Password on router and false charges????
Community Forums/General Help/Password on router and false charges????
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| So here is the deal, Exede high speed internet services are sending us false charges saying that we download 15 gigabytes (which is our max) at night when everyone is sleeping and demands that we pay $10 for an extra gigabyte. The thing is that we have a password protected router and nobody is using the internet at 3AM in the morning. What should I do about ViaSat charging us buttloads of cash when we do not owe it to them? They say that we are exceeding our data allowance but is it exceeding when we are asleep with no updates running or anything on our servers and other running systems in our home? What should we do if they continue to charge us for internet that nobody is using at 3am? Should we continue to allow ViaSat to slow down our internet to slower than dialup speeds and not pay the false charges? Any advice besides recommending for us to sue them? |
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| Why would you sue them? You have two realistic choices. 1. Get them to tell you exactly what has been downloaded, and when. 2. Tell them to shove their router where the mice won't get it, pay them nothing, and go elsewhere. In the meantime you might also check your router logs to see what computers or devices have been connected. Depending on the router, they might show up as the device/computer name, or it's MAC address. Check them off one by one and make sure every one is accounted for. |
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| Check them off one by one and make sure every one is accounted for. Nothing strange there. Get them to tell you exactly what has been downloaded, and when. "Sorry, we cannot give you that information" Why would you sue them? it sounds fun. lol |
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| it sounds fun. lol It's also expensive. |
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| 1) Tell your family to turn their computers off overnight and stop pirating movies. 2) Tell them "no, seriously, you're costing us money, stop doing that". At which point they get defensive, insist nothing of the sort happened, then sneak off when they think you're not watching to abort the torrents. This will solve the problem 99% of the time. Last edited 2012 |
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| O_O |
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| As far as "password protected" is concerned: What kind of encryption are you using? I'm asking because WEP is pretty much the same as not using any protection at all. the protocol has been cracked eons ago, and any of your neighbors with the right knowledge can break into WEP-protected wireless in about 30 seconds flat. Even WPA/WPA2 isn't 100% secure, but it's a lot more time consuming to crack. If you are concerned that there's a chance your neighbors could be piggy-backing over your wifi, you could consider going into your router and restricting wireless traffic to only pre-approved MAC addresses, then add all your own device's MAC address to the allow list, blocking everything else. If it IS a device on your own network: Certain routers allow you to keep track of the amount of data sent/received by each individual device, which may help you narrow it down. And pretty much every single router out there will keep track of total bytes sent/received. If won't do you much good right now, but if you powercycle your router at the start of your next billing cycle, then you can check your routers info at the end of the cycle and see if the bytes sent/received us even remotely close to what your provider claimed you used. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to contest your current bill. It's your word against theirs, and they have the power since they can easily just shut you off if they feel it's too much of a hassle to deal with you. Finally: Any teenagers in the house? :-? |
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| At which point they get defensive, insist nothing of the sort happened, then sneak off when they think you're not watching to abort the torrents. Something else to keep in mind, if there are torrents involved: Realize that 'downloading' a torrent ALSO means that you are uploading it to others. there is no download-only setting. Just because someone on your network 'downloaded' a 100MB file from a torrent network, likely resulted to them uploading a lot more than that to others at the same time. (Files get processed in chunks, and as soon as you have a ~5MB portion or so, means that your computer will start sharing that 5MB portion with anyone else who is downloading the same torrent. Depending on how popular the file is and how many seeders there are, you could have uploaded gigabytes at the same time) |
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| Any teenagers in the house? Well, There is me. :P |
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| Well, There is me. :P You are up too late for a school night, skedaddle to bed. ;) |
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| Could steam be logged in and updating games? |
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| The thing is that we have a password protected router and nobody is using the internet at 3AM in the morning. Then turn every thing off. That's a sure way to stop it and it cuts down on the electricity bills too. |
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| Just tell your old man to stop downloading porn in the middle of the night. |
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| Unplug the router and modem in the middle of the night. Problem solved. If no one is using the internet then it won't matter that it isn't available. If someone complains about the lack of internet access in the wee hours then that person is probably the culprit. Last edited 2012 |
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| Well, There is me. :P Maybe you are sleep-surfing? ;-P Last edited 2012 |
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| Maybe you are sleep-surfing? ;-P Did you wake up with seaweed in your hair?Have a public router burning....That'll learn 'em. |
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| Did you wake up with seaweed in your hair? um no? |
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| Get them to tell you exactly what has been downloaded, and when. -- "Sorry, we cannot give you that information" Well in that case you only pay only pay your normal rate and nothing more than that. If you can conclusively prove that the limit has not been exceeded, then it is in their hands to show you the evidence of the accusation. That's something you can request - and it is something they have to provide by law. If they don't and still charge you extra, I'd label that theft of money by the company. |
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