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Computer amateur here....

We've just been sent a bill for £300 for three months internet use. Ridiculous. BT claims we downloaded 120GB in one month. Our wi-fi hub (which they supplied) is WPA protected. There are other wi-fi networks less secure than ours in my immediate neighbourhood. We don't run torrents or download big files.

Can someone tell me, is it humanly possible to download 120GB of data in one month just by watching youtube and the occasional online movie, without having had a next door neighbour hack into our relatively secure system and using our connection to download endless torrents onto two different servers without us noticing problems with connection speed? The more likely explanation being that BT got our billing wrong...

I've read reports on the internet of lots of other BT users having this type of problem, so I just want to get my facts absolutely straight before I call BT and rip someone a new a**hole...

Last edited by robinhood on 26 Jan 2010, 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

The most I've been able to download in a full month was about 30Gb's, and even that was pushing it. I'd definitely complain, and update your router.

Speaking of which, if that router was provided by said company, they ought to be able to check and see who's been connecting to it. That may clear your name.

It's possible.

Ask them to send you a full traffic report of the sites you've visited and the size of the downloads. They can do it (if they're billing you for usage, they must know this stuff).

Given the challenge of some simple maths, here's how it works out:

Number of bytes: 128,849,018,880 (120GB)
Number of days: 30.4 (average)

Bytes per day = 4,233,319,580 (3.9GB per day)

To achieve such a sustained rate, you need to be running a speed of 391,974 bits per second, or ~384Kbps.

So it's entirely possible.

Great... thanks for the advice. I thought it had to be a crock of s***.... they're not a good service provider to use.

Possible doesn't mean it's likely. Unless you have a much faster connection than 384Kbps, it's not that easy to use 120GB unless it's on purpose.

On the other hand, HD movies can get up to 6GB in size (this is a maximum, they aren't always this big), so if you watch 8 of them, and lots of YouTube HD stuff, it can add up.

But definitely get back to them and ask them to send you your full usage report.

Thanks guys... appreciated.

Who set up the router? If it was installed for you and the settings were "open" and someone could "roam" into your router, they could use your line and get free internet.

Unfortunately, I am one of those that could easily surpass 120GB a month. Let's just say online digital games distributor "STEAM" if you will.

I would continue to look into this. With my own router, I have 2 wireless devices that sometimes connect to it, and I have gone into the settings to allow whichever I set which is only these two, so anything else will be denied. The rest of my network is wired and thus to me, more secure

The rates quoted above would require that you be online, streaming/downloading/whatevering 24hrs a day. Now, no offence OP, but you're on flippin' YouTube. I just caint see that as a possibility.

Example: I have 6 people in my house that are old enough to figure out the internet. One is a usenet junkie, always downloading something. Sis and her BF are constantly streaming/playing XBox live, Hubby streams quite a few movies a day, and I spend 16 hours a day online watching, reading, and generally dorking about the internet. Also, Sis and Mum do online schooling, which for some reason eats a TONNE of bandwidth and the rest of us have to quit streaming for a moment. Now, I'm not 100% sure because it's been well over a year since I last checked this info and it's not available on their site, but my ISP has a cap, I think somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 or 50Gb's per month. With everyone constantly doing something, including the *ahem* kinds of downloads you get from less than trustworthy people being a part of your household, we've yet to hit that limit.

I would recommend 'MAC locking.' It's in single quotes so you can google it. Or, go to youtube, type in your router model number and mac locking, and at least one video will show up showing you how to do it step by step. If you mess up, these things come with handy reset buttons. What mac locking does changes the way your router accepts information. Instead of allowing any hacker to get in based on a presumably simple password, it ONLY allows a few select computers in based on the unique address saved on the network card. Your neighbour would have to be very good to beat it.

One last thing. You said you've received a bill for three months usage. Now, I hate to play devil's advocate here... but is it at all possible that you misread it and that 120Gb is for all three months? Because then the numbers make a whole lot more sense.

Maybe BT is inaccurate and skewed it in there favor to make more money. Since it was there device they might have firmware on it that over reports usage. Wireless is not that secure and somebody else maybe getting on. Before we got Verizon FiOS in the United States me and my dad wired the house for Ethernet and switched off the wireless on the router.

I smell someone is downloading off yer dime...

continuing 24h a day?

if you're worried about protection, there is a setting in (most) wireless routers to only allow know devices. You need to manually register a hardware number (forgot the name) of every network card that may have access to your router. This number is unique to the network card so nobody gets access unless you allow it.

The Hardware Number is the MAC Address

Thanks for the advice everyone....

They reckoned we used 129GB in October, 98GB in November, and 27GB in December..... it's all a little bit fishy....

One other point to consider - if you are suppose to have downloaded all this - then where did you put it?

I happen to be a newish BT customer - and the deal for "On demand" films that I have (BT Vision) is that they do NOT count in the download usage figure.

I would check to make sure the router IS really secure, as most likely it is not, and there are a dozen or so people using your internet connection. Wireless routers DO NOT come from the service provider or the store secured, you need to set that up yourself. Even if someone came to your house to set everything up, they usually do not secure it for you. What happens, is that if your connection is not secure (some times it says it is but really it is not), depending on how many people living around you have a wireless network, they could be inadvertantly using your internet connection without even knowing it. Most computers connect automaticly, or you can chose what network to connect to (if there are multiple networks that are close enough), the problem being that people dont know how to secure there routers, and they just assume they are connected to there own router. Add to this, if there is a public access point very close by (like a coffee shop), there could be many people connecting to your network without knowing.

I can pick up 6 different networks from my bedroom, on my netbook, from people who dont secure there networks. And they all look the same, so it is very easy for a person to mistake there neigbors network for there own.
If you using windows, if you click on the system tray icon for wireless network, a box will pop up, click on "view wireless networks". It will show you the networks you can connect to, and will show you if they are secure. Your network is usually the first one (greatest signal), and make sure it says that security is enabled.

As the OP said...

There is the chance that they have inadvertently opened it up (or someone wanted to play an online game, and ditched the security).