Satellite Intenet download rates.

December 3, 2006 4:37 PM

Why would my Wild Blue satellite usage keep going up and up even though the modem is unplugged?

There is a lag of up to 48 hours before my usage stats appear on their website. I understand that. But we haven't downloaded a movie or music for over two weeks.
Five days ago we unplugged the modem just in case it could be spyware. Usage keeps going up by 100s of MBs.
We don't have a wifi - and we live way out in the country so I don't think anyone could be stealing access.
I wonder if they have my account mixed up with someone else?
How can I eliminate possibilities?

posted by cda to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Sounds like you've already eliminated enough to give them a call and ask what's up.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:54 PM on December 3, 2006

Response by poster: I've called them, basically it's all on my back to figure out why this is happening. They have no incentive.
I thought maybe other satellite Internet users might have a similar experience.
posted by cda at 4:59 PM on December 3, 2006

Can you ask them to cut your access off for a period of 12 or 24 hours, to see if the numbers keep going up during that time?
posted by lorimer at 5:14 PM on December 3, 2006

Response by poster: Oh, that's a good idea Lorimer. I hadn't thought of that.
posted by cda at 5:16 PM on December 3, 2006

(Can I be stupid and ask why this matters? Are you charged for bandwidth?)
posted by ajpresto at 5:20 PM on December 3, 2006

It sure looks like it, ajpresto
posted by lorimer at 6:25 PM on December 3, 2006

Also, even if I weren't being charged, I would be interested to know the source of mysterious bandwidth on a connection I was responsible for. They're very right to consider spyware (if they're running Windows).

If there's no physical way for neighbors to piggyback, and the posters are sure their own computer isn't connected, I'd say the ISP definitely has a responsibility to figure out what's going on. Especially since it's a public relations matter, now that people are watching this story :)
posted by lorimer at 6:30 PM on December 3, 2006

Response by poster: If I go over my limit then they slow down my connection.

If I keep going over my limit then they may cancel my account. (And it's the only option besides dial-up where I live.)
posted by cda at 8:01 PM on December 3, 2006

In South Africa, the local monopoly, Telkom, strictly caps usage per month. Hackers are scanning about finding their way into people's modems, and stealing passwords. These they then use to log on with the victims account, using that person's allowance.

There is a chance, perhaps, that something similar is happening with you. That is, if your modem somehow holds account/password information to send when you connect.
posted by Goofyy at 3:46 AM on December 4, 2006

I'm still working on this problem - I'll post here if I figure it out.

The problem is that if I unplug from their system completely they are telling me that it could take time for all my downloading to be processed in their system. I told them that we stopped downloading movies over two weeks ago and they said it may still be processing.

For now I am going to not start downloading movies again, ever, and do another unplug test where I write everything down.

And I am going to call them now and try to see if they can tell me exactly how much FAP I use from their computers and not by my account bar graph on their website.
posted by 9000.68 at 3:01 PM on December 6, 2006

Response by poster: Hm, so now I called again and they are telling me that there is a huge problem the techs are working on that their system is reading kilobytes as megabytes. But they aren't sure yet. So I have to keep calling to find out if they fix the problem and then restore my account to good graces.

Aargh.
posted by cda at 3:18 PM on December 8, 2006

Response by poster: Update:

Got an email that reads something like "due to our changeover to a new, better system to track your usage, we will ignore all of your use for the past two weeks and wipe your slate clean. And your connection speed has been returned to normal."

I still think the problem was their fault and they should re-imburse me for the time lost, the disruption in my family ("have you been downloading behind my back?!"), thinking I was crazy, etc.

But I don't know if I want to be on hold for an hour on the phone to get it.

I should have gotten an automatic refund for the entire month at least.
posted by cda at 7:52 AM on December 21, 2006