January 1-6. I used 30 GB (all) my data. I've used another 48 GB of Bonus Data in the same 5 day period. Last month I used all my data too plus 3GB in tokens. The previous months I averaged 20GB / mo. I just had to upgrade my plan to 50 GB. Since switching to HughesNet in June I've had to go from a 20GB to a 30GB and now a 50GB plan in 6 months. There are only 2 people in my household. 2 cellphones, 1 desktop windows 7 computer, 1 surface pro that's used maybe once a month and DIRECTV 's newest tower system that I suspect is the culprit. Tech support couldn't help me after 1.5hrs so they're sending someone out on Thursday. We can't disconnect the internet from the system (it's plugged in by ether network) or the TV won't work. There was a DIRECTV software upgrade on 1/4. We were gone all day and managed to use 10GB of data. This is crazy. I wish HughesNet provided a monitor to show where the data was going.
December
The tech support I'm referring to is DIRECTV.
Though any device can increase its data usage without us knowing, I'd be willing to bet that it's the DirecTV receiver. It is advised against connecting a DirecTV receiver to HughesNet as there is no way to control its data usage. It can, and often does, use data for things other than On Demand viewing, including guide updates, program descriptions, searches and the database for such. I also suspect, though I'm not sure, that the receiver downloads those instant watch movies you sometimes see in the guide and that are normally downloaded through DirecTV's own dish.
Again, I would almost put money on this being the cause of your high data usage. Because of this, I would disconnect your DirecTV receiver from HughesNet. As far as I know high speed internet, though recommended, isn't required for DirecTV service.
If you'd like to troubleshoot where your data may be going, please create a new topic. If you have a satellite TV receiver connected to the service please see my reply to the OP.
I figured this could be what was going on, and it appears, from your post, that it could hit people even more often, and worse, than previously.
Unfortunately, HughesNet just isn't made for the type of internet that DirecTV receivers need. It would be nice if DirecTV would take this into consideration and not act like everyone out there has unlimited high speed internet. After all, the lack of that is one of the reasons some people get satellite TV.
Maybe one silver lining is that it was figured out fairly timely instead of causing you month after month of headaches. In addition, your post may help others to avoid the same thing.