HELP,,Wireless Internet,,where's all my Gig's going?

Got hooked up to Verizon wireless Internet a little over a month ago. Got the MIFI2200 Hotspot thingy that plugs into the USB port. Talking to them and telling them what we use the computer for they told me the 5 Gig a month plan would be way more than enough. Well first month we went over and it cost me $$$$$ for over usage Told the kids to slow down on the youtube vides, and really IMO they didnt use it that much. I upgraded to 10 Gig a month but it cost more$$ but not as much as the over usage did. Im only half a month in and already close to using 5 Gig We dont hardly do video downloads, the Kids are mainly on facebook as well as the wife. for me, Its just this hunting sight, e-bay and a hot rod forum and some google searches. I called Verizon telling them I dont think something is right. They said I might need an Add blocker to filter out adds I still dont think thats the problem. A friend of mine has the same thing, never turnes the computer off and uses less than 2 Gig?? Im a computer idiot unless I can wrench on it :D Any suggestions you comp gurus? If you do suggest an add blocker (free) please supply me the link and IN ENGLISH talk me through the install. If you go talking about Url's and browsers im going to shoot myself

 

Anyone playing games Crick? And do you close the browser every time you get off the computer?

 

I'm telling you....some one is watching a lot of videos. I've had that same plan for the last two years for work. I use it all day at work and at home surfing the net. I have never went over 3gigs. I really don't know what it would be other than videos using it up.

 

Kids played some games at first but dont now,,and the vids are hardly watched anymore We shut down the computer every night and( Log off Internet when were not using it)

 

Got me stumped. I've left mine on all night several times. As long as your not receiving or sending data you can leave it on 24/7 and not rack up any charges. I use mine a lot and I can't get close to 5 gigs. I would go in and check the data usage history and see when and how your using it up.

 

Im again an idiot with these things :D where do I find that?

 

Your kids are probably watching porn

 

I have an icon on my desktop for VZAccess Manager. Then when it opens you go to options and then session log. It will give you the time and data of every usage and then give you the total bytes you used in that session.

 

Thank you, I have that icon and will check,,,thanks 2Lunger......Hooker one of these and 10 of those

 

Run a scan on your computer for viruses, spyware, etc.

Also, I would look to see if you have anything such as bearshare, torrents, etc installed.

 

Streaming media is not just videos. Music sites, pandora, playit, etc. will kill you in bandwidth usage. If your computers are autmatically updating they may be downloading updates and, if they are behind, that will eat up usage but streaming media is the badwidth hog.

 

Thanks guys, I checked my usage history like 2 lunger said. There are some dates where some big usage went down, gonna check everytime after we are on and see whats eating it all up!

 

Microsoft releases updates on the second tuesday of each month.

 

Crick, try this metering software:

http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/index.php?page=13

It runs in real time and monitors upload and download bandwidth/usage. It will create daily, weekly, and monthly usage charts to help you identify peak usage. It may help you pinpoint to see if there is a process running (spyware possibly) in the background that's causing the spike.

 

Thanks Bruce and Matt, Ill check out those tomorrow, got to log off, little one needs homework help

 

QUESTION? Does down loading games to an I pod touch eat some major bandwidth? It takes awhile for the down loads to complete. My Daughter says it dosent, but she's 17, I dont believe her :D

 

I wouldn't think the games were all that big so I doubt it.

 

Anything and everything adds up.

 

It's the neighbors hooking on to your unprotected wireless router and watching porn. LOL That is a lot of usage in a month.

 

Blood is probably watching porn