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Rapid data drain during second half of data cycle

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Sweetpea3829
Tutor

Rapid data drain during second half of data cycle

Ok, I posted about this on a similar thread, just a couple of days ago, and that thread has been deleted.  

 

Every data cycle, we start off doing just fine.  Our data depletes by about 2-3 GB during the first half of the cycle.  Then, during the second half of the cycle, the data just DRAINS.  Nothing changes in our usage from the first half of the cycle to the second half.  

 

This has been going on for several months.  

 

To answer some questions I've seen asked of others...

 

1) Wifi is never left on on any of the devices that we own that use it.  (This would be a number of tablets...all of which have their wifi turned off unless I, specifically, turn it on...only mom knows the password).  

 

2) Our phones' wifi is turned off (occasionally they are turned on, within range of our Hughesnet modem, but they are never left on, and we do not update under our own Wifi...that's what the YMCA wifi is for).  

 

3) We are not experiencing data stealing.  Our neighbors are old order Mennonite.  They do not have devices that use wifi.  Plus, we are password protected.  

 

4) My laptop is not automatically updating.  It only updates when I tell it to, and that's only during the 2AM-8AM time frame.

 

5) Our satellite TV is NOT connected to the internet.  I can connect it, but have only connected it during the 2AM to 8AM time frame.  

 

Again, during the first half of the month, I can check FB, email, news stories and watch the occasional short youtube clip and the data depletes at an expected rate.

 

During the second half...just leaving the modem turned on, and with no actual browsing, is a guaranteed half GB loss each day.  Yesterday evening, I had 2.7 GB left.  This morning I had 2.1  

 

I have today and tomorrow left in this data cycle and I'm almost guaranteed to run out of data at some point tomorrow, unless I turn off the router and browse only on my phone's data.  

 

Why is this happening?  And why has this been happening off and on for months?  

319 REPLIES 319

I see what you mean with the usage on that Usage chart, though.  Because if one screen shows a total of 560 MB used for the month so far, how can I have used 661, 610, 588, and so on during the first few days of this month?  

 

TodayTodayJan. 01Jan. 01Jan. 02Jan. 02Jan. 03Jan. 03Jan. 04Jan. 04Jan. 05Jan. 05Jan. 06Jan. 06

The laptop is only connected to the internet through Hughesnet.  I don't know how to tether my cell phone...and last time I went looking, I think my particular model phone was not set up to allow tethering.  

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Sweetpea3829 wrote:

The laptop is only connected to the internet through Hughesnet.  I don't know how to tether my cell phone...and last time I went looking, I think my particular model phone was not set up to allow tethering.  


Ah, okay.  Then using your WiFi isn't going to skew anything.  The fact that your computer's data tally is higher than HughesNet's for the same time period is really good.  Though we can't really dive into the issue of the higher data usage during the second half of the month until later, what's showing so far is really good, data wise.  It's showing that your Gen5 service's compression is working really well.  I wish mine worked that well.  LOL.  

 

Basically, it shows that you're getting more for your buck, firguratively speaking, and somewhat literally, too.  Since January 1st you've used at least 1.1GB of data with your computer, but HughesNet has only "charged" you for 646MB.  That's really good, and it shows that the data compression with Gen5 is working very well for you.  

 

And, BTW, the fact that your data cycle starts on the 1st of each month makes things a lot easier when comparing.  🙂 

So perhaps the problem is that Hughesnet is compressing the data during the first half of the month, but not the second.  And as a result, the data usage increases significantly when they stop compressing?  

 

Also, are you sure I have Gen5?  I wouldn't have a clue.  I started with them in 20...hmmm...2013?  And I haven't made any changes since.  

 

I will say this...I would LOVE to get more data.  And I thought Gen5 offered that?  

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Sweetpea3829,

 

Ah, no, my mistake.  I just assumed you had Gen5 (I do that too often).  If you got service in 2013 and haven't upgraded since then you have Gen4, and that would explain the great data compression.  When I had Gen4 it was like that for me, too, but Gen5 doesn't seem to compress data very well, if at all.  

 

With Gen5 you definitely could get more data, as I see you presently have 10/15.  You must have been/must be in one of the areas that's either full on your corresponding ES17 beam, or you couldn't connect to the ES17 and are on the Spaceway 3 satellite.  I'm not very familiar with the plans like yours and why they are the way they are, data amount wise.  However, with that said, I don't know that I'd want to upgrade to Gen5 right now with all of the speed issues going on, especially if you live in Northern CA, where the Gen5 speeds are absolutely deplorable.  Just plain awful.  It might be a good idea to wait to see what's going to happen with the speed.  That's just my advice, but you can always do as you like, of course.  All Gen5 plans have 50GB of Bonus Data and the plans available (Anytime Data) are 10GB, 20GB, 30GB and 50GB.  And, of course, depending on the speed you presently get you may not feel that the Gen5 speeds at present are that bad.  I can tell you that my speeds vary from 20Mbps to 30Mbps, on average, during off peak usage hours, and anywhere from 500Kbps to 10Mbps during peak usage hours.  Those poor souls in northern CA are seeing speeds barely reaching 1Mbps in off peak, and they're lucky if they hit 400Kbps in peak times.  macsociety is dealing with speeds in the 200Kbps range, and he/she isn't alone.  It's truly awful.  I've NEVER seen speeds that low, and I started with a legacy plan in Dec 2004.  

 

As for the possibility of the higher data usage in the latter half of the month being due to less data compression, I highly doubt it.  I've never seen anything like that.  With that said, though, I suppose anything is possible, but again, I highly doubt it.  That would be a REALLY odd thing.   


@Sweetpea3829 wrote:

So perhaps the problem is that Hughesnet is compressing the data during the first half of the month, but not the second.  And as a result, the data usage increases significantly when they stop compressing?  

 

Also, are you sure I have Gen5?  I wouldn't have a clue.  I started with them in 20...hmmm...2013?  And I haven't made any changes since.  

 

I will say this...I would LOVE to get more data.  And I thought Gen5 offered that?  


Gen 5 just came out in 2017 so unless you paid to upgrade (new modem being sent to you and installer adjusting your dish), then no, it would not be Gen 5.  Maybe 4?

 

TJ

Reggie
Teaching Assistant


@Sweetpea3829 wrote:

So perhaps the problem is that Hughesnet is compressing the data during the first half of the month, but not the second.  And as a result, the data usage increases significantly when they stop compressing?  

 

Also, are you sure I have Gen5?  I wouldn't have a clue.  I started with them in 20...hmmm...2013?  And I haven't made any changes since.  

 

I will say this...I would LOVE to get more data.  And I thought Gen5 offered that?  


If you click on "My Services" at the top of the page it will show what plan you have.

Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

@GabeU

I am sick and no longer able to reply .......

Can you show @Sweetpea3829 how to switch to the "Apps" button and to use the "sliders" to define a time period?

 

 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Gwalk900

 

Eek, I hope you feel better soon.  

 

@Sweetpea3829

 

If you want to look at what program or app is using data on your computer during a specific time period, select a date to view on the top/middle, then click on Apps on the upper left of the header.  Then move the left and right sliders on the bottom to specific times.  

 

On the following pic, you'll see that it's showing data being used from 12:00PM to 6:01PM on Jan 8th.  It's a little hard sometimes to narrow it to the exact hour or exact time you want to, like me trying to get it to 6:00PM, but 6:01 is close enough.  And on the left you can see all of the apps that used the data and how much each one used.  If you click on each individual app, it will show you every host that app used during the time period you're viewing, whether it be a few hours, a day, a few days or an entire month.  I didn't click an individual app on the left, so the picture below is showing the hosts and data usage for all apps used during that time period.  BTW, the date and time I picked was arbitrary and only to demonstrate how to do it.    

 

I chose the date (8th) while using the "Custom" setting on the upper right, and you can do the same, or a span of dates (click on the first date, then the second, and it will include everything in between), or you can choose Day, Week and Month settings, and when you choose them you can still alter the actual days if you click on the date(s) in the upper/middle, or even use the two sliders on the bottom.  

 

Capture.JPG

Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

@GabeU

Thanks, cancer is back. Just can't do the heavy  posts any more.

 

Gwalk, I am SO sorry to hear of your cancer.  😞  Prayers for healing.  

Ok, I confirmed that I have Gen4 Power, and my bill (after taxes, fees, etc.) is $71/month.  That's for 10GB of Anytime data, and 15 GB of Bonus Data.  I don't know what my speeds are but...they seem relatively fine. So I pulled up this page, with the available plans and, I think I'm an idiot for not looking into this more often, lol.  I check with DirecTV all of the time, to make sure I'm getting a good plan.  I've never really checked with Hughes.  

 

What do I need to know about these plans?  Will I lose anything if I change to...say, Prime Plus?  Prime Plus has the same amount of Anytime data, but way more Bonus Data.  Changing my data plan wouldn't impact my Gen4, right?  

 

As for Gen4 vs. Gen5...we are in upstate NY, and much of what you said (Gabe) is foreign to me.  Beams, etc.  I'm a little lost with that.  

 

I'm also attaching current stats...

 

image.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.png

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Gwalk900 wrote:

@GabeU

Thanks, cancer is back. Just can't do the heavy  posts any more.

 


I completely understand.  I'm so sorry to hear that.  😞

 

Try to stay strong in spirit.  Though I can only speak for myself, I have no doubt that everyone is rooting for you and sending some prayers your way.      

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Sweetpea3829,

 

So far the data comparisons between HughesNet's tally and Glasswire's looks great, and you're still making me jealous of that.  LOL.  Heck, it's just short of a 2:1 ratio!  That's awesome.  

 

As for the plans, to be honest, I didn't really know that those with Gen4 plans could still upgrade to larger Gen4 plans.  I thought any upgrades now could only be to Gen5, but that you can upgrade your Gen4 plan is pretty nice.  That was just an assumption, though, and not based on anything I've read.  And it appears that it was an incorrect assumption, as well.  At least that way you're sticking with what's working for you and not taking a gamble on what seems to NOT be working very well for quite a few people.  

 

 

I think when upgrading to the Prime Plus plan the only thing that would change is the bonus data, and the price, of course, from whatever you pay now to the price that's showing.  I don't know if you lease, but if you do I'm sure the lease fee would be the same.  I think you continue to use the same modem, as well, and I don't think anything else changes, so your service should still be the same.  Also, I think upgrading puts you in a new contract, but I don't want to give you incorrect information on that.  I'm going to tag Liz and Amanda to make sure that the info I'm giving you about upgrading your Gen4 plan is correct.   @Liz @Amanda

 

Edit:  Regarding the beams, each satellite divides the areas it is providing service to into beams.  Kind of like if the satellite had a bunch of flashlights shining down, and each flashlight shined on a different area.  Each beam also supports a certain amount of throughput, and if a lot more people receive service within a beam than the beam can really provide service for, the service starts to be affected for those in that beam, in the manner of the speeds being slower.  Sort of like a road having a little more traffic on it than it can handle, so the traffic slows a bit.  Way too much traffic and it slows to a crawl.  The satellite itself only has so much throughput, and when it gets past a certain number of active users it can start to be affected, just like the individual beam, only the satellite being crowded affects everyone, whereas the beam being crowded only affects those in that particular beam.  And when I say affected, I'm again talking about the speeds slowing.  

 

To give you a better idea about the beams, the following is the beam (Echostar 17, Beam 25) over what I believe is your area.  Anyone within that beam footprint can get service from that beam, but the closer to the center the stronger your signal will be.  That doesn't mean that those that are farther out will have slower service, but only that their service may be affected by bad weather a little easier than those closer to the center.   

 

ES17 Beam 25ES17 Beam 25

Hi Sweetpea3829,

 

I'm glad you found the community, thank you for posting and working with the experienced members here. You won't lose anything if you upgrade to the Prime Plus plan, for example.You'd be paying the same price as you are now, but for 50 GB Bonus Bytes. What you see there in the plans available are the plans you're able to switch to. Gen 5 is always another option, but you certainly can still stay on Gen 4. Hope that helps!

 

If you have a tech or billing question and need help, please start a new thread in the appropriate board. Unsolicited Private Messages may not get replies.

Slow performance? Click me!

Thanks for chiming in Liz.  I am going to wait on making any changes until after this data cycle, so we can make sure nothing else impacts the data for this month.  

 

Next molnth, I may switch it to get the extra overnight data.  Believe it or not, but I actually do depend on that data some months, lol.  

Current data stats.  Some time in the next day or week, the data depletion *should* ramp up.  Now, I'm not sure how to "prove" that the data depletion is a result of pages counting for more data than they normally do, vs me just using it more.  You'll just have to trust me on that I guess.  

 

I haven't been on too much.  I spent most of the day yesterday watching movies with the kids, wrecking my New Year's Resolution to eat healthier, and then cheering on the Patriots.  Not much time for internet surfing, lol.  

 

image.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.png

Oh, I forgot...

 

We are probably in the third concentric circle of that graph you posted, Gabe.  Maybe right even on the line of the 2nd/3rd.  So we're not terribly far, but also not terribly close either.  

 

Our Mennonite Neighbor is going to be looking into requesting Empire Access expand their network into our part of town.  It's a long story but...I do some side consultation work for them and even though THEY can't/won't benefit from hard-wired internet, I would.  And if it benefits me, it would indirectly benefit them.  So fingers crossed...though I'm not sure what I would be losing (somebody earlier up thread mentioned that the DSL/hard-wired internet is much slower).  

 

Funny thing is...I live in this teeny tiny bubble that does not have hard-wired internet access.  Everywhere around us has it.  Literally 1/8th of a mile south of us, our neighbor has it.  And 1/2 mile north of us, they have it up there.  And 1/4 mile to our east, is hard-wired.  

 

From what I understand, these people that are on the edge of the wire have crappy internet.  I really don't know.  Just that, when I called Verizon 6 years ago, and BEGGED them to run the line just a bit further...they told me that it wouldn't work.  That our neighbor, for example, has really slow connection speeds because of how far they are from whatever it is they need to be close to (sorry for the awesome tech language...lol...clearly I have no idea what I'm talking about).  

 

Since then, Empire Access has been running high speed internet through the area and expanding.  Just not to our part of town.  So hopefully, if this mennonite neighbor asks for it...they'll run it.  He's a fairly large business and maybe that will push them to agree.  Fingers crossed, right?

 

What I would give to have access to good, high-speed, unlimited internet access.  It would literally change our lives.  I would have access to online classes for both myself and the kids' homeschooling.  It would impact our science and history lessons in a huge way.  

 

So yeah...fingers crossed.  

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Sweetpea3829,

 

I don't blame you.  If I had high speed wired access here I would switch.  That's nothing against HughesNet, but only the realities of today.  If I had wired internet it would help to change my life a little in ways that it wouldn't for most, and if NY state comes through with their Broadband For All plan, that might happen. I've been in contact with them and they say that my area is in "Block III" of the plan, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, too!  I, too, have people right up the road that have wired access (cable), but it wasn't financially advantageous for the cable company to run it down my road, as it's a half mile, dead end road with seven houses on it (five at the time of them running the lines).  And, yeah, wired internet, or at least some of it, is restricted by cable length from the source.  I think DSL is about 15,000 feet, or something like that.  

 

And though the ability to stream on a regular basis would be very nice, the ability to utilize the "Ticket to Work" program, which requires stable high speed internet, is my biggest reason for wanting it.  

@Sweetpea3829

 

"Now, I'm not sure how to "prove" that the data depletion is a result of pages counting for more data than they normally do, vs me just using it more"

 

Let me start off by saying that i'm not big fan of the "History" meters ... that will be the second screenshot in your post above.

Instead I would rely more the SCC "Usage" meter and/or the MyAccount "usage" meter.

 

The SCC usage meter can be found by entering 192.168.0.1 into your browsers address bar:

SCC meter.PNG

The above meter has the advantage that it resides "inside" the Hughes Modem ........right at the end of the Ethernet cable.

Its downside is that it has a "resolution" of .1 GB (100 MB) so it can and will round up or down to the nearest 50 MB of use.

In the above I show 49.2 GB of 50 remaining ... meaning I used aprox 800 MB.

 

The MyAccount Meter at the same time is as follows:

myaccount meter.PNG

It shows 778 MB used. Close enough and the rounding error will never be off more that 50 MB.

 

Taking a screengrab and noting the time will show the data available/used at that given time. Taking a second shot later and calculating the difference will give data used between the two points.

That brings us to Glasswire and the "sliders" that can be used to show what programs and processes used what and when:

 

I turned my laptop on this morning but didn't open a browser. Note the time period at top center. Look at the list of background stuff that used data before I actually opened any programs:

Glasswire 1.PNG

 

Later I opened browsers and such, I moved the right hand slider to include that time period:

Glasswire 2.PNG

Once you get a glasswire history going we can compare usage by a program and by processes to see changes and then go after the root cause.

 

 

 

Sorry for being MIA the last two days!  Lots going on around here, lol.  

 

So here are the current stats.  Gwalk, is there anything else I need to be doing right now, to establish that Glasswire history?  Other than just posting what it looks like?  I understand how to use the sliders.  (BTW, the main reason I haven't posted the System Control meter is because it shows my SAN and I was being lazy, lol.  That said...I have found the data shown there to be very consistent with the data shown on the Usage meter).  

 

image.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.png