Unusually high data usage megathread

You're welcome @Bugg2!  It looks like you're doing a lot of great debugging.  If you don't happen to find an issue on your end, you will have a lot of data for the FCC/Comcast investigation.  It has been my experience that the more data you have when you call for help, the better things tend to go. 

Yep my internet data usage shot way up over the past couple of months.  Not much change in our actual usage either.  Rigth now I am trying to find out how to add the unlimited data because I don't want to get a whopping bill should I go over the data cap.  There is something wrong when I see others saying the same thing.

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@juneeyore82 wrote:

There has not been a fix for the spike in data usage that many have experienced this month.  My data usage tripled in September for no apparent reason I have been able to find thus far - never have gotten close to the data cap since it was raised to 1 TB.  Always have been using about 350 GB.  I have called Comcast several times in the past few days and am not getting any closer to a resolution for this issue and I have little time left to solve it before I am forced to go to an unlimited plan or cancel service and go back to the low speed data plan I had before. 

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Same here!

My September data usage has gone over the limit of 1.2TB  today. Normally it has been around 700 gb or less. I do have streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube TV amongst others. How do I know if the usage this month is legit? We have two TVs. The watching habits since the start of the pandemic have not changed.

@AndyTex 

Sounds like you're describing our situation. We too are steaming on two tv"s for about the last 15 months. Our average data use has been in the low to mid 700"s. This month , with nine days left in the month, we're showing 743 Gigs and that's with having cut back on daily tv watching a couple of hours a day after noticing the increased data use earlier in the month.

One thing I have noticed, while doing real-time monitoring, is that Xfinity Flex box streaming Peacock network uses almost twice as much data as it does when streaming  Peacock on a Roku device (set it up and checked it last night), that's with resolution set at 720 on both devices! With that being said, for about the last two weeks I keep the Flex box UNPLUGGED!

I realize that my self-imposed "throttling back" is not a reasonable solution, nor does it  explain the excess data usage, but I'm employing every method I can  to keep from exceeding my data cap before I recieve some kind of explanation from Comcast!

I started exiting out of any app (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube TV etc.) that we are watching before turning off the TV. Both the TVs we have are smart TVs. Would it make any diffrence if we started watching apps going through XBox or Roku? Someone suggested that. I have not adjusted to 720 from 1020 yet.

I have been with comcast/xfinity for over a decade and have never gone over on data usage. I do check my usage from time to time but hadn't during August. I received a text telling me I was over. I checked and I was over, which again was odd, as I have never been over nor close to being over.  September 5th my usage was 207GB and 10 days later it was 811GB. From the 5th to the 15th it jumped 604 GB, with all of my usage the exact same as it has been for over a decade! I called "customer" service only to be told what I already know, but with a push to buy more data (hmmm increasing my uasge to get me to buy more!?). Called their "customer security team" was told the same thing and again pushed to buy more data.

Maybe someone from this format can help  

I was wondering if I use wifi instead of ethernet connection to both TVs. I have Orbi mesh network so the wifi speed is pretty good throughout the house. Will using wifi reduce my data usage (perhaps a stupid question)?

@AndyTex 

The resolution that you decide to stream will reduce your data usage.

The device you use for streaming will not reduce your data usage.

This happened to me. I have been dealing this on a daily basis for the last three months. I AM HACKED AND MAYBE YOU HAVE BEEN AS WELL. I live in a small apartment complex that is well hidden and isnt managed like your typics corporate apartment housing. Dont get me wrong, I love this place and the management is great, but they arent onsite, so they dont necessarily experience or deal with the same stuff the residents do.  We have about 30 units. about 4 months ago, I saw my data usage and it showed that in May I used about 600GB of data!!!! I  am not even a gamer! I use wifi on my phone. I am one of those that streams tv, and am on my phone mostly, with the occasional checking emails on a laptop or computer. No heavy workload at home as I have an office. I showed 600GB. Thats when I knew something was up. The spike was so out of place in the graph.  I started investigating why and trying to get comcasts help by explaining the things I uncovered along the way.... but the inept service organization and  Long story short, I was right. My building is hacked. Its a group of hackers, some are on the inside of comcast and other companies like Microsoft. I really doubt their employers know nor would they approve, obviously they are rogue and abusing their privilege. They installed two business modems jacked in to the main line in from comcast, spliced it, and fed into two Arris TMO8 modems that fed into telephone panel. When I called comcast, the CSR said the only business account here was onsite leasing, which they took offsite, and it was one land line that was forwarded to a cell phone. PRetty basic. I asked him so why are there two broadband business modems, with 6 cat 5 wires, and those 6 plugged specifically into certain units - mine being one of them. I do not have a land line nor do I use DSL... There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why there should be two modems. who uses landlines excepty your grandmother??  it didnt even need that one business modem. Anyway, his reponse was that he cant do anything about it because he doesnt work on business accounts. I said well why did you come out here then?? Also, the guy that came out was the exact same guy that I spoke to when I called in like 4 days prior. I said why are the cables cut and jacked into the phone in such a shoddy amateur way? and WHY WHY WHY are there two if there is only one phone line. He finally said "i looked and it shows that one of them is supposed to be DISABLED but there is alot of activity on it" I said that doesnt strike you as suspiciously odd and criminal? I told him I have been noticing a broadband signal here that usually isnt, its hidden. But every once in a while it reveals it self to mess with me online. Well... im not scared of keyboard cowboys. I will just say this, for nearly two months I did not realize I had someone remoting into my computer and accessing all my data, stealing it, My identity is offically reported stolen and on life lock. Ive closed two bank accounts. I have reformatted every computer and device in my possession from home to work, and he is still there. Why? because of the two modems in the maintenance room, plugged into the telephone panel. At first it didnt make sense to me why the old telephone panel when we all use cellphones. Then I went to go buy a new router, and it had antennae and it just clicked that he is using the buildings thephone copper wiring as a giant antenna, and one of them is plugged into my units line.  The comcast guy says you shouldnt worry about it, youre not paying for it. Its not on your account! BUT how did he know it was or wasnt? Anyway, Ive just been calling them and doumenting everything, doing my due diligence. showing I brought it to everyones attention. when I walk into the investigaors office, I will have done most of the heavy lifting for him. im not getting paid, im not even appreciated by most. but this was all still worth it and it will be so freaking great when they shut those modems down and hopefully able to catch who is associated with it. But here we are 3 months later, Ive lost a lot, but Ive learned a lot too. I learned so much about the technology that exists today and strategies that hackers take.  I put in extra hours all week basicallly only sleeping when I cant keep my eyes open. ITS SO STRESSFUL and EXHAUSTING. But yea, you guys are still fairly young. Im a 40 year old man that has his own company and just became President and CEO of a non profit homeless reource center for young adults between  18- 24.  dont know why i didint see more as but I dornve head that they are tyring toto now wieht thenw banking is place. My suggestion: pay attention to detail, when I caught my hacker i just started to desroy all the thigs I could software wise so it became inoperable and he had to rebuild it. i lived for four  months with him in everything, including my phones, and if you dont think apple Is hackable, think again, its out there, many of you will just never come across it. Most people dont even know theyve been hacked. So why was my data so High if im a light to moderate user? well ive come to learn He reselling some of it, and he also turns your computer into a server while youre asleep and a lot of random people you dont know are now granted permission by someone who has no authrity. Dig deeper if you know something isnt right! My IT guys who was a friend Jason Lecompte at Jamaju IT turned his back on me without even looking at my networkt that he built.  IF he did, maybe I wouldnt have suffered such a hard blow.  People will call your crazy but you maybe talking about things they dont understand. When I told people I was hacked, and nobody believed me until just very recently when I had the second comcast guy come out truly me out, look at my documentaion, go and see the Modems in the maintenace room, he and his supervisor both advised me to call the FBI. Because at the end of the day Comcast leadership do not care about cybersecurity. ITs not smart business for them. IT costs them a lot of resources to go after hackers. They just want to be the hightway, but not the police. Statistics show that cybercrime is the fastest growing segment of crime today. and that my industry the healthcare industry is seeing growth by at least 20 percent each year. WHY? because its easy and very hard for them to get caught. 43 percent of all businesses in America get hacked. That is almost every other business with losses in the hundreds of billions, they just dont talk about it or they wont tell you. Protect your stuff. It is scary thinking about what they can do your Identity on the dark web.... I know that mine has been sold and now there is some weird connection with Ukraians, Nextiva VOIP phone company, and these hackers. I just have this weird feeling because of how its all going. This VOIP phone company, with these ukranians are very well mannered, knowledgeable and provide excellent customer tech support, some of the best customer experience, but some things are off... After I started talking about my hacking experiences with them and how telecommunications security is so important in my business, they assigned me one tech guy, same guy. he calls me nearly everyday to find out whats going on. Is he really interested or is he just handling me?  there was a lady at godaddy who I screamed at because my emails were being sabotaged again literally after a few minujtes of recovering them.  some of you still being intercepted and redirected after i paid like 300$, this godaddy rep who also does real este, she told me she expeienced the same thing. EXCEPT THEY WERE RUSSIAN! NK!  anyway, i have to go to FBI I dont want to. But if I dont this, nobody will and they will just continue to get away with it and no one will know the truth. Video, bit coins, serving, are  some of it, but they are dealing with big companies and big money so you know why I am so  just shocked and scared. Anyway enough Im just so tired. Living with no privacy and just and FYI know that he is listening aright your head up. everyday for  3going on 4 months. IF you dont squash it early on, it will infiltrate everything. They can be everywhere and nowhere. and they are hard to catch.  Omg i almost dozed off and he has been editing some where i cant see ugggh ....All of this is real. protect yourself. find out exactly why your data is high, download wifi tools and Ip address tools from the app store and look around you. those signals are all around you, you just cant see them. gonna see if i can attache some ppics.    OH, and if you dont care about technology, you should start to and start paying attention. Sorry if this was too long, i just need people to know this could happen to you.  because everybody is talking about a jump in data but I have seen anyone ask if youve been hacked. peace!                                                                                                                                                                         

Wow! I don't have the patience or the skills you have. I am wondering if there is any software I can install to monitor my daily data usage. I am ready to throw in the towel and go with their unlimited plan. I don't have any other provider in the area that offeres gig internet other than Comcast.

Our household experiencing same "high data" useage issue withought any change in our habits, infact the TV is off more than it was months ago.  Xfinity had to have made a change.

Yep same issue for me and several people in surrounding neighborhoods are having the same problem.  Very frustrating as there is no other option in our area.