Vanishing Hughes Net Data Since Using New I-phone

[Steve Kroenke]

Vanishing Hughes Net Data Since Using New I-phone

I’ve been with Hughes since 2007 and have NEVER had any issues with my data allotment being exhausted or even significantly depleted.  In fact I have often had over 75% of my data left over at the end of a cycle.  I don’t watch many videos and mainly do this during the Bonus time.

Where I live having a cell phone had been problematic and I had a terrible time using it because of poor connection issues. For about a year I had an inexpensive SE I-phone with Verizon as my provider. I didn’t see any Hughes data depletion.  I mainly just had the I-phone for emergencies as needed.

This has now significantly changed with my use of a new I-phone 15 + with ATT as my provider at my house.  This phone is a big improvement over the old one and I am able to do more things with it. I am seeing my data dropping as much as a GB a day and the only thing I am doing on my desk top computer is basic Internet stuff like checking email, looking a Facebook, and other more routine things.  During the day I rarely look at any videos and wait for the Bonus time for that activity. I have always had my Hughes Wi Fi turned off and have even turned it off for this new I-phone.  I don't know for sure if the new I-phone is the culprit in draining my Hughes data but it may be related to it.

Here are some questions I hope folks can answer.  Will this I-phone 15 + drain Hughes data?  Are there any settings other than turning off Wi Fi that I can turn off on the I-Phone to reduce Hughes data usage? I may be blaming the wrong thing for the data depletion but the sudden depletion seems related to the new I-phone!  Thank you for any insights and possible solutions.

[MarkJFine]

If the modem's wifi is disabled and the phone's wifi is turned off, then there is no possible way the phone is talking to the LAN.

If the modem's wifi is disabled, nothing other than what's connected by an ethernet cable can deplete your data. Something else is at play.

[Steve Kroenke]

Thank you for responding.  I am at loss to know what is doing this.  Maybe something with my desk top computer.  I've never had this problem before. Is there any way to determine what "inside" my desk top computer is doing this?  Thanks again.

[Remy]

Steve,

Thank you for reaching out! I see this is your first post. Welcome to the Community! I was able to locate your account through your Community profile. Upon taking a look into your data usage, it seems you have been consuming between 1GB to 2GB per day during this billing cycle. As you stated, both of your WiFi radios are currently off. I do see a device attached directly to the modem, which would likely be the culprit of this data usage. 

Thanks,

Remy

[Steve Kroenke]

Thank you for responding.  The only device is my desk top computer and I have never had any issues like this before.  Is there a way I can try to find what is causing the usage?  Thanks for your help. 

[maratsade]

Install Glasswire on your desktop PC.  That will tell you what's using data on that PC.

[Steve Kroenke]

I tried multiple times to install Glasswire but I keep getting a DLL error and the program will not work. I did find something in my Device Manager in unspecified devices.  It is called Fitbit Base Station and is some kind of input device. I have never seen this before and have never personally downloaded anything like that.There is no program that I can find associated with the device on my computer and can't remove it. Could this device be the source of my data loss?  If so, are you aware of any way of removing it? Thanks. 

[maratsade]

Do you use a Fitbit? 

As for the DLL error, you may have corrupt files that are messing up the computer. If you're on Windows, you may want to run the System File Checker. 

[Steve Kroenke]

I don't use a Fitbit and have never heard of one.  It is just now listed in my devices as an unspecified device. I wonder where did this thing come from! There is no information on it when I check the properties. I will run the System File Checker and thanks for responding. 

[GabeU]

Unless you've used a Fitbit device before with your computer, including a USB dongle, that shouldn't be there. That you're also missing a dll file is a bit odd. 

If you're familiar with the process, you might want to consider performing a clean install of Windows, as it's possible something nefarious is going on with your system.

[Steve Kroenke]

I have never used a Fitbit device and have no knowledge of what it does. But it is right there as an unspecified device and there is no information on it when I check the properties. I will check into the clean install of Windows option.  All this is strange and started when I started using the Iphone 15+ but that doesn't necessarily mean any casual relationship.  I am now down to about 3% data and the new cycle starts in about 6 hours.  Thanks for responding. 

[GabeU]

Even if you do ultimately perform the clean install of Windows, removing whatever that device is, I'd still install Glasswire afterwards, just in case. It will be able to tell you exactly how much data your PC is using, and just what is using it (program, app, device, process, etc.). It's a really handy tool, especially for being free. Unfortunately, it only monitors the data usage for the device on which it's installed rather than all devices on your home network, but it can still be a very useful and helpful tool.

If you do perform the clean install, don't forget to save any important data before doing so. It would also be a good idea to have at least the WiFi driver on hand in case it needs to be installed after the Windows install. This way you'll be able to connect to the net in order to get any other drivers the system may be missing. I would normally recommend saving all of the drivers on the system, but with it currently having an unknown and possibly nefarious one, I wouldn't do so. And if you don't know the Windows Product key, I'd try to glean that from the system as well, just in case. I can usually find it using the Command Prompt method outlined here (I collect mini PCs and do this with all of them).