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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

Current stats as of this morning. I will be shutting down the wifi to the laptop as soon as I'm done.  There's a pretty good chance I'll have a kid or two on Prodigy later today.  If so, I'll post about it.  

 

image.pngimage.pngGW for the month so farGW for the month so farGW for all of yesterday.  HN shows I used 1.6 GB of data yesterday.GW for all of yesterday. HN shows I used 1.6 GB of data yesterday.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Sweetpea3829

 

Wow.  So that's around 262MB, give or take, that was used by something other than your laptop during that time.  And really, because of Gen4's data compression, it's most likely quite a bit more than that.

 

And 1.6GB yesterday?  With Glasswire figured in, that's about 1.2GB of something other than your laptop, but again, because of Gen4's data compression, it's likely much higher than that.  

 

With that said, I've never trusted the amounts given on the data graph, as they often don't add up right to the given total.  I checked mine and they do this month, but I've had months where my total usage showed one amount, let's say 15GB, and the total usage figured by adding up the days' totals from that graph show something much higher.  

Would an ebook be about that much data? How would I even find out?

That ebook is the only thing downloaded outside of the laptop. Everything else was off.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Sweetpea3829wrote:
Would an ebook be about that much data? How would I even find out?

That ebook is the only thing downloaded outside of the laptop. Everything else was off.

I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem likely.  That seems extremely high for an ebook.  I just checked and the typical size for a kindle ebook is 1.87MB.  

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Sweetpea3829

 

If your router has remained powered over the last couple of days, I would find the section in it that shows what has been connected, as it sounds like you've got a massive data drain somewhere.  It's possible you've got something connected that you aren't aware of.  

 

 

How do I do that? The router is always powered/on.

The only other thing I can think of that might be using data is the wireless printer. But it shouldn't use that much.

That's what I'm saying though. I still think HN is calculating wrong. I don't know how. But it doesn't make sense that everything is hunky dory the first part of the cycle and then it goes haywire the rest.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Sweetpea3829wrote:
How do I do that? The router is always powered/on.

The only other thing I can think of that might be using data is the wireless printer. But it shouldn't use that much.

That's what I'm saying though. I still think HN is calculating wrong. I don't know how. But it doesn't make sense that everything is hunky dory the first part of the cycle and then it goes haywire the rest.

Actually, you wouldn't think so, but those printers can use a tremendous amount of data, especially if they get into some type of failure loop when trying to "call home".  They'll keep trying, over and over and over.  

 

What brand and model of router do you have?  

It's a Belkin N150 router. Model F9K1009V2

The printer is a Brother HL-2270DW. I also have an old Dell Printer that I use for scanning. It doesn't print, and the WiFi on it hasn't worked in years.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Sweetpea3829wrote:
It's a Belkin N150 router. Model F9K1009V2

Unfortunately, I can't find anything in the user's manual regarding connected devices.  I'm relatively sure that somewhere in the router's settings there's a place to view them, but I have no idea where.  I've never used a Belkin router and I have no clue what its GUI looks like.

 

Perhaps someone who does have a Belkin router, or someone who's at least familar with them, might be able to help in this area.  

 

Edit:  I did find router monitoring software for Belkin routers, but it's not listed for your model.  😞  

@GabeU Thanks for taking a look though, I appreciate it!

 

The Wifi to the laptop has been off since this morning.  I just reconnected it for lunch.  There have been no tablets, no phones, nothing utilizing HN data.  Current midday stats.  As you can see, approx 100MB were used during the time when everything was off.  It's not a significant amount but yet...it sort of is.  

image.pngimage.png

And going back off now that lunch/recess is over.  Current stats.  Notice that GW and HN are pretty much in agreement as far as data used during the past half hour.  Which is interesting considering the Gen 4 data compression has always put HN considerably lower than GW.  

 

image.pngimage.png

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Sweetpea3829

 

The next time you're in a position where nothing is going to be using the internet, note your current data on the HughesNet data page (the one you've been posting snapshots of (not the graph)), then disconnect the LAN cable that connects your router to the HughesNet modem.  When you note the data reading, give it a second to catch up due to the lag, and refresh the amount with that little round doohickey to the upper right of the circle graphs, then note it and disconnect the cable.   When you are going to use the internet again, reconnect the cable and go back onto the HughesNet data page and check the data again.  You only need to disconnect one end of the cable, and it doesn't matter if it's the modem or router end of it.

 

I'd be willing to bet that, other than the data it's going to take to check the data page again, which shouldn't even be 1MB, you'll see nothing is used. 

 

Though I know that nothing should have used data during this present time (today), as you had your laptop off and there were no tablets or phones connecting, I'd be willing to bet that something is still legitimately using data that you aren't aware of, and performing the above, on the spot modem isolation test will show that.   

Is that spot test the same thing I did way back at the beginning of the thread? If so, it showed no data being used at all, during the down time.

But, I can run it again. Maybe this evening when the boys are at swim practice and I'm at the gym.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Sweetpea3829wrote:
Is that spot test the same thing I did way back at the beginning of the thread? If so, it showed no data being used at all, during the down time.

But, I can run it again. Maybe this evening when the boys are at swim practice and I'm at the gym.

Yep, I missed that.  It's the same test.  

 

Unfortunately, with no way to be able to monitor the data amount, there's no way to be able to say, one way or the other, what happened to your data while everything was off earlier.  There's no way to see if something really used it, and if so, what?  There's also no way to show that something didn't use it.  

 

To be honest, it's going to be hard to prove anything, both with the data slide, and whether you're being "charged" for data that you didn't use, like earlier, without any non Hughes way of being able to count it.  I know that buying a router that can monitor data usage, and especially the kind that can monitor it by device, probably isn't possible right now, but without that, proving anything is going to be virtually impossible.  The ones that can monitor data as a whole, like I have, will run you around $40 or so, but the ones that can monitor data by device is well over $100, and probably closer to $200.  At this point, I really don't think you need anything like the latter, as really, all you're trying to do at this point is show what data is actually being used, not necessarily what's using it.  That kind of thing you can often do by process of elimination, but just monitoring the data as a whole isn't really possible without even a basic router like mine.  I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's really what you're up against.  

 

With a basic router that monitors data, you could show if something used data, like earlier when everything is apparently off, yet data was still used, and comparing data usage in the router to data usage by Hughes.  So say if you used 5GB during the first half of the month, according to the router, and the same during the latter half of the month, again according to the router, you could compare it to what Hughes says, and if Hughes said you used more during the latter half, that's where you'll be able to say, "But look, I used the same during both halves."  

 

Again, I know it's not what you want to hear, but without a way to monitor the data used, even as a whole, there's really no way to be able to prove anything, as the only thing you can really prove, at this point, is what your laptop used.  Prior versions of Networx can monitor data usage on your laptop, too, just in case we wanted to make sure that Glasswire was correct.  But again, that's only your laptop.  

 

So really, again, the bottom line is that, in order to prove anything, you've really got to have a router that can monitor data usage.  And like I said, it doesn't need to be one of the expensive ones that monitor it by device, but at least one that monitors it as a whole.  😞  

Turning Wifi back on for the laptop.  Nothing has been on, nothing should have been using data.  Current stats:

HN data immediately upon turning on the wifi for the laptop.HN data immediately upon turning on the wifi for the laptop.HN data after letting everything roll through and update...just a 4MB difference.HN data after letting everything roll through and update...just a 4MB difference.GW during the time period when the laptop was shut down.  There is a slight lag in the graph, but that's expected.GW during the time period when the laptop was shut down. There is a slight lag in the graph, but that's expected.

So in a nutshell, 150MB of data was used during the time period when my laptop was not connected for Wifi.  For the record, I did not unplug anything, as I didn't have time this evening.  I just turned off the wifi for the laptop.  

 

I did confirm that all tablets/devices were not on for Wifi.  Our phones are not, either.  Next, I'm going to completely unplug the router as you suggested, @GabeU.  I'll see if I can do that tomorrow (Wednesdays are tractor auction day, so we'll see).  

 

Between the 150MB this afternoon/evening, and the 100MB this morning, I'm a bit concerned.  What could be using data?  The printers?  They shouldn't be.  The Chromecast dongle?  It hasn't been activated since last fall.  

 

But moreover, just in posting this update, 10MB have been used.  Inconsequential, yes.  And it actually matches the GW data.  But, when we consider that the GW data usually shows higher than the HN, due to compression, I have to ask why that isn't happening now.  And also, when we consider that my kids were using two tablets at the same time on an online math game, for over an hour, and that only used what, 30MB last week, it seems like the data is being depleted much faster.  

 

As far as buying a new router...it isn't in the cards.  We are supposed to be moving a garage for my husband this spring, and have a concrete pad to pour, etc.  There are no extra dollars this year, lol.  

I figured I might as well do this now.  I've got some stuff to get done that does not require the laptop/internet.  So, starting data is attached.  I'm going to unplug the router...maybe even for the entire night.  We'll see what happens.  I will still access the forum from my phone.  Also, notice how much data has been used just since I last posted.  I checked FB.  And peeked at Ancestry to see if there had been an update to my test.  image.png

Turning everything back on at 11AM.  HN data shows 6mb used, which is incidental, and likely just from the status page catching up.  I'm going to turn the Wifi back off, but not unplug the router when I'm done posting here.  

 

Stats as of right now.  GW showing no data usage from the laptop during the time when the router was off.GW showing no data usage from the laptop during the time when the router was off.HN upon boot upHN upon boot upHN just a few minutes after bootup.  All I've done is come here to post this.  That's 10MB used here at the forums in a couple of minutes.HN just a few minutes after bootup. All I've done is come here to post this. That's 10MB used here at the forums in a couple of minutes.

And I'm turning off Wifi to the laptop again.  Starting data is 3806 MB GW shows 90MB used in the past 10 minutes, lol.  Most of which is Host processing.GW shows 90MB used in the past 10 minutes, lol. Most of which is Host processing.image.png

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Been lurking and monitoring this novel of a thread, lol. Would be curious if @Liz or @Amanda can see anything connected when you say you have everything turned off. Would be helpful info if they have time to check.