Downloading while machines aren't in use?

Nine_Lives

Just having a look at my daily download figures.

I'm with Zen & they offer these stats in their portal. Apparently i'm doing 2GB a day. I thought this is quite high.

There is a password on the wireless network. My question is - can the phone line be downloading "things" while no machine is running? All PCs turned off, iPhones not active on the network (although still connected via WIFI). Just the router plugged in. Can the download figures still be racking up?

If not then someone in the house is using a hell of a lot because i'm only browsing web pages.

grimsalve

Possibly someone is using your broadband without your knowledge? What level of security are you using on your wireless lan?

Depending on what router your using, your ability to check, etc. it should be possible for you to login and see what's going on without having to look at the stats on the ISP portal.

macman

What wireless encryption are you using? If it's WEP, you might as well not bother-you need to use WPA or stronger.
Start by checking that and changing your wireless password.
Your PC does not use any data if it's switched off.

Nine_Lives

WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK on Netgear DGN834PN.

My brother spending hours scouring YouTube probably doesn't help.

macman

Which you didn't mention...
Put Netmeter or similar software on each device and monitor the usage.

Neil_Jones

If the router itself is left on with nothing connected then a few Kb will show up on the logs but this is normal and should only be in the range of the low hundreds at the absolute most.

YouTube will eat copious amounts of data transfer given half a chance. It only takes half a dozen high resolution/definition videos to easily get through a couple of gigabytes.

grimsalve

K_P83 wrote: »

If not then someone in the house is using a hell of a lot because i'm only browsing web pages.

K_P83 wrote: »

My brother spending hours scouring YouTube probably doesn't help.

QED

Ban your brother from using the Internet for a couple of days and see how this affects your daily usage.

Nine_Lives

macman wrote: »

Which you didn't mention...

It was purposely omitted.

We live in the middle of nowhere. Unless someone has made a special journey to drive miles out of their way to hack into MY network, then it's not an issue. The chances of this are very slim & i was aware of the level of security.

The question i asked was quite simple - yes/no. It took until the final sentence in post #3 to get the answer.

Still, i've capped my brother on YouTube. If the download usage does not significantly drop, then YouTube will be blocked on his PC, simple.

grimsalve

K_P83 wrote: »

The question i asked was quite simple - yes/no. It took until the final sentence in post #3 to get the answer.

I was only trying to help.

Niv

K_P83 wrote: »

It was purposely omitted.

We live in the middle of nowhere. Unless someone has made a special journey to drive miles out of their way to hack into MY network, then it's not an issue. The chances of this are very slim & i was aware of the level of security.

The question i asked was quite simple - yes/no. It took until the final sentence in post #3 to get the answer.

Still, i've capped my brother on YouTube. If the download usage does not significantly drop, then YouTube will be blocked on his PC, simple.

I think you are being a little rude to the people in this thread that were trying to help you. If you purposely omit important information how can you expect all your queries to be addressed promptly?

Niv