BT IFINITY ISSUES

[chas2008]

my brother-in-law whos knows absolutely zero about PCs/Internet has managed to sign up to BT ifinity, a complete overkill for what he uses his laptop for.All he does is access his e mails once or twice a day, the problem he has hes getting bills for exceding his download , the latest one is 60gb over!!!.Hes even taken to switching the hub off when not in use but he still gets these bills, he has spoken to BT who are supposedely looking into it and monitoring his connection but they seem very vague about it.Hes banging his against the wall trying to talk to someone who can understand the problem & can speak english.
Before anyone says anything i know 100% he is the only user in the house and doesnt surf the net let alone download anything & his hub is password protected.
Anyone else had this problem ? or any suggestions (sensible) as to his next move...

[bookbinder]

I can't solve your brother-in-law's problem, but he might like to download BTs Broadband Usage Monitor. That might give him a clue about what's happening.

[bazwillrun]

This will give him an idea of how much data hes using daily , weekly etc

http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

very simple to use, and the results can be exported and saved to a file.

[chas2008]

thanks for both those answers but that would be way over his head and unfortunately i live 80+ miles away..
But that wouldnt answer the question of why theres usage when everything is turned off..completely..

[ChuckFickens]

60GB over is a huge amount, the only way I can think anyone can use that amount is either streaming loads of video or downloading things like movies....

Or, their computer has been infected and is busy spending all its waking hours sending out spam emails, I would run a full scan with both the anti virus on it and malwarebytes just for peace of mind on that one.

Also you can check your usage any time on BT's web site here

http://www.bt.com/app...YourBroadbandUsage.do

If you also install a bandwidth monitor on the computer you will be able to see if there is any discrepancies between the two figures, if there is then there is another device using the connection.

[chas2008]

Thanks Chuck, no infections i know that for sure, he also bought a new laptop !! more money than sense to be honest.
Again its only switched on for a maximum of 30 mins a day, then everything is switched off (at the mains) to make sure the wireless hub couldnt be hacked.
That was my thought 60gb, a huge amount !!! he aslo had a bill with 40gb on..Hes refusing to pay ,from what hes saying it has to be an issue for 8+ weeks before you can get the BT ombudsman involved..

[chas2008]

you must also bear in mind this 60gb is over and above what is normally allowed on Ifinity

[Aquariel]

60 GB+ isn't a huge amount for Infinity, especially at full speed. Depending on the speed he gets, he could easily download approximately 4 gigabytes of data in 30 minutes each day, which would equate to over 100 GB per month. I assume he is on the capped Infinity at 40 GB usage per month.

As bookbinder and Chuck say, the usage monitor would be the first port of call to determine actual usage by his laptop. Then he'll know for certain if it's another device connecting unknowingly.

He might also want to check his laptop's hard drive to see if there are any large files that have been downloaded. 60 GB+ is a lot of junk he doesn't need, especially if it's every month, and he'll run out of space if it continues like that. A friend of mine had clicked on something (trying to watch some football on a website) and had unknowingly installed a BitTorrent client that was downloading random junk all the time. Could he have done something like that? It's possible if he's not tech savvy.

You say there's usage when everything is turned off completely? Do you know that for sure? I don't know if BT can provide times when his usage appears excessive to compare with when he's actually online.

If possible, could he leave the hub switched off for a period of time, such as a week or two, to see if there's any usage? If there isn't, then there's definitely something on the laptop that needs clearing out.