Broadband usage

minimad1970

Hello, Sorry if this is a stupid question but what exactly contributes to your usage allowance? I have BT broadband option 1, 10gb a month and I have just received an e-mail saying I have already used 7gb this month, (12th dec) not for the first time. We probably surf the internet for about 20 hours per week, download a couple of i-tunes, no films or i-player though. My son plays on xbox live but I was told this hardly uses any of the allowance ( I was told this by BT not my son!) Thanks for any help you can give.

scottishblondie

any kind of online activity counts, uploading as well as downloading. even just being connected to the internet your computer can do things such as updates etc that use up allowance. and i would think that xbox live can use quite a lot, especially with multiplayer games where you can talk to the other players (eg halo).

you can install usage monitoring software on your computer to see how much you are using.

kwikbreaks

Assuming that your WiFi if you have it is secure and nobody is piggybacking your connection then the only thing that can account for the usage is the X-Box.

In the big scheme of things MP3s are tiny. I probably do more than 20 hours a week on this netbook on Vodafone mobile I'm using now and the absolute highest usage I've reached is less than 2GB in a month - that also includes all AV, Microsoft, and other software updates as I very rarely connect it to my WiFi at home.

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One other thing I just realised I forgot above is the possibility that one or more of your machines has some malware on it as is busy sending me invitations to validate my bank account and ads for pills to help with my sex life - I doubt that is the case because I'd expect the usage to be even higher if so but it is probably worthwhile running your normal AV scan and downloading Malwarebytes to let that have a look.

mrJ_5

X-Box Live eats up bandwidth ... the specific amount varies from game to game, and what exactly is being done (like downloading demos, etc)