3 hours and I just booted up my computer for 15 minutes!" is not accurate - the metering timeframe is not 1:1 - its delayed because it needs to validate data and remove any data that we do not count towards the metering system. This includes things like firmware updates we push out and any other possible data we may push to the network for normal operations.

- Greatest opportunity with Windows 10 devices. Windows 10 has a built in data usage meter for its own data tracking per application/software used on the device for 30 days(Settings -> Network & Internet -> Data Usage tab).

- Similarly could be done for other devices, ex: “Go into Netflix settings and make sure that it pauses after not watching it for a while”, etc.

Overall:
There is no trend or consistency indicating an issue in metering, but rather these have all been unique issues per network requiring the subscriber to troubleshoot/review their network.

The common trend topic is “there is no way I can use this much data”. While the number amount of data a customer can see on the meter is more than what they know to be using, doesn’t mean it isn’t being used.

Common data users:
- Streaming devices left on even when TVs are turned off – continuously streaming and/or misconfigured settings on streaming devices
- Data backups (including cloud backups)
- Large file downloads for entertainment (video games, updates, locally downloaded movies/videos from online services, etc.) or business purposes (files of information/data for business needs, Data backups downloaded from or uploaded to, etc.)

[joechang]

Thanks, I've seen this stock response, and have checked Unifi equiment settings for what is mentioned.  Please also do not post individual account statistics on a public forum, so I have flagged the above post to the moderators.  The current metrics are not accurate, and Xfinity customers are trying to be helpful before it becomes a larger problem.

[bolohead]

@ComcastTeds 

Your response reads very much like that of the phone rep.

Basically states that the Comcast measurement is NOT at fault and shifts blame to the users.

Even after users have stated the data usage as measure on their end, there is no acknowledgement that something could be wrong on the network side.

From the history in this post, there was an instance last year where it was acknowledged that there was a problem on the Comcast side, yet a year later, the stance is still that nothing can be wrong on the Comcast side of things.

If it happened once (verified by the post history), then it may be a possibility that it's occurring again.

Especially given that Comcast had supposedly 'stopped' tracking usage, though obviously that is not true, as my usage during the 'untracked' months suddenly appeared again in July.

[ComcastTeds]

@joechang I removed your the monthly data usage numbers from my reply. 

As mentioned, I asked our data team to review your account specifically and also make direct contact with you regarding this. The right teams are in the loop. 

Outside of the earlier Fall 2019 issue that you referenced, there is no trend or consistency indicating an issue in metering.

The right teams continue to review and evaluate to see if there is a common condition or theme here.

If there is a larger issue, we will own it and address it appropriately as we have done in the past.

[ComcastTeds]

@bolohead 

Outside of the earlier Fall 2019 issue that you referenced, there is no trend or consistency indicating an issue in metering.

The right teams continue to review and evaluate to see if there is a common condition or theme here.

If there is a larger issue, we will own it and address it appropriately as we have done in the past.

[Jamesfo0]

Hey Everyone!

I just dumped Xfinity and they are charging me an early termination fee of some contract I was never aware of?

Anyways aside from that, CenturyLink offered me a better deal WAY FASTER fiber optic internet right up to my house with no bandwidth limit or overage charge just a flat $65 a month.

Hey Xfinity, 

Goodbye.

[ComcastTeds]

@Jamesfo0 I sent via e-mail the details of the contract that you agreed to that includes the 12 month promotional rate and details on the early termination fees. 

That being said, as a courtesy, I can waive these fees. Just send me a Private Message when you are ready to disconnect. 

As a courtesy, I have also provided a credit for any recent late fees incurred. 

[photocatseyes]

Hi, over the last 3 days I got alarming messages that my usual 500 MB a month data usage all of a sudden has spiked to 1400Mb in May, 1800Mb in June and today I ran out for July at 1200Mb with still 10 days to go. We have 10 devices: 2 apple watches, 2 ipads, 2 computers, 2 phones and one television. I pay $150 for my dataplan. It's me and my husband. We watch about 6 hours of tele a day, and I usually do have Xfinity live streaming on my computer for an extra 6 hours while I work. We do have Netflix, Hulu, Acorn, but that is included in the six hours a day on tele. So in total we would have 12 hours average of streaming a day. There never seemed to be a problem. All of a sudden it becomes a huge problem and I am afraid to open my browser or be online. Is this a hidden thing so we would go to unlimited plans? Is that really needed for 2 retired people in one household? We do not download huge tremendous things, we are not game players with extra needed bandwith, we just stream tv... We at this point have no problems with the phone data plans, one normal and one unlimited. Do I need to use phone data plan instead of hooking it up to the wifi at home? I did turn down Netflix to hd instead of HD and 4K to save on bandwith now, but should I be doing that? I checked my router and there are no free loaders around, nobody is piggybacking on our connection. What is going on? I did go to the Xfinity store in town but they were totally useless as they can't tell me anything. They can not see where my data is going, if they can't see that how does Comcast know that I am going over limits? I suppose I will use my courtesy month for the first time in the 4 years that I have been a comcast customer. Where do the spikes come from? Anybody? Since 300 dollars of our income goes to Xfinity a month, I would think that would make us reasonably good customers, and that somebody should be able to give us some clues... Anyone?

[photocatseyes]

Have the same problem. My usage skyrocked to tripe my normal amount. Just posted my problem today... I wonder what is going on... 

[photocatseyes]

I used ten percent of 1200 tb in the last four hours today... Got a mail yesterday that I was at 90 percent, and today around noon I reached that ten percent. Am now again over the 1200 GB. If something is fixed I am sure as ***** not seeing it. Today I used 33 GB in four hours. With my browser doing work, no streaming nowhere in the house. 
April  430
May 1400
June 1800
July 1200 with ten days to go... Is this a scam to get us to pay an extra 50 dollar for an unlimited plan? Outrageous... 

[strega7]

Photocatseyes,

The numbers I see for Netflix are 3.1 to 3.5GB/hour for HD (UHD/4K is much more) , so a rough calculation of 12(hours per day)*3.3GB/hour(average rate)*31(days) gives you about 1228GB per month for just the HD streaming.  If you were also watching some 4K before, then your total would have been higher.

[selwyni]

This is getting ridiculous

Since that data usage meter doesn't show daily values (even historical ones! I don't care if it's off by two days), it's entirely unhelpful for pinpointing when things started going wrong.

In my case, there was an unplanned outage that meant I was without internet for a solid 6 hours in the middle of the workday, and then my "data usage" hit 75% of the cap  in the evening that same day.

Yesterday there was some guy with an xfinity truck doing some maintenance outside my apartment. Later that day I "hit" the 90% of the cap.

My Windows desktop shows 188GB from the past 30 days and you're telling me in the last 20 days I've used up 10 times that? 

None of those data usage tips help if you're charging me for doing maintenance on YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE

[bolohead]

@Jamesfo0

Congratulations on being someone who lives in an area where you actually have a choice of highspeed internet.

Unfortunately, my choices are either cable or DSL (no matter how AT&T tries to package it).

I might be able to get 20Mbps on DSL, but no gaurantees.

I'm really hoping that at some point, a company decides that it's actually worth upgrading fiber in Silicon Valley.

While Verizon installed fiber in my neighborhood, it was only to extend their own network within San Jose.

Since I've switched over to using my mobile hotspot to avoid going over this month, I'm now changing my mind on needing Comcast.

Given the recent multi-hour outages, random slow-downs, and now this data usage discrepency, it might be time to just use DSL and stream everything.

At least I won't have to deal with an outdated mentality of data caps that do not increase with the changes in video streaming technology.

@ComcastTeds 

When checking my account, I see following message, which seems to indicate that Comcast DID monkey around with how data usage is being measured.

Expanding Access to Data: We recently updated our data usage meters. As part of Xfinity’s response to COVID-19, you won’t be charged for any data usage that occurred from March 13 through June 30. To bring you more value and support you going forward, we’re increasing the amount of data included in our internet data plans by 20%, to 1.2 TB. These changes were effective July 1.

[photocatseyes]

Thank you @strega7  I checked again, and we stream from around 19 PM to 24PM, but not every day... We also watch cable inbetween, it seems that cable is not using your datapackage. There are days that I do stream an hour or two in the afternoon while working in my office. If I look on the website of Xfinity it says "Go ahead and Binge watch", you are good for 480 to 560 hours of HD in a month. Which means I can watch 16 hours of hd streaming a day in my calculations. I doubt that there are many people that are streaming video from 7 in the morning till late at night, but then I can be wrong. How does this go when one has a family of four all having ipads and phones, as many families nowadays exist... Teens are hooked up 24/24... It is just me and my hubs, both retired, and yes, we like to be online, and I think we pay a reasonable/toExpensive (?) ($150) price for that. I just fail to see how over the last 3 months our usage has tripled and on it's way to quadruple if my guesses are right. Unless we drastically cut down on our internet usage. We both have 1 online game, no x-boxes, no torrents, no radio streaming, god forbid I would want to do that... I had thought about adding Sirius to my computer, but that will be a no go untill I figured out where those outrageous data surges come from.  The Play better window on the website claims that we can play video games on 48 devices vor 24 hours straight every day... Guess that is a lie also. (Not that we do that, but hey...). I will get in my car and drive to the Xfinity store again as I think they are pulling our leg big time. As a Belgian living in New Mexico I do have my computer on all day and night, with browser open, but I have been doing that for the last five years. Over the last days I have checked and shut down all browsers in the evening, so nothing is ramping up while we are sleeping. I do want to be connected though if there is an emergency in Belgium with my family, I want to be reachable. I think that for 150 dollars a month I should be able to do that. Again, the biggest discrepancy is that it is only the last 3 months. The data meter in the Xfinity app is useless, as it is not able to calculate finely... I used 10 percent of my data allowance yesterday in four hours. We have 5G and 2G, I put 6 of our devices on the 2GB network, as I am now afraid to use the 5G. Do we pay 150 dollar for that? OK, enough venting. Off to the store. Thank you very much Streag for your answer, it helped. 

[strega7]

Photocatseyes,

You're welcome!

Keep in mind that their calculator uses some average rate that may or may not match whatever service and resolution you choose.

You're reminding me of when I first encountered the idea of streaming TV back in the mid to late 1990s (I used to work at a big tech company back then that was involved in that kind of stuff) and my reaction was:  Well that's highly convenient and personalized but it seems horrifically inefficient compared to broadcasting.  Nonetheless we had this roadmap that said that both communications bandwidth and processer power were essentially going to be "free" or "negligible" in the future, and that has more or less happened (ie: in inflation adjusted terms I pay the same for Internet as in 1995 but it is 4000 times as fast – for a few dollars more I could get ~40,000 times as fast.) 

However, there is still SOME cost, so at times you may need to decide how much to use the cable (broadcast) vs the streaming.  The combination of cable, plus lots of streaming is probably your worst-case scenario cost-wise.  Ie: cable alone, or dropping cable and paying for unlimited data would likely save you money.  (BTW, unlimited data is $30 on the website, but a lot of CSRs still seem to be quoting $50. The price drop happened a few weeks ago so hopefully it will get straightened out soon.)

I noticed the kid next door likes to come over and play on our computers (or at least she did before March!)   She says she's not allowed to play on them at home.  I guess that's how that family handles your question!

I would be surprised if you could consume more than 1GB per day in a web browser.  (Unless you're browsing to videos or browsing to find big downloads etc.) 

Also, even though their meter might have showed a bunch of data being used over 4 hours, because of the 24-hour limitation, it could have been used in the previous 24 hours.  That's annoying but that's what we have to work with in terms of their meter.  (Many computers and other devices have their own meters that work in real-time.)

If you're looking for some background sounds and news while doing other things, conventional non-internet radio is still out there and completely free.

[OlderSibling]

Yes. In fact I have been checking every month and my data was never near the maximum. Always round 550GB. Today I received a text message so I checked and now out of nowhere Comcast is saying I used roughly 6000GB each for March, April, May and June! I just checked those months  previously and they were around 5-600 GB as normal - why are they being inflated?!

I am thinking there is an issue or there is a money grab going on.

[bolohead]

@OlderSibling 

My conspiracy thoery part of the brain is postulating that since Comcast did not show our data usage during April-June until July kicked in, they started to inflate the numbers so that when July kicked in, we would think our usage pattern went up due to the COVID restrictions.

I mean, it would look like it makes sense if you see the trend going up during the bulk of the COVID shutdown.

Especially for areas where everything was closed.

Part of me is glad, as I am now seriously looking into whether I can cut the cord and whether I really do need the bandwidth that I'm currently at.

I'd rather have lower bandwidth without any worry of a data cap than a larger pipe that has a data cap that I can't trust.

Along with a lot of companies jumpstarting their video stream services, I won't have to be reliant on cable TV anymore.

[kduffey01]

We recently moved, and switched from AT&T to Xfinity for our WiFi. There are just two of us, and generally we're only using WiFi on our living room television (through an Apple TV) and on our cellphones. I'm working from home right now, so I'm also using WiFi on my laptop during "business hours." I just received an email from Xfinity saying we were at 75% of our data -- for just two people that seems hard to belive. We don't play videogames, but do watch a lot of Netflix -- my deep dive into the message boards has shown me that Netflix is a huge data user. 

I'm just trying to figure out if this sounds normal to people -- for two adults to go through that much data in a month (June was at the same level) -- and/or if there's a way for me to really get a breakdown of where and when this data is being used. I can't tell much from the bar graphs they have in the usage center. 

Thanks for any insight or help!

[bolohead]

@kduffey01 

I would suggest you first measure how many hours you have seen.

Then calculate based on the numbers from Netflix.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

HD (1080p) -> 3GB/hr

Ultra HD (2160 aka. 4K) -> 7GB/hr (corrected from original brain laspe.  Thank you @BruceW )

You do have to take a look what you are watching see whether it's actually availble in 4K or not.

It would be nice if Netflix were to provide bandwidth usage per profile.

The more data points, the better.

Still, if Comcast measurement is correct and let's take HD as your bandwidth for streaming.

Two adults went through 900GB in roughly 23 days.

That's ~39GB per day, which would translate into ~13 hours of watching each day of the week.

Bear in mind this is purely TV watching and not giving any over to non-video streaming use.

Even if you were to say 20% is given over to non-video streaming, that's still A LOT of streaming.

So it seems that you two:
Watch a lot of streaming video.

might fall asleep watching a series and Netflix is automatically showing all the episodes until the end.

Based on the responses from Comcast, it would seem that the majority of us who go over 1.2TB are just couch potatoes constantly binge watching everything there is online.

[BruceW]

---

@bolohead wrote: ... https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

HD (1080p) -> 3GB/hr

Ultra HD (2160 aka. 4K) -> 4GB/hr ...

---

Note that https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87 says: "High - Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour per device for HD, and 7 GB per hour per device for Ultra HD".

[flockofseagles]

I'm trying to figure out how on earth my family's internet data usage jumped 15% in 3 days, when I had already told everyone else in my household to stop installing xbox games & etc that typically use more data than just streaming & etc? Is there a way to see how much data each connected device is using/has used? The usage meter only gives a total...

[strega7]

If you have the xFi app, you can get some (somewhat vague) indication of which device is using the most data.  Many/most devices are able to tell you how much data they have used in the last 30 days.  Some owned routers can break it down by device.  Some DIY routers running open source software can get REALLY specific.

[strega7]

@kduffey01,

You say you " watch a lot of Netflix" and that is certainly a way to use data.  However, there are a lot of definitions of "a lot" and there is an endless list of ways to use a lot of data.  Do the math and see how much of your use is explained by Netflix.  If it's only a small percentage, move on to other things. 

There really is no "normal".  Everyone uses different stuff and in different amounts.  And sometimes people don't even know all the stuff that is going on on their home network until something like this makes them look.  Sometimes it's a bug, malware, or a "feature".  I read on a Windows forum recently that someone checked the box in Windows that lets your Windows machine share updates with anyone and his data use went up 4.5TB/month.

[drew0823]

Got the same data cap warning email as some of you guys.  We average about 700GB each month.  Suddenly May/June were over 1200GB each.  I'm currently at 1165GB for July.  Our usage habits haven't changed.  It showed we used 29GB just today even though we intentionally cut everything off.  Went through (3) different representatives and the only thing suggested was to go to their unlimited plan.  Very frustrating.

[BobWang]

1,024 GB / 31 days = 33 GB / day

In my situation, on July 1, Xfinity reported usage of 175 GB,

I figured it was a glitch,

or the “extra” 0.2 TB / month we are getting.

It almost looks like the usage meter defaults to ~32 GB / day,

IOW, just below the cap,

but then doubles up actual usage as well.

When I saw all the posts, I started tracking my usage

Date	Nest WiFi	Xfinity
Sat 07-18	10.3	15
Sun 07-19	10.4	25
Mon 07-20	12.3	32
Tue 07-21	15	53
Wed 07-22	24.1	53
Thu 07-23	18.8	36
Fri 07-24	17	42
Sat 07-25	18.3	31
Total	126.2	287

[BobWang]

Graph of my usage attached

[suryamanikar]

I started noticing the same problem now. I see min 70Gb of usage per day. I installed usage and bandwidth+ app in my devices ( iPhone and laptops) and it is hardly uses 5Gb. Rest are SlingTV and a NetFlix. How come 2-3 hrs of watching shows will consume rest? I think max 3Gb per hour = 10GB. It can’t go beyond 20GB max. How Comcast is updating 70GB per day? Between last night at 12am and 8am in the morning it shows 20GB of usage. Everyone was sleeping :). I opened a case this morning. Let me know if you experience this issue during COVID 19.

[suryamanikar]

I experience the same Issue. Last night I went to bed and wake up in the morning found 20GB of data used. Glitch or intentional?

[strega7]

@suryamanikar

The meter says it may not show data used within the last 24 hours, so data showing up overnight doesn't mean it was actually used at night. 

[suryamanikar]

What time we should measure then? I measure at 8:30am last 24hrs And the usage is more than 70GB. Quite impossible. What’s next?

[suryamanikar]

Same issue here. I called open a case. Earlier I was thinking it is one off but it’s a community issue. @ComcastTeds #ComcastTeds

[strega7]

It's not really a time-of-day thing.  For example, if you want to see if a specific device is contributing to excess use, you can: Shut it down, and wait at least 24 hours, record the meter value (after the first 24 hours) to establish a baseline, then wait at least 24 hours more and note that meter value.  If you read the meter in small time intervals you may only confuse yourself as to what's going on.  For example, if you just shut down for 8 hours, part or all of the change to the meter might have occurred during those 8 hours, or the 16 hours before that.  You just don't know for sure.

[suryamanikar]

Looks like a scam. Not sure how to prove it. I’m going to buy a different router which can monitor the usage.

[Hoosiers530]

Why is my internet data going up higher this month when my family is back to work. It makes ZERO sense unless you guys are trying to make it go higher. I check my data every day and chart what we watch so I dare you to tell me I'm confused on this

[Unhappy64]

I have been with Comcast for a very long time.  I have only internet since March, we don't watch much TV at my house.  I have never, ever been even close to reaching, let alone going over my data usage. Now all of a sudden I have not only reached my increased limit of 1.2TB but have exceeded it before this month's billing cycle has ended.  Can someone please explain to me how that is even possible. Especially since I was gone, out of town for all of June and half of July.  I would like to see a breakdown of what devices, or what use of the data all of a sudden increased so dramatically starting at the same time that COVID 19 began!!!!

[klutch14u]

I too have seen higher than normal usage.  I have a Asus router that shows me traffic usage by client and has always been almost exact the same as the Xfinity usage meter.  This month though I see a 200GB descrepency between them.  I was wondering, does the Xfinity Beta app on Roku TV's now count as data users and/or when I go to https://www.xfinity.com/stream/ from my PC and watch programing?  It never did before and there are numerous articles from years back specifically saying they didn't count but reading the FAQ now it seems they might.

I specifically bought my model of router to get a better handle on who the data sponges in the house are but suddenly, this month, it's all out of whack and have 200+GB that's completely uncounted for.

[klutch14u]

I have been seeing higher than normal usage data use.  I have a Asus router that shows me traffic usage by client and has always been almost exactly the same as the Xfinity usage meter.  This month though I see a 200GB descrepency between them.  I was wondering, does the Xfinity Beta app on Roku TV's now count as data users and/or when I go to https://www.xfinity.com/stream/ from my PC and watch programing?  It never did before and there are numerous articles from years back specifically saying they didn't count but reading the FAQ now it seems they might.

I specifically bought my model of router to get a better handle on who the data sponges in the house are but suddenly, this month, it's all out of whack and have 200+GB that's completely uncounted for.

[klutch14u]

I have been seeing higher than normal usage data use.  I have a Asus router that shows me traffic usage by client and has always been almost exactly the same as the Xfinity usage meter.  This month though I see a 200GB descrepency between them.  I was wondering, does the Xfinity Beta app on Roku TV's now count as data users and/or when I go to https://www.xfinity.com/stream/ from my PC and watch programing?  It never did before and there are numerous articles from years back specifically saying they didn't count but reading the FAQ now it seems they might.

I specifically bought my model of router to get a better handle on who the data sponges in the house are but suddenly, this month, it's all out of whack and have 200+GB that's completely uncounted for.

[aaronsta1]

i just saw this thread.. last months and this months has been double what the standard has been.

no abnormal usage, just regular netflix and some youtube.

if anything the usage should have gone down.. 

the one thing i can think of is i been watching a lot of HBO now on demand since its now free with the xFI.. does this count as internet usage?

[Soulphat]

I've averaged 250Gb per month on internet service, and luckily was not one of those that was scammed by comcast's internal metering 'bug' from September. As of April-June, although I was home more often because of the shutdown, it was no more internet usage than most months, but saw the average now become 2TB, or 8 times as much. Comcast, please stop your internal fraud because you want to take advantage of a hardship on all your subscribers during these times. I entirely aware Comcast has not charged for overages during April through June but artificially inflating metering is 100% fraud.

[lassi505]

So it looks like Comcast is back to their old tricks just like I suspected they would. Prior to Covid, our internet usage (according to Xfinity,) was going above the 1TB of data. We knew this was an impossibility. We got jerked around after submitting tickets, no follow-up, etc. But they had no problem trying to convince me to upgrade to unlimited since we seemed to be approaching the limit every month but couldn't seem to tell me how/why were were even approaching that limit. Knowing this is a full on scam or they're just incompetent and don't know how to fix it, we said absolutely not and we won't be paying any overages. 

Then Covid hits and Comcast makes a smart move by having everyone at unlimited for several months. But they also thought their internet scheme/issues prior to it would get swept under the rug and we'd forget about it. Guess again. As soon as we got the notification unlimited was over and we were all going to 1.2TB's of data/month, I started tracking again.

Things are right back to where they were with this scam and all the previous posts prove it as well. As I write this post, we're sitting at 927GB's with 3 days to go. We know this is an impossibility and fairly certain we'll go over in the next 3 days the way things have been going. 

In Xfinity's OWN MESSAGE when they notified us about upping the data limit to 1.2TB's/month: 

• Stream about 500 hours of HD video in a month
• Stream more than 21,000 hours of music
• Videoconference for close to 3,500 hours in a month

There is no way on God's green earth we should even be approaching the limit, especially with their own email stating the above. 

• Stream about 500 hours of HD video/month. To get to that, we'd have to watch HD videos 21 out o f 31 days, 24 hours each time to get to that number, i.e. no shot this happens
• Stream 21,000 hours of music. There aren't even 800 hours in a full 31 day month, i.e. no shot this happens
• Videoconference for close to 3500 hours in a month. Again there aren't even 800 hours in a full 31 day month so again no shot this happens. 

Now we know Comcast will try and say those are just a few of the things that can take up data and things like regular internet surfing, playing games, blah blah blah can lead to it. We all know that's a bunch of bull so I'll say this. Comcast, you were exposed once before for this very same issue and had to pay out. The issue isn't fixed so I'd advice you guys to fix it this time or be prepared to pay out again in refunds OR worse, just settle for a class action that will easily come your way the longer this continues. 

[Santastico]

New to this Forum but trying to get help. Prior to Covid our home internet data usage was around 200GB per month. Since we started working from home the usage increased and we are averaging 600GB/month until June. Suddenly in July, withing only 20 days into the month we reached almost 1.3TB. No new devices have been added to the router. My router shows a usage very similar to our previous usage. We haven't changed anything in terms of how we use internet.

Ou usage according to Comcast:

January/2020: 229 GB

February/2020: 320 GB

March/2020: 449 GB

April/2020: 512 GB

May/2020: 610 GB

June/2020: 606 GB

July/2020: 1,229 GB (through July 28)

Spent numerous hours with Comcast on the phone and they claim their numbers are correct. However, they cannot explain where I am using the data since they say I own my modem. Went to the Comcast store today and got one of their modems so apparently they can monitor what devices are using the data.

Any thoughts? I have no doubt there is somthing wrong on their end since there is no way we doubled our usage this month.

[strega7]

@Santastico,

Now that you have their modem, try downloading the xFi app.  As far as I know, that's the way you get device specific info for their modem.  Some routers you can buy can also provide this kind of info (And I think in more detail than the xFi app.)  Asus routers are typically mentioned in this regard.  (Although I do see some complaints about Comcast DHCP and Asus routers so you might want to check them before you buy.)  You can also get open source router firmware for certain commercial routers or build-it-yourself routers that can provide even more details.  (For tech-friendly people.)

[Tloger]

Is there any oversight to how these are metered like gas, electric, and water?