Usage depleted overnight. All updates set during free time.

[Lea]

We have had HughesNet for several years. Nothing has changed with our computer settings. Everything updates in the middle of the night during free time. Our wifi has a 24 character password! Our neighbors all have DSL. Our allowance is being used up overnight while no one is using it. Went to bed with 32% and have Zero this morning.

[Ron4]

Charles,

I've seen in the past where you have been helpful in explaining to folks with the HN9000 on checking if they had the correct version of the meter for their plan, if the software in their modem was the compatible version, if they were on the correct gateway, and if Hughes had set things on their end to make the meter operate correctly. Perhaps you could go through that with Lea to be sure everything is working together as it should?

Also note the properties on the image she posted. Could that cloud service have any bearing on the data being used up rapidly?

Ron

[Lea]

Actually at 7:14 when I disconnected I had only used 2MB and when I turned it back on it was 2MB.  I did not save my screenshot in the right format and was not able to figure out how to get it uploaded.  I did another screenshot later and uploaded it so that you could see my meter.  I will do the next step tomorrow.

[CharlesMcCool]

Sounds great Carla, just holler if you need help

[CharlesMcCool]

Hi Ron, looks like the newest meter, Hughes has managed to make it compatible with all modems I think. well Im pretty sure, lol other than on the 9000 it has that big blank spot where the bonus/free period is. the cloud service your talking about Im guessing you mean when you clicked on the pic, if so that just how all pics show up on her if Im not mistaken I will read through all this and see if theres anything I can add but it looks like Lix has a good grip on this. 🙂 

[CharlesMcCool]

                                                       (((((((((((((Lea)))))))))))))


 I was just reading through the whole post and at 1 point I asked if your router had data monitoring built in and I found you reply a little farther down and I guess we all missed where you said the router does track your data usage. could you post a screen shot of that page from your router. it will be all we need to determine if the data is coming from your end or not.

[Lea]

These were taken about 4:50 this morning. There were no problems yesterday. I can't tell anything about the router traffic meter.  Not sure that is even the page you need. The Glasswire is for the week. 

[CharlesMcCool]

Oh yes this will work perfectly. in the Glasswire program we need to clear the data in it to start fresh, follow the screen shots if you dont know how to clear it then wen need to clear the routers data monitor but Im not sure how to do that so I will have to check on that unless you already know so some one else here may know then we can what your router says you have used in a 1 day period and Glasswire and Hughesnet and see how they compare. the router should be the correct one

[Lea]

I'm in the middle of a data drop.  Should have had about 80% when I started a few minutes ago and dropped to 45 now. I will clear my programs and see what I can up up with later.  Have to go out for awhile.

[CharlesMcCool]

Looking at this scree shot it looks like its your google Chrome. are you using Ad Blocker Pro to stop the Ads?

[Liz]

Hi Lea,

Thank you for this screenshot. So between 4:50 am this morning until you said you "started a few minutes ago" around 11 am, no one was using the computer? We'd like to know what PC activity was taking place between the 4:50 am and 11:06 am screenshots. Was the PC on and still directly connected to the modem? Was a browser open? On what site was the browser left open?

We look forward to hearing back from you. Also, as a reminder, you still have the tokens we gave you before to help troubleshoot.

Thanks,
Liz

[Lea]

The computer was used off and on this morning.  No browsers are ever left open.  When I returned to the computer it should have been around 80%.  I opened Google Chrome and went straight to Hughenet community to check in.  That is when I noticed I was at 65%.  While I was trying to post a comment it dropped to 46%.  The modem was plugged into the router.  I do have an Iphone that was connected to wifi, again, I was not using the phone.  I never have issues with my cell data getting anywhere near going over.  My phone is not set to get push notifications or update without permission.  
As you can see Glasswire said I had used 188.9 MB and my Hughesnet meter said I had used 263.  That leaves 74.1 MB that went somewhere, I believe faster than I can download from Hughsnet on a normal day. I took the screenshot to show the difference.  I have not had the chance to unplug from the router and use my computer for an hour.  

I am not using Ad Blocker Pro.  I did go to Google Chrome's advanced settings and uncheck the box that said "continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed.  But that is not where the 74.1 MB went because it would have shown up on Glasswire.  

[Liz]

Hi Lea,

Thanks for checking in.  Let us know when you have the chance to unplug from the router and use your computer for an hour, and please include those before and after screenshots of your Status Meter. Connecting your PC directly to the modem eliminates the router and any wireless devices, this will help us narrow down where data is being used.

Thanks,
Liz

[Lea]

Just completed my approximate one hour test of using the internet with only this computer connected directly to the modem.  I spent about 25 minutes signing enrolling in our healthcare plan and then surfing...pintrest, facebook, foxnews, cnn, aol, yahoo, checked email...etc... the first 45 minutes it stayed at 44% and then dropped to 38 over the next 15 minutes.  As you will see on my screen shots I am including my hughesnet meter and my glasswire meter.  In the second shot they seem to have caught up with each other. 

[Lea]

I have been reading posts about people having data loss problems.  All I see is router, router, router, and in progress.  Does Hughesnet work with a router or not?  If so, what kind of router works?

[CharlesMcCool]

Lea according to the Glasswire your data is being used by google Chrome, did you install ad blocker pro to stop the ads and videos?

[CharlesMcCool]

As for your question about routers, yes hughes works with routers it just works better with some more than others but that not hughes fault its the router manufacture problem. but as long as you have the latest firmware in your router then you should be ok. Also keep in mind that Netgear has a problem with seeing the current firmware. you need to do a google search for your model and version number to see if there is actually a update

[Gwalk900]

Lea,

To add to Charles comments about routers:

Having a router connected complicates troubleshooting in certain areas. A router allows the wired connection of additional computers possible so speed problems can develop if too many computers are active at the same time. Your Hughes connection is a shared resource and that includes devices on your LAN side.

Multiple computers also complicate investigating data loss issues as the loss may be caused by only a single computer.

The Big Complication however of having a router connected during troubleshooting lies with the routers wireless capabilities.

The wireless portion of the router can be open or encrypted.

If open, then any device that comes within range can quietly and unknowingly latch on to your network and consume data. Cell phones and "anything Apple" will grab on to a Wi-Fi signal in a heartbeat and get their updated. Your neighbor could come over to visit and have his/her cell phone in their pocket and it can latch on to your routers wireless signal and update.

Tablets and Ereaders are big offenders ... unless they are "hard off" they can and will awaken and perform update and "sync" function. The ability to truly control this activity is somewhere between limited and poor.

With your routers wireless channels encrypted  using as an example one of these common methods:

WPA-PSK [TKIP]

WPA2-PSK [AES]

WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]

this will limit connection to authorized devices only but they can still be very difficult to control.

Effective troubleshooting requires a single computer directly connected to the Modem. Having a router connected to the network during troubleshooting periods simply leaves to many "backdoor" avenues.

[Knerkin Akin]

What Gwalk says should be taken seriously. It's a good idea to put all your portable devices in airplane mode which generally severs their connection to the outside world. HOWEVER: you may have devices that appear to have no way to turn off their wi-fi connection. For example, the designers of a 90-inch smart TV probably don't expect it to be operated in a passenger airplane, so it probably won't have an airplane mode that can be turned on. Nor are the designers of these gadgets sensitive to data caps, so they communicate willy-nilly with the outside world. You CAN sever their connections, however, by changing its Wi-Fi password to something incorrect.  

[Liz]

Good morning Lea,

Thank you for reporting back, we appreciate it, this is very helpful. Since you mentioned Facebook, if you haven't already done so, turn off auto-play for the videos in your timeline: https://community.myhughesnet.com/hughesnet/topics/how_to_disable_autoplay_videos_on_facebook Auto-playing videos are also commonly found on news sites, which, unfortunately may not provide an option to turn this off, so be mindful of that.

However, as Charles suggested, using browser extensions can help prevent unwanted videos/images from loading. Even if auto-play isn't disabled, there's no considerable spike or large amount of usage for that hour. (Ideally, I want to have longer testing periods to have more accurate results, but I understand you have more important things to spend your time on than troubleshooting.)

The next step is to re-connect your router, but only have your computer connected to it. Please also turn off the wifi on any known wireless device you have that could connect to your network (iPhones, etc.). As Gwalk900 wonderfully explained above, adding a wireless network into the mix can greatly complicate troubleshooting, so we'll do our best.

The purpose of re-adding the router and only connecting the PC is to see if the router itself is having an effect on usage. If we see a considerable increase in usage in another test hour, we can investigate from there. Please also tell us your router model so we know what exactly we're working with, thanks.

As Charles also explained, HughesNet certainly works with routers, and we discuss routers in our FAQ here: http://www.hughesnet.com/index.cfm?page=FAQ 

We also have a list of recommended routers: http://www.hughesnet.com/indexx.cfm?page=dspWirelessRouter

To recap: Disable auto-playing videos if you can. Try Charles' suggestion to use blocking extensions. Disable wifi on all your wifi devices. Reconnect your router and only the PC. Then take the before and after screenshots of the Status Meter for your test hour of usage. If you can do more than an hour, that would be better.

Thanks,
Liz

[Gwalk900]

Another option of course is to learn  how to access your routers internal user interface and learn the routers features and controls including how to turn on and off the router "radio".

That will, in one easily reversible "swipe" eliminate one entire "class" of potential problem avenues without disrupting a lot of cabling and so forth.

As an example, from my old Netgear WNR2000 user interface, the "wireless radio" portion of the router can be disabled/re-enabled by adding/removing the checkmark highlighted in this snip and "saving" the changes.

[Lea]

Same information over and over.  Videos do not run automatically on Facebook and I have a wifi password that is 24 characters long! Iphones do not connect without that password.  Why is there a difference in the MB's used on the Hugesnet meter and Glasswire.  I understand that Glasswire only says what is used on this computer, but still I can't download as fast as it was draining.  I do not have thermostats, refrigerators or tvs that connect to wifi.  Our computer habits have not changed.