Allowance used while nothing is turned on !!

[leon]

Hi Guys, I know I had a similar post about this problem but thought i would just share this as well.

Friday evening we closed down our computers, lappies and anything else that may use INTERNET allowance, we were away so didn't need and INTERNET time.

Today Sunday, I turned on the WIFI unit but did not turn on any device, come back 15 minutes later and glanced at the Modem and nearly 900 Mg's had disappeared although nothing was on. :eyepop:

So is my allowance being stolen :shrug: or is there something i am missing :shrug:

Is it time to change passwords do ya think :mad2:

Leon:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

well i would think if you had everything turned off a nearby neighbour is enjoying the web. change your admin password on the modem and make a new access security code

[Exfso]

What David said I reckon...:rolleyes: I assume you do turn off your Modem!!

[The_bluester]

As well as that, and before changing passwords, log into the modem and have a look at what wifi clients are connected to see if you have any unknown ones popping up.

[Chunky Wheeler]

I seem to experience similar goings on!
Someone has recently told me that windows 10 is to blame. Microsoft is having to fix a lot of glitches and using up everyone data allowance in doing so. I don know if this is true. It just what I have been told.............
Chunky Wheeler

[rally]

Leon,

So assuming none of your devices were actually ON - ie not just sitting there with screens off but CPU in operation.

What WiFi encryption method are you using ?
Did you rename the modem from its default factory name ?
Did you provide your own name and password from the default ?

Its time for MAC address filtering to be enabled on your modem/router WiFi access - this will limit access to only your devices.

If you get a new device you'll have to add it on to the list of allowed MAC addresses

You'll need to lookup all the MAC addresses of your WiFi Devices
Or copy them off the modems status page of connected device before you enable MAC filtering

And a change of both admin username and password (on the modem) wouldnt go astray as well as changing the broadcast name of your modem

Might even be a good idea to remap the IP address of your modem so it cant be found by the same person and if you want to go a step further turn off SSID broadcasting so your modem isnt broadcasting its presence to all and sundry - but you will need to record its name and address !
You can always go back to default settings most have a switch or little hole with a press button switch inside the case that you use to reste it back to default if you need.

[Starless]

What he said. :thumbsup:

[leon]

Correct, nothing is actually on, totally dead, so to speak.
it was only the Telstra WIFI unit that i turned on and away it went, and probably to someone else close by. :shrug:
I will do as you suggest and make some changes.

Thank you for your responses. :thumbsup:

Leon :thumbsup:

[leon]

Rally, Brian, thanks for you suggestions, but to be honest I am not that clever when it comes to this technical stuff regarding modems etc.

It all comes second nature to you guys. :shrug:

I might have to ask my mate at Red Hill Computers here in Ballarat for some assistance.

I would probably stuff it up and it would never work again. :P

Leon :thumbsup:

[rally]

Leon,

We know that - Thats why you're asking and we're suggesting !
Its always hard when we arent there to see exatcly how things are set up and we can look at the system and possibly see who is logged on.
You would be surprised just what devices can connect by themselves if there is no security and start using bandwidth these days.
Even my HiFi amplifier has an IP address and is transmitting its error status to the default manufacturers website !

But yes its definitely worth getting someone who knows what they are doing to help you if you can. Especially if you are changing default logon IP addresses - that can get messy if you change the sub net you are already on - then you cant reconnect again without manually assigning a new IP address to your desktop !

If we were local we could do it for you

[Octane]

The other thing you need to bear in mind is that most ISP allowance pages (or on devices) are not actually up to date. Sometimes, they can be out by 24 hours.

So, you may have used up the allowance before you went away, but, it's only showing it to you now that you've returned.

H

[RobF]

e.g. Windows 10 has been downloading in the background for many people, sometimes giving a nasty bandwidth surprise depending on what your available quota was.

[Starless]

Leon,
I would be glad to help but I am no where near Ballarat I'm afraid
and I am the worlds worst at solving computer problems remotely.

Unfortunatley I can't even recommend anyone in your area.

I suggest you take a copy of Rally's reply to whoever you go
to and ask them to read it. It will help them understand what
you need done.

Best of luck.

P.S. this is why I don't use Wi-Fi, I have a Cat5 wired home.

[AlexN]

I'm with Brian, CAT6 throughout my home... I have wireless access but it runs off a separate subnet, the SSID is both obscure and not broadcast, it has a physical firewall computer between the wifi network and the main network, it's isolated from my servers by means of another router running a security orientated operating system and uses wpa2 with a full 63 character passports that includes letters both upper and lower case, numbers, symbols, no full words, no pattern..
The best part is that the wifi router is set up with dhcp disabled, it only allows 3 ip addresses to access the network and I have manually allotted those ip addresses to their respective hardware MAC addresses.

I feel pretty confident to say nobody is stealing my internet connection. Oh, if they do try my router informs me of it instantly.

Network security, it's not a job. It's a lifestyle....

[jenchris]

Windows 10 has permission to update or switch on or off anything it likes on your computer with or without your knowledge.
It can and will record what it likes and send reports to anyone about your content usage or habits.
It can and will reset any permissions you deny it no matter how they are applied.

[GTB_an_Owl]

I believe it has something to do with the handshake between 4G towers and/or the fall back to 3G if the 4g signal is lost

my reasoning behind this is that we never went over our allowance when we could only get 3G
we had a big storm and a lot of the towers were damaged so telstra decided it was a good opportunity to upgrade the 4g network as the towers were repaired
not long after we started to notice we were going over our 10gig allowance about 3/5 days before the end of our billing cycle
monitoring showed no rogue connections and it was before we upgraded to windows 10

geoff

[leon]

Thank you again for your help things seem to have settled, however when I leave the computer, even for a brief time i turn off the WiFi hotspot unit and reconnect when i come back to it, this is certainly helping.

Leon

[jenchris]

My phone is used quite heavily for data and I did find updates were a bit of a nuisance for stuff running in the background.
I forced quite a few progs to shut down as I don't use the social media much etc.
My usage dropped considerably.

[Starless]

Sounds like the perfect reason not to "upgrade".:bashcomp:

[brisen]

There is a setting in Windows 10 that basically allows it to use your bandwidth to update other users computers with Windows updates. Some sort of peer sharing setting apparently. I know I turned it off when I set up Windows 10 but cant remember the exact setting where it was.