Hughesnet Community

Unexplained High Data Usage ALL OF A SUDDEN

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
wbdavis
New Member

Unexplained High Data Usage ALL OF A SUDDEN

My problem began ONE WEEK AGO. I have had my current computer for about two years.  I've had Hughesnet for four years. I've never been overly happy with the SLOW service, but I've adjusted to it because really, it's my only option other than dial-up. 

I have not downloaded ANY new programs to my computer. I have not done ANYTHING differently than I've ever done before, but last Sunday I used all my daily data, and this has been happening every day since.  

I have rarely ever used all my daily data because I don't watch videos, stream music, etc because Hughesnet is just too slow for any of that.  All I do is browse the internet; that's IT.  I've called Hughesnet customer service three times and three times they can't explain this to me.  I get the same lame suggestion every single time.... unplug my LAN cable and call them back in two hours.... which I've done.  I've downloaded their suggested program Glasswire (which uses a lot of my data also!) and I've never been able to pinpoint what might be happening.  I can sit in front of my laptop and watch the status meter go down by 2% every minute until all my data is gone.  It's insane and THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, so someone please tell me why it's happening now and how I can fix it!!!  

I want to repeat that I haven't done ANYTHING differently.  I have one printer, two smart phones, and one laptop on the network.  That's it and none of those devices have been changed in anyway.
81 REPLIES 81
Amanda
Moderator

Hey Mark

I see you still haven't made your own topic. That is the best way for us to assist you. You're welcome to stay in this topic and discuss your concerns, but if you would like actual assistance from us, we prefer to not branch off inside of other peoples' threads. It makes it confusing and in the end if the original poster gets their issue solved, the thread will be closed even if yours isn't. The Tier 3 techs are a small team of less than 20 individuals and our engineering groups here in the NOC are not customer service agents. However, here in the community we have direct access to their resources and to the engineers themselves to get answers or have things investigated when they are not busy with their main work. 

Thanks
Amanda
wbdavis
New Member

Chris,

Here is a screen shot of today's activity.  I turned the computer on at 4am, used it for one hour, then left home.  I did leave the computer and printer connected to the wifi.  Currently it's 3:03pm and I have 48% of my data left.  I didn't leave any programs open other than those that load when I start the computer (such as virus protection).

As I've send a dozen times, I have turned off every automatic update I can locate.  I took the advice of someone in the discussion and set my virus protection to update ONCE per day (between 4 and 6am, when it's free and the computer is always on at that time) and yet, I've still used all this data.  What can you tell me about this screen shot, if anything?

mbrans47
New Poster

been   happening to me to.  2.3 gigs. Usage  in three hours while mondem was unplugged       I been a customer  6 plus years  and. Install  for Hughes  over a year   its Hughes  stealing  .I can prove that much . Please report them to. The federal communications  commission   they are under investigation  right now
Amanda
Moderator

Hi wbdavis

Just wanted to jump in here really quick. The IP address 13.107.4.50 routes back to Microsoft. Could be updates, could be something like your Outlook app.

So you turned on your computer at 4AM, used it for about an hour, then left the computer and printer online. When you turn on your computer, does Outlook automatically start running that you know of? Looks like the second listing for 5.6MB is for our e-mail servers at HughesNet, so I am assuming you have your HughesNet email configured in Outlook, right? Do you know if Outlook is set to automatically retrieve emails as they arrive, or every 15/20/60 minutes ?

Also looks like the majority of the data was used during that hour you were online and then nothing until 3pm... so that makes sense to me. 56 MB is totally normal usage to be used within an hour, but be mindful that half of that alone is being used in the background by your operating system.

As for the main user here -  "Host Process For Windows Services" its a fancy way of compressing all the svchost.exe services into one group on Glasswire. This is the basic stuff that runs on your computer to make it function for different things you do on/offline. 

If on Windows 10 we can check to see if you have Updates allowed to send bits of Windows updates off your computer to other people around the world (without you knowing, how nice right?):

Go to Windows Settings in Windows 10. Click the category "Update & security." In the Windows Update section, click "Advanced options," then "Choose how updates are delivered."
Either completely turn off this bandwidth-consuming setting or check the radio "PCs on my local network." if you have other Windows 10 computers in the house.

If your Windows 10 computer is connected over Wi-Fi, you can set the connection to Metered, which should help also. The HP printer realistically shouldn't use a LOT of data, (like over 50MB in an hour like the computer) but can add up over time if HP pushes lots of driver updates and such.

To show the true nature of how much data Windows 10 can use if not curated like a rose garden...

The total usage on Glasswire for the 3AM-3PM 12 hour timeframe is 56.1MB 
Host Process for Windows Services  (aka Windows' background usage from the operating system itself) used 27.6 alone. That leaves you with 28.5 MB of data where the majority was used actually using the internet for work/entertainment or what have you. 
6.4MB of the total data was Upload and from the looks of it, the big chunks of that (colored in pink on the charts) is on - you guessed it - Host Processes For Windows. This could be Microsoft taking logs and data from your computer for their own research (most of this stuff can be opted-out when installing the OS, but you can still do some things now). The other chunk is from Chrome - either uploading photos, videos, sound clips, files, etc via the browser or even submitting online forms, posting text updates to Facebook about your breakfast or Tweeting your plans for the day. 

But let's look at the big picture - 56MB of data over 12 hours is actually very tame. I think Chris and everyone here would like to see really problematic days so we can help you even more. I hope I was able to break this down well enough. 

Amanda
wbdavis
New Member

Outlook does not start when I turn the machine on. I must manually start it.  It was set to automatically check for mail every 30-min. Yes, my hughenet email is attached to Outlook.  I can't recall if I opened it yesterday morning at 4am (I never do but might have to check this message board because it's the easiest way for me to find it).  What I "normally [99.9%] do is turn the computer on and check facebook, read a webpage or two, and that's it.  Sometimes I might stream a video, but yesterday I did not.  I have set my virus protection to update and do what it needs to do between the hours of 4am and 6am so I assume that's where all that data went, but I don't know for sure.  I use AVG.

I turned off the Windows update completely a while ago.  I did it exactly the way you are describing above.

My printer settings in Windows are set to "OFF" under the title, "Download over metered connections". 

56MB of data was used on a day when I wasn't even home.  I used to computer for ONE HOUR during the time when I'm not charged for the data.  Long story short... I don't do anything differently than I've ever done before so I still can't figure out why about 10 days ago and on a nearly daily basis since, I began using all my data.  The ONLY days I didn't use all my data were days when I disconnected my laptop from the wifi.  I know, I know.... according to you that means my laptop MUST be the problem and I agree that's the logical explanation, however, I never made a change of any kind to any device on the network when this began happening and then when I made changes to PREVENT it from happening it continued.  My e-mail address began failing (which still hasn't been explained), my data is still being used if don't disconnect from the wifi and everything that might download automatically, is turned off as far as I can tell.  I'm beginning to agree with the other guy on here that this is a problem with the hughesnet modem.  
wbdavis
New Member

By the way, the modem is the 90000 series.  My router is a Netgear Nighthawk.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

mbrans47,

If you would like help with your particular issue, you should start a new post by clicking the "New Post" button on the top of the page. 

In addition, please do include the proof of Hughes stealing data.  I'm sure we'd all be interested in seeing this "proof". 


GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

wbdavis,

When you power your system on, does the printer automatically turn on, as well?  The printer could be connecting to some type of service.

Also, with a Netgear Nighthawk, there should be some type of  traffic meter in the interface.  It won't show each devices individual usage, but it will show total usage.   

wbdavis
New Member

I posted my message above 2 hours ago when I had 98% of my data remaining.  I know only have 70% and I haven't even been using this machine.  

GabeU, I will check on the printer connecting because it's basically always on.  I'll also look at the traffic meter for the router.  
wbdavis
New Member

This is a screen shot of right now....
wbdavis
New Member

I'm now down to 41% in just a few minutes.  All I've done is read this post and look at facebook.
wbdavis
New Member

I don't know why, but I've tried two times to attach a screen print of what's happening.  It's 11:07 and I'm down to 29%
wbdavis
New Member

I can't seem to attach the latest screen print. It says it's uploading, but it doesn't do it.  It's 11:08 and I'm down to 28%
wbdavis
New Member

It's 11:09 and I'm down to 27%
wbdavis
New Member

It's still 11:09 and it's at 24%
wbdavis
New Member

11:10am MST.  23%
wbdavis
New Member

11:12am MST 19% 
wbdavis
New Member

11:14am MST

wbdavis
New Member

^^^^^^^ THIS is what has been happening every day for about 10 days.  EVERY day.  Maybe if my printer updated or downloaded a new drive, or my computer was doing an automatic update from microsoft, or my virus protection updated the definitions, ONCE in the last 10 days I might understand this nonsense, but EVERY DAY FOR OVER 10 DAYS?  
wbdavis
New Member

And now I can't talk to you anymore because all my data is gone.... 
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

13.107.4.50 is Microsoft:


Your operating system is "eating your cheese".