Usage allowance - using more than it should be?
Adam14
Posts: 2,607 Forum Member
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I've only had Infinity for about a week but I have already used over 10Gb. This is about the same as I would use in an entire month on ADSL.
The website states that it should not take into account the BT TV IP channels or streaming on my box but I am beginning to wonder a bit.
The website states that it should not take into account the BT TV IP channels or streaming on my box but I am beginning to wonder a bit.
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I signed over to BT Infinity at the end of November '13. The BT Broadband Usage Monitor reported my usage as 66GB for Dec '13 & (so far) 50GB for Jan '14. Absolutely preposterous - in a normal month I struggle to use more than 5GB! I've been hit by a £31.80 surcharge for December already.
I changed my wireless key earlier this month (just in case someone had somehow piggy-backed my b/band), but according to the BT B/band usage monitor I'm still consuming an average of 2GB per day. In fact, I seemingly consumed 8GB between 16 - 20 Jan when I was out of the country and my PC turned off!!
I've logged a call with BT and recommend anyone else with this issue do the same if they have suspicions. In my case, there is clearly a problem their end.
Possibly malware on your machine - many home computers get turned into "zombie" machines which perform a selection of malicious activities, eg sending out spam silently.
Run a full scan on the machine using Microsoft Security Essentials (free for Windows XP, Vista or 7).
Hope it gets sorted!
I was pretty much correct with the diagnosis - the problem was caused by BT Openreach. When cabling me up for Infinity, the engineer had plumbed my fibre connection in the cabinet into the wrong port. The port belonged to a neighbour**, so BT's Usage Monitor was reading my neighbour's usage instead of mine.
It was a mare to sort out. BT initially closed my call after 7 days without doing anything about it; no communication with me whatsoever. On opening another call, it then took me 5 x additional calls to 1st & 2nd line support to convince them there was a crossed line issue, and to book an Engineer visit, who only fixed the problem after I explained to him all the details (he didn't have a clue about the problem details when he arrived!).
Subsequently, I had to call BT Billing to ask for refunds of £31.80 (from December's surcharge) and a further £21.20 from a surcharge incurred in January. This was promised as a credit on February's bill, which never materialised. I then wrote a snotty email to BT Customer Services threatening all sorts of action if this wasn't corrected within the next 14 days and this finally led to a satisfactory resolution.
** I found this out when - after going round in circles with BT 2nd line support - I invited the support guy to 'remote in' to my router and read out what devices he thought were connected. After reeling off 4 x devices, none of which I owned, the penny dropped as to who owned said devices and therefore what the problem was.
So, about 6 hrs spent on the phone to the Call Centre and a heap of frustration and stress....but that's for another thread! In relaton to this thread, I just thought it might help the OP with his problem as it sounds like it could be something similar to mine.
Do they automatically opt you into BT Wifi on a limited package? Doesn't seem fair if they do, considering other people can use your broadband and affect your usage.
There are some good offers on the limited packages - e.g. £7.50/month for 6 months for 40Gb on Infinity 1 (plus Quidco plus Sainsburys voucher).
I, for one, am coping with the usage limit just for the 6 months!
Most of the usage is iPlayer or my SkyPlus box - NOT my PC. These both count - only BT YouView gets ignored.
I have 40Mb Infinity - BT WiFi seems to run at 5Mb/s maximum on the same router.