Problems with our Telstra Mobile Broadband.

[krisandkev]

A funny thing has been happening with our Telstra Mobile Broadband.  The usage has gone through the roof, for us that is.  Up to about 4 months ago our daily average was 400MB.  Then it started going up and I thought we must be just using it more.  I use a laptop and my wife uses her Ipad and the usb device is plugged into a router.  Then over Christmas we went away for 4 days and left the device at home and when I checked it had been used over that period!  What the?  So for the past few months we have exceeded our 15gb limit after about 2 weeks.  This happened again in January we were not home and our broadband was used.  My wife had her Ipad with her and the laptop was turned off. Now we do not have any close neighbours, the closest being some 700 metres away so that rules out someone breaking our password.  After the 15g limit is reached the speed is slowed to dial up speed so just impossible to use so we use our phone again as a modem.  So after the speed is slowed it still showed we have been using it, on one day we used 4g of download.  Imagine that on dial up speed.  So I put a complaint into Telstra last Monday and finally today an Indian bloke phones me to say there are no problems with Telstra side and they cannot help.  He actually was a bit rude about it.  So what now?  We want the service for when we travel and from experience we know Telstra is the only one to have.  No good having ADSL at home because like I said we like to travel.  Our plan is over the required 24 months so maybe I should cancel that and get a new plan.  Very frustrating.       And while we have been using our phone as a modem our usage is low, even though it is on the 4g network with good speeds.  Kevin

[baldheadedgit]

first thing... change password.... then see what happens....

[Malcolm Tugless]

Turn the modem off when its not being used.

[HKB Electronics]

As Malcolm wrote, turn off the device for a week nd see if their is any usage recorded.

[muzza01]

Defo change password. It could be upload usage that you are being charged for. Turn off modem when not in use.
I think your neighbour is feasting on your wifi.

[krisandkev]

Like I said, nearest neighbour is over 700 metres away so no way the signal could travel that far and we know them very well....   

I have just finished checking the Telstra Crowd Support site and it seems this is a common problem that Telstra will not admit to.  Others have had to make a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman which I have now done. 

Another strange thing is for the 3 full days over Christmas when we were not home and when I checked our data usage via our Telstra account site it showed usage for those 3 full days but most usage is for uploads?  We were away all day on the 25, 26 and the 27th

And I will start turning the router off and see what happens.  Just a inconvenience that we should not have to do.  Kevin

[Ratbag]

Ugh!

Have you done a full virus scan of your computers?

Also agree about changing the WiFi p/w and switching the modem off when not in use.

Ask Telstra to investigate this too. One rude person doesn't make all their employees suspect. Quote your previous usage patterns. IME, when this occurs, Telstra will usually put the usage meter on hold and suspend charges and usage limits. A very long time ago I worked for Telstra for about 20 years. By and large, their customer service policies haven't changed since then.

I had a big dust up with them over one of our fixed lines several years ago. Ultimately they refunded (credited) about six months worth of charges for our entire account. A couple of grand in total. They also ultimately fixed the line problem that had gone on for some years. Reassigned the cable pairs connecting us to the local exchange - what I had told them needed doing in the beginning ...

[muzza01]

Torrents uploading either music or movies/TV series or both. I am 100% certain.

[baldheadedgit]

Took the words out of my mouth muzza01 ........

[krisandkev]

Torrents uploading either music or movies/TV series or both. I am 100% certain.

Even when the laptop is turned off?  Kevin

[Chris J]

What other devices are connected to modem.

Use a program like “Who’s on my Wi-Fi” or if you’re a nerd run an IP scan to find all devices that are connecting to the modem.

Tablets / phones laptop when connected may have auto updates selected.

Latest IOS update for iPad is 245 Mb, I did one last week for my sister that was 750mb

Regards, Chris

[Mik01]

Even when the laptop is turned off?  Kevin

Hi mate, I have the same service and I have no issues. Agree that unless your neighbour has a dish pointed at your house and has busted any of your encryption, then it's not possible they are using it. You can test how far your signal goes by simply taking your phone/iPad for a walk and see where it drops out of wireless signal.

I worked for Telstra for years also. It is highly likely the problem is on your side, although not impossible.
change the password. Make sure your password is solid, or use the 15 alpha numerical key that is automatically generated.
Or, log in to your router and check what devices are connected. (do you have the Telstra router?) if you don't recognise any connected devices, disconnect them - you might see 'jimmys ipad' and then you'll know it's that jimmy bloke next door! In reality, it's probably your new fandangled fridge, air con, security system, baby monitor that is permanently connected.

By the way, if you do have a wifi camera change the pad for that also - someone could be turning it on remotely just for kicks and that could be using your bandwidth.
Then turn it off when you go out or away, and a couple of days later check your usage that day.

Not knowing your personal setup at home, there are many possibilities, but these should erase a few.
Mike

[Supersi]

Do you have a NAS device connected to your modem?

[krisandkev]

Thanks Mike,
Have checked our router and only the laptop and Ipad connected.  Just don’t understand how we can have usage on days when the laptop is turned off and the Ipad and phone are not here?  Like I said there is no way a neighbour is responsible.   Will turn the router and modem off and use the phone for a while and see what happens.   (Not really sure what a NAS device is but we just have a simple setup nothing else connected.) Kevin

[Bird]

wireless? Could be somedeadShit parked locally to your joint and using your wireless while your not noticing it..

change wireless passwords once a month.. massive PITA, but worth it..

[krisandkev]

wireless? Could be somedead**** parked locally to your joint and using your wireless while your not noticing it..

change wireless passwords once a month.. massive PITA, but worth it..

Our road is some 700 metres from our house so not really possible.  Kevin

[D4D]

Do you have a new TV, Xbox any other device using WiFi? Do you have a 'cloud' backup program trying to upload/backup images etc.? Are you shutting the laptop down or sleeping it?

[Bird]

mate of mine has a switch to kill all power to the computer equipment in the house (Networking, laptops, wireless, computer, printers, NAS, etc) worth while I reckon.

[krisandkev]

Do you have a new TV, Xbox any other device using WiFi? Do you have a 'cloud' backup program trying to upload/backup images etc.? Are you shutting the laptop down or sleeping it?

I did have cloud on the Ipad but I have stopped the auto upload/backup and I usually just close the lid on the laptop, so just asleep, but when we go away I shut it down.  Still does not explain the use when we are not home over a 24 hr period.  Laptop shut, no Ipad and phone home, no other device at all.  It is interesting that in January I contacted Telstra about my 15g being used up very quickly and they reinstalled the 15g straight away for free and the same in February, no questions just another 15g for free.  Just appeared they are use to this problem.  Same with their forum, heaps of people have had the same problem. With some Telstra sent them a new mobile broadband device and that seemed to work.  So I think the easiest way to go will be to just cancel my current plan (out of the plan period now so no penalty) and start a new one with a new mobile device.  If it is a problem with Telstra side that should solve that problem.   But the real interesting thing is with my usage since I made the complaint to Telstra.  Have a look at the below graph and see what happened after the complaint on the 3 February. We have not changed our internet usage during this time.   (Remember we were not home on the 1st Feb, laptop turned off and no Ipad home)  Kevin

[HKB Electronics]

It is possible to have more than one device linked to an account an if some has "cloned your SIM"
then they could use it with the other device, highly unlikely but is possibly.

Also access to the account from memory is via a user name and password on the SIM, so in
theory you could again use another device but most likely the devices ID its self would need
to be registered as above to your account for the system to accept it so again highly unlikely.

You indicate your nearest neighbor is quite some distance away so it is unlikely they would be
accessing your modem, maybe maybe not under ideal conditions the signal may travel some distance.

Again the simplest way to confirm is to turn the modem off for a weekend and them check for activity
on your account, if there is some them Telstras problem, if none then someone is accessing your modem.

[Mik01]

I did have cloud on the Ipad but I have stopped the auto upload/backup and I usually just close the lid on the laptop, so just asleep, but when we go away I shut it down.  Still does not explain the use when we are not home over a 24 hr period.  Laptop shut, no Ipad and phone home, no other device at all.  It is interesting that in January I contacted Telstra about my 15g being used up very quickly and they reinstalled the 15g straight away for free and the same in February, no questions just another 15g for free.  Just appeared they are use to this problem.  Same with their forum, heaps of people have had the same problem. With some Telstra sent them a new mobile broadband device and that seemed to work.  So I think the easiest way to go will be to just cancel my current plan (out of the plan period now so no penalty) and start a new one with a new mobile device.  If it is a problem with Telstra side that should solve that problem.   But the real interesting thing is with my usage since I made the complaint to Telstra.  Have a look at the below graph and see what happened after the complaint on the 3 February. We have not changed our internet usage during this time.   (Remember we were not home on the 1st Feb, laptop turned off and no Ipad home)  Kevin

Yep, so the image shows large uploads. Closing the lid on your laptop seems to be a habit - but does it automatically sleep/hibernate? Sounds to me like something is pushing data out possibly from the laptop. Possibly overnight while you think it's off. Lots of program's send data like Adobe etc if you allow them.
If you absolutely haven't changed a thing to make the usage disappear, then maybe a new device is in order. Years of working in Telstra and dealing with public claiming that Telstra was ripping them off have made me a bit cynical about Telstra automatically being at fault. Don't get me wrong, sometimes there are glitches and issues. My experience was it was overwhelmingly something at the users end that caused or contributed to the issue.
It may well be your wifi device, if it's the Telstra issued one rather than your own router.
Also don't read too much into Telstra staff resetting your data without argument - where Telstra is truly a broken organisation is in it's front of house staff access to systems that actually work, or can actually do anything. Plus years of disempowerment, and sheer confusion over how to fix issues, plus removal of the ability for staff to actually talk to someone in a other department has been removed - all comms to support functions are now by queued tickets/email queues etc. internal departments removed phone numbers from the intranet years ago.
So it's cheaper, easier, and quicker for them just to give you what you want and send you on your way. Sadly.

[Jasman]

Hey Kevin, just to add my opinion and assuming it's not Telstra, change the wifi password and switch the encryption to WPA2 if you haven't to at least guarantee the neighbours aren't upto mischief- it's not that hard to connect at 700m, a few years ago it was popular to drive around the suburbs with antennas made out of Pringles cans and connect to networks (they called it "war driving"). 

Depending on the router you may be able to access some diagnostic info via the interface like what devices are connecting and which of them are using data which might help you track the issue.  You should also be able to see a list of connected devices, is there more than 2 in this list? If so, what are the others? 

If you're not sure how to do this let me know what router you're running and I'll try to help.

Disconnect totally for a day or two to see if any data is being recorded.  If the power is pulled and data is consumed go talk to Telstra.

Assuming that the above doesn't fix the problem I'm thinking it's a service running on one up the devices and as it's uploads I'm thinking it's data that's being created, my first guess would be photos/video uploading via Dropbox, iCloud etc.  I think this is probably the default behaviour on lots of mobiles these days.

Good luck!

[Green rv]

Hi Kevin

just my theory
have you any apps that auto update
i'm told this can use quite a bit of data

 
Ads

[krisandkev]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies.  I have ruled out neighbours and I have now turned off cloud on the Ipad.  Cannot think of any other auto updates or uploads that we have enabled in the past few months.  All the possible causes still do not explain the usage, especially the large amount of uploads when we are not home, laptop turned off and Ipad and mobile phone also not at home. I do have antivirus soft ware running and I ran a full scan but nothing found.  I have checked the router to see who is connected and just the laptop and Ipad. Like I said since I made my complaint to Telstra our usage has gone back to normal which may be just coincidence?  I have installed one of the free usage metres that the Telstra web site has recommended.  Will see what happens from now.  I suppose the hard thing was trying to talk to someone from overseas and who was not that helpful, but what can you do....   Again thanks and if I hear something back I will update my thread.    Kevin