Bigpond Download Quota - Expiring Sooner Than Normal ????
Vic41 said
09:50 AM Mar 17, 2014
I have noticed over the last few months that my Bigpond download quota seems to be expiring sooner (getting notices to say you have reached half way, now all the way and on go slow etc).
I use Windows 7 Live Mail to where my bigpond mailbox downloads are redirected when I open it.
On one of the months I was away for a week but that didn't lessen my expiry. I do not leave on or use my pc when away, I am on DSL off of a telephone line and my wife is connected to my account by a wifi laptop which she has security on. We always turn off our PC's when away, going to bed or going out etc.
I rang Bigpond accounts and was told that as far as they could see nobody was "tapping" into my allowable download quota and the only changes they had made recently to their download system was if you opened up an email in your bigpond email box that came off your quota, so if you opened it there and then it went to your Windows Live inbox later you were charged twice for the download.
I never open emails in my Bigpond inbox, and only visit it to deleted any emails in it from time to time without opening them.
The accounts department also told me to contact their Bigpond Tech Section and ask them if they can see anything awry. I have not done that yet. Then yesterday I was told about someone else who said their download quota had been expiring sooner in the last few months with no increased usage ???
Has anyone else been having this problem
-- Edited by Vic41 on Monday 17th of March 2014 09:51:48 AM
Yuglamron said
10:14 AM Mar 17, 2014
I had an 8 Gig plan for the last few years an suddenly I find it expires so much quicker after never expiring at all before my last renewal. I also find everything slower despite being less than ten K's from the Melbourne CBD and supposedly in a 4G area it is very rare to actually have a 4G signal.
If it wasn't for the geographical coverage for travelling, I sure as hell wouldn't be with Telstra.
I also had my iPhone give it away. The phone came up with "Unable to recognise Sim./No sim card.
Funnily enough on the day the new 5 and 5S phone came out. I tried the 24/7 helpline of course and no help at all so got a new phone and two year plan with half the data that I had before.
I gave the old phone to my son and lo and behold it works great with another companies sim.
Vic41 said
10:23 AM Mar 17, 2014
I have a feeling Yug that there is something they are not telling us about the downloads and are getting at us by stealth, I haven't seen anything put out to users or the public on this.
Same as you, I keep Bigpond for better communication for travels etc, but may also look at another provider for the home front and just use prepaid bigpond or Telstra when away.
El Gringo said
10:27 AM Mar 17, 2014
Download and install this free usage monitor www.softperfect.com/products/networx/
It will let you see what you are actually using.
I run it all the time now as i had arguments with Telstra Bigpond some time ago regarding their method of billing.
Gives you daily, monthly yearly reports.
Small program, uses very little resources.
Cheers,
Vic41 said
10:32 AM Mar 17, 2014
El Gringo wrote:
Download and install this free usage monitor www.softperfect.com/products/networx/ It will let you see what you are actually using. I run it all the time now as i had arguments with Telstra Bigpond some time ago regarding their method of billing. Gives you daily, monthly yearly reports. Small program, uses very little resources.
Cheers,
Thanks El Gringo, will take a look at it.
Something is not right that is for sure.
dING said
10:40 AM Mar 17, 2014
I would suspect that you
Have acquired some malware
That is sending info out to who-ever
Because you get charged for downloads
And up loads if you dont have it all ready
Put Malwarebytes on your puter and
Run it on the odd occasion (tis a free one available)
I also use Crap cleaner to keep my system running at it's best. there are some fakes around, so make sure you get it from here - again the free one is all you need.. www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download I run it every night just before i shut the PC down. Easy to do by right clicking on the re-cycle bin and click on run CCleaner.
Cheers,
-- Edited by El Gringo on Monday 17th of March 2014 10:50:00 AM
Vic41 said
10:51 AM Mar 17, 2014
Thanks dING and EG...
Baz421 said
11:31 AM Mar 17, 2014
Have you seen the amount of adds and cookies that appear nowdays. They addup and if you don't turn as many off as possible you pay for their advertising.
Bigpond's "my bigpond account" shows daily uploads/downloads, you don't need any other software IMHO, ESPECIALLY as Bigpond will use their data not some other software if there is a dispute.
Look to see your "usage pattern" and then you know what to expect if you surf the internet etc, AND LOOK FOR ANY ANOMOLIES.
Also downloading mail is really an insignificant amount of usage when compared to internet browsing.
Hope this helps.
'
woolman said
12:09 PM Mar 17, 2014
I have been having the same problem. I have found if you look on your modem it will show a number between WiFi and battery icons. If there is showing other than "1" then someone is tapping into your system. Bigpond will not have that it is possible even though I have seen "2" which means 2 computers are connected. We don't even have the option of changing the security code unless I do as advised, buy a new system. The answer I believe is to be able to change the code numbers.
Now that I know others are having same problem I am going to get onto the Telecommunications ombudsman as I believe we should be able to change our modem code.
I keep checking and if another computer connects I shut it down for a while.
dING said
12:22 PM Mar 17, 2014
Why not just change your Password
It would seem to be a simpler solution
Baz421 said
12:25 PM Mar 17, 2014
woolman wrote:
I have been having the same problem. I have found if you look on your modem it will show a number between WiFi and battery icons. If there is showing other than "1" then someone is tapping into your system. Bigpond will not have that it is possible even though I have seen "2" which means 2 computers are connected. We don't even have the option of changing the security code unless I do as advised, buy a new system. The answer I believe is to be able to change the code numbers.
Now that I know others are having same problem I am going to get onto the Telecommunications ombudsman as I believe we should be able to change our modem code.
I keep checking and if another computer connects I shut it down for a while.
What modem are you using please and how old is it?
Big Gorilla said
12:49 PM Mar 17, 2014
Have you noticed the size of any attachments to the e-mails you are receiving thru Windows Live Mail ? If you receive large attachments and don't open them, they are still downloaded and become part of your monthly GB allowance. Even though I use Bigpond at home and thru a WiFi modem when I travel, I don't use the bigpond mail server. We have a server in the U.S. used for our web site which we retained after selling the business in the Philippines, and I put a "Message Rule" on my e-mails. I still have a bigpond e-mail address but I never use it. It came with the deal from Telstra. I'm sure the Message Rule would work on Bigpond. If you don't know how to set up the rule and you want to try it, PM me. Under my signature on my outgoing e-mails, I insert the following:
Messages with or without attachments larger than 1.5MB are deleted at the Server. I do not see them.
So if an e-mail is received at our Server and it is larger than 1.5MB, it is automatically deleted and not downloaded.
Roving-Dutchy said
03:04 PM Mar 17, 2014
While reading this thread my ADSL modem dropped out!!! Spooky
Yuglamron said
03:16 PM Mar 17, 2014
On a slightly different reason for extra downloads. I spoke to my son re this matter. I don't know if he is right but he told me lots of the "Apps" now used by Windows 8 and later versions get permissions to use location access websites etc and we just let them do their thing.
He told me to check my Task Manager and highlight the Start menu and see what was running. I was amazed there were four main programs that you need but there were SIXTY other programs running in the background.
I went through and disabled a lot that I thought should not be running.
My computer seems faster and that little gizmo someone suggested to download shows my upload and download has dropped drastically.
Be interesting now to see if I exceed my monthly download continuing my normal computer usage.
With a thank you to El Gringo who I think drew the software gizmo to my notice.
neilnruth said
05:39 PM Mar 17, 2014
I've had quick data usage too and my son explained that you need to 'turn off' a lot of the things on your computer or phone. The 'smarter' they become the more data they use. Since getting a new laptop with Windows 8 that used up data very quickly (like from normal being 120mb/day to 600-700mb/day) I have since 'turned off' the updating weather, news, travel etc 'tiles' that appear when I log on. On the phone you can also turn off background data. It has brought my usage back to normal.
nallingtoon said
08:04 PM Mar 17, 2014
Recently bought a new laptop which has Microsoft 8 and was running out my data at a phenominal rate my daughter turned off all the apps that come with 8 (i hate 8) and problem solved
Neil
neilnruth said
08:07 PM Mar 17, 2014
That's what we had to do too. You have said it better!
D and D said
09:39 PM Mar 17, 2014
I find this utility to be really useful in identifying what application is consuming all the bandwidth - other just tend to tell you how much bandwidth is being used but doesn't tell you what applications are using it.
The Phantom said
09:51 PM Mar 17, 2014
If you are using any Windows OS and have Automatic Updates enabled, it will run your allowance down very quickly. The computer is controlling you, not the other way around.
The Phantom
Vic41 said
11:40 PM Mar 17, 2014
Thanks for the further feedback folks, yes Phantom I have the Windows automatic updates (if that is the one you mean) so maybe that is part of the problem, however sometimes they do urgent security updates so would rather rely on them to do it and do it manually myself and maybe forget to do so. Good point though.
-- Edited by Vic41 on Tuesday 18th of March 2014 09:25:13 AM
dING said
09:22 AM Mar 18, 2014
Most updates are not for the individual user
They are more designed for corporate user
I aways turn off auto updates and just leave on
The notifications so I can choose which ones I want
MS seem to have a habbit (no not a Hobbit) of
Sending out a up date once or twice a year
To crash your computer
Vic41 said
09:27 AM Mar 18, 2014
Looks like I will have to look at my settings too dING, I think mine does the urgent updates automatically (to close loopholes to hackers etc) but gives you the option of downloading other optional updates that my not apply to your pc.
Baz421 said
11:43 AM Mar 18, 2014
Vic41 wrote:
Looks like I will have to look at my settings too dING, I think mine does the urgent updates automatically (to close loopholes to hackers etc) but gives you the option of downloading other optional updates that my not apply to your pc.
Vic I do manual updates but the problem is you don't know what is in the updates and how relevant it's content is. The optional updates you see on your computer are for your computer,, so they are tailor made for what OS etc you have.
Vic41 said
12:30 PM Mar 18, 2014
Thanks Baz, just went in and changed a couple of settings, hope that will help now.
PS: Liked that Prof Miller show when he was around, even his chocolate addy he did! "Why Is It So".....
glendadon said
04:43 PM Mar 18, 2014
We have had the same problems as everyone else with Telstra I have been able to pass the normal operator and speak to a person in There headquarters in Brisbane but it was absolutely useless it appears that you cant win with them as all they do is deny that there is any problems with them and its all my fault as I used it.We only have 15 gig and of coarse wireless as being in the country the only other source is satellite and that does not give us enough download if I had the choice of Broadband I would be of like a shot and give Telstra the Big A.
Regards
Don
Baz421 said
04:48 PM Mar 18, 2014
dING wrote:
Most updates are not for the individual user
They are more designed for corporate user
I aways turn off auto updates and just leave on
The notifications so I can choose which ones I want
MS seem to have a habbit (no not a Hobbit) of
Sending out a up date once or twice a year
To crash your computer
Funny you should say that.
Prior to retiring my desk top computer (what did we call em?) had W98 and top quality nVidia graphics for design work and although it shouldn't have run XP properly I have XP installed.
One day, years later I received a message from Microsoft saying I had an illegal copy of XP, so rang my compter guy who installed it and he said don't worry ignore it, so I did. Heaps more messages and then MS said they would cut off my updates and again my computer guy said ignore again.
Well they DID TURN OFF UPDATES ON THE DATE THEY SAID THEY WOULD,,,, AND SENT ME 13 VIRUSES.
Just love em eh!!!!!
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 18th of March 2014 05:50:02 PM
Vic41 said
06:19 PM Mar 18, 2014
glendadon wrote:
We have had the same problems as everyone else with Telstra I have been able to pass the normal operator and speak to a person in There headquarters in Brisbane but it was absolutely useless it appears that you cant win with them as all they do is deny that there is any problems with them and its all my fault as I used it.We only have 15 gig and of coarse wireless as being in the country the only other source is satellite and that does not give us enough download if I had the choice of Broadband I would be of like a shot and give Telstra the Big A.
Regards
Don
I don't think you would be alone Don, I got an Australian operator (I rang the Accounts/Complaints line) but they just looked and said my usage was about average and to ring the Tech line to see if they can shed any light on it.....haven't done that yet so can't tell you anymore at this point of time. I can only conclude they are "adding" some sort of download/upload to the amount used as I am not really using up any more than I did in the past and it is running out much earlier now. They did tell me that forums should not use a lot of download as I asked about GN......
I have noticed over the last few months that my Bigpond download quota seems to be expiring sooner (getting notices to say you have reached half way, now all the way and on go slow etc).
I use Windows 7 Live Mail to where my bigpond mailbox downloads are redirected when I open it.
On one of the months I was away for a week but that didn't lessen my expiry. I do not leave on or use my pc when away, I am on DSL off of a telephone line and my wife is connected to my account by a wifi laptop which she has security on. We always turn off our PC's when away, going to bed or going out etc.
I rang Bigpond accounts and was told that as far as they could see nobody was "tapping" into my allowable download quota and the only changes they had made recently to their download system was if you opened up an email in your bigpond email box that came off your quota, so if you opened it there and then it went to your Windows Live inbox later you were charged twice for the download.
I never open emails in my Bigpond inbox, and only visit it to deleted any emails in it from time to time without opening them.
The accounts department also told me to contact their Bigpond Tech Section and ask them if they can see anything awry. I have not done that yet. Then yesterday I was told about someone else who said their download quota had been expiring sooner in the last few months with no increased usage ???
Has anyone else been having this problem
-- Edited by Vic41 on Monday 17th of March 2014 09:51:48 AM
I had an 8 Gig plan for the last few years an suddenly I find it expires so much quicker after never expiring at all before my last renewal. I also find everything slower despite being less than ten K's from the Melbourne CBD and supposedly in a 4G area it is very rare to actually have a 4G signal.
If it wasn't for the geographical coverage for travelling, I sure as hell wouldn't be with Telstra.
I also had my iPhone give it away. The phone came up with "Unable to recognise Sim./No sim card.
Funnily enough on the day the new 5 and 5S phone came out. I tried the 24/7 helpline of course and no help at all so got a new phone and two year plan with half the data that I had before.
I gave the old phone to my son and lo and behold it works great with another companies sim.
I have a feeling Yug that there is something they are not telling us about the downloads and are getting at us by stealth, I haven't seen anything put out to users or the public on this.
Same as you, I keep Bigpond for better communication for travels etc, but may also look at another provider for the home front and just use prepaid bigpond or Telstra when away.
It will let you see what you are actually using.
I run it all the time now as i had arguments with Telstra Bigpond some time ago regarding their method of billing.
Gives you daily, monthly yearly reports.
Small program, uses very little resources.
Cheers,
Thanks El Gringo, will take a look at it.
Something is not right that is for sure.
Have acquired some malware
That is sending info out to who-ever
Because you get charged for downloads
And up loads if you dont have it all ready
Put Malwarebytes on your puter and
Run it on the odd occasion (tis a free one available)
And delete anything it finds it gives you
That option
Yes, good program to use - get it here www.softperfect.com/products/networx/
The free one is all you need
Also get Spybot search and destroy www.safer-networking.org/dl/
I also use Crap cleaner to keep my system running at it's best.
there are some fakes around, so make sure you get it from here - again the free one is all you need.. www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
I run it every night just before i shut the PC down.
Easy to do by right clicking on the re-cycle bin and click on run CCleaner.
Cheers,
-- Edited by El Gringo on Monday 17th of March 2014 10:50:00 AM
Thanks dING and EG...
Have you seen the amount of adds and cookies that appear nowdays. They addup and if you don't turn as many off as possible you pay for their advertising.
Bigpond's "my bigpond account" shows daily uploads/downloads, you don't need any other software IMHO, ESPECIALLY as Bigpond will use their data not some other software if there is a dispute.
Look to see your "usage pattern" and then you know what to expect if you surf the internet etc, AND LOOK FOR ANY ANOMOLIES.
Also downloading mail is really an insignificant amount of usage when compared to internet browsing.
Hope this helps.
'
I have been having the same problem. I have found if you look on your modem it will show a number between WiFi and battery icons. If there is showing other than "1" then someone is tapping into your system. Bigpond will not have that it is possible even though I have seen "2" which means 2 computers are connected. We don't even have the option of changing the security code unless I do as advised, buy a new system. The answer I believe is to be able to change the code numbers.
Now that I know others are having same problem I am going to get onto the Telecommunications ombudsman as I believe we should be able to change our modem code.
I keep checking and if another computer connects I shut it down for a while.
It would seem to be a simpler solution
What modem are you using please and how old is it?
Have you noticed the size of any attachments to the e-mails you are receiving thru Windows Live Mail ? If you receive large attachments and don't open them, they are still downloaded and become part of your monthly GB allowance. Even though I use Bigpond at home and thru a WiFi modem when I travel, I don't use the bigpond mail server. We have a server in the U.S. used for our web site which we retained after selling the business in the Philippines, and I put a "Message Rule" on my e-mails. I still have a bigpond e-mail address but I never use it. It came with the deal from Telstra. I'm sure the Message Rule would work on Bigpond. If you don't know how to set up the rule and you want to try it, PM me. Under my signature on my outgoing e-mails, I insert the following:
Messages with or without attachments
larger than 1.5MB are deleted at the
Server. I do not see them.
So if an e-mail is received at our Server and it is larger than 1.5MB, it is automatically deleted and not downloaded.
On a slightly different reason for extra downloads. I spoke to my son re this matter. I don't know if he is right but he told me lots of the "Apps" now used by Windows 8 and later versions get permissions to use location access websites etc and we just let them do their thing.
He told me to check my Task Manager and highlight the Start menu and see what was running. I was amazed there were four main programs that you need but there were SIXTY other programs running in the background.
I went through and disabled a lot that I thought should not be running.
My computer seems faster and that little gizmo someone suggested to download shows my upload and download has dropped drastically.
Be interesting now to see if I exceed my monthly download continuing my normal computer usage.
With a thank you to El Gringo who I think drew the software gizmo to my notice.
Neil
I find this utility to be really useful in identifying what application is consuming all the bandwidth - other just tend to tell you how much bandwidth is being used but doesn't tell you what applications are using it.
If you are using any Windows OS and have Automatic Updates enabled, it will run your allowance down very quickly. The computer is controlling you, not the other way around.
The Phantom
Thanks for the further feedback folks, yes Phantom I have the Windows automatic updates (if that is the one you mean) so maybe that is part of the problem, however sometimes they do urgent security updates so would rather rely on them to do it and do it manually myself and maybe forget to do so. Good point though.
-- Edited by Vic41 on Tuesday 18th of March 2014 09:25:13 AM
They are more designed for corporate user
I aways turn off auto updates and just leave on
The notifications so I can choose which ones I want
MS seem to have a habbit (no not a Hobbit) of
Sending out a up date once or twice a year
To crash your computer
Looks like I will have to look at my settings too dING, I think mine does the urgent updates automatically (to close loopholes to hackers etc) but gives you the option of downloading other optional updates that my not apply to your pc.
Vic I do manual updates but the problem is you don't know what is in the updates and how relevant it's content is. The optional updates you see on your computer are for your computer,, so they are tailor made for what OS etc you have.
Thanks Baz, just went in and changed a couple of settings, hope that will help now.
PS: Liked that Prof Miller show when he was around, even his chocolate addy he did! "Why Is It So".....
We have had the same problems as everyone else with Telstra I have been able to pass the normal operator and speak to a person in There headquarters in Brisbane but it was absolutely useless it appears that you cant win with them as all they do is deny that there is any problems with them and its all my fault as I used it.We only have 15 gig and of coarse wireless as being in the country the only other source is satellite and that does not give us enough download if I had the choice of Broadband I would be of like a shot and give Telstra the Big A.
Regards
Don
Funny you should say that.
Prior to retiring my desk top computer (what did we call em?) had W98 and top quality nVidia graphics for design work and although it shouldn't have run XP properly I have XP installed.
One day, years later I received a message from Microsoft saying I had an illegal copy of XP, so rang my compter guy who installed it and he said don't worry ignore it, so I did. Heaps more messages and then MS said they would cut off my updates and again my computer guy said ignore again.
Well they DID TURN OFF UPDATES ON THE DATE THEY SAID THEY WOULD,,,, AND SENT ME 13 VIRUSES.
Just love em eh!!!!!
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 18th of March 2014 05:50:02 PM
I don't think you would be alone Don, I got an Australian operator (I rang the Accounts/Complaints line) but they just looked and said my usage was about average and to ring the Tech line to see if they can shed any light on it.....haven't done that yet so can't tell you anymore at this point of time. I can only conclude they are "adding" some sort of download/upload to the amount used as I am not really using up any more than I did in the past and it is running out much earlier now. They did tell me that forums should not use a lot of download as I asked about GN......