Download limit from BT help please

[Mark_G]

This question is for the techno guys, my father in law has had BT broadband for the last few months and apparently they have a 10 Gigabyte download limit, FIL has had a letter saying they have used 8 Gigs this month and basically its a warning for fair usage. However how can we find out what is causing this usage. I set up the wifi, and the wifi is protected by a password, there are two mobile phones, an ipad, and a laptop connected to the wifi, and a skybox and telephone connected to the phone line, they do not use anything like Netflix or any film downloads etc. The only usage which I can think of which may cause high usage is live streaming of football matches on the laptop, but these are poor quality so are they really that data hungry? Is there a way to find out which device is taking all the data, and how do I do it?

Thanks in advance

Mark

 

[G1BB0]

do they use sky anytime?

8gb is not a lot these days. My mum had the same issue and the difference between 10gb and unlimited (100gb) is not much, we ended up changing her and it affected her package overall for the better and worked out about 2 quid a month difference

give them a call and see what they say

 

[tarmac]

if you sign into your 'my bt' account .if you click 'my services',then the broadband icon,at the bottom you should see 'manage your broadband services'.click view your broadband usage.might help

 

[palindromicbob]

8gb really isn't much at all. A few photo heavy websites plus a bit of streaming will eat that up in no time, facebook is surpisingly data heavy. As speeds have increased and hosting costs dropped websites are becoming less and less careful about maintianing small file sizes. Gone are the days of gifs and low res jpgs being the bulk of content. I'd say the streaming is probably the main usage area. Even a low quality stream can eat up the data quickly. Personally I have 250Gb limit, it used to be 120gb and I threatened that limit a few times thanks to skyplayer and netflix. I'd say upgrade the limit, I don't really think anything suspicious is using it (which seems to be your concern).

 

[Mark_G]

Thanks Tarmac, they didn't have an online account set up so did that for them and checked the usage, quizzed bro in law, checked data being used by streaming etc, and it looks like it's a combination of streaming and heavy browsing, no downloads. Bt usage page is now a short cut so they can monitor it daily. 10 gig might not be a lot but its enough for them, can you imagine using 10 gig with dial up lol?

 

[Crazyface]

Swap to Virgin. Unlimited !!!!!!!! Great deals atm. You're welcome.

 

[GreiginFife]

Swap to Virgin. Unlimited !!!!!!!! Great deals atm. You're welcome.

And if they are not in a Virgin enabled area??

 

[One Planer]

And if they are not in a Virgin enabled area??

They go to Sky :whoo:

 

[woody69]

High quality video streaming with 500MB = 3.5 hours (2 games) 750MB = 5.25 hours. 1GB = 7 hours.

 

[Andy808]

And if they are not in a Virgin enabled area??

Then you get screwed over by having to have a "connect" service through them which they charge a fortune for and you get every excuse under the sun as to why noone is putting their gear into the exchange.
As I live in Cornwall and they are working on Superfast Cornwall as we speak it will be interesting if other companies will be allowed into the exchange then or if I am forced to use BT Infinity at £26 a month for the unlimited service. I know they are getting on well with it as they have installed the second green roadside box next to the existing one and two guys have spent days huddled in their little tents connecting it all up. We should have speeds up to 40Mbs in the next few weeks and then they rise to 76Mbs some time in the next 12 months.

 

[drutz]

If they have Sky could it be using programs on the sky anytime which downloads it these can be almost a gig in size so could explain it. 8-10 movies a month and there is your limit gone. One of the reasons I got Sky broadband with my sky dish.

 

[SyR]

BT have an unlimited package so I don't feel too bad that we've used over 100gb already this month. I'm not sure how it compares to other providers in cost though but I'd hate to have a limit.