# General > Technical Support >  broadband usage meter help

## unicorn

Can anyone suggest a good broadband usage meter preferably free.
It seems I am getting the boot from O2 for using 52 gb last moth and 58 this month despite being careful and I cannot understand how in 2 months I have used so much when I didn't before. I have been with them 3 years and never used this amount but they dont care.

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## davem

Is it wireless? could your connection be being used by someone else too?

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## unicorn

That is my suspicion as it has only been last 2 months and unless it is farmville cityville and facebook and here then I have no idea, I assumed it was my daughter but she has been excellent no you tube, movies, live tv eek and it is 7 gb more this month?????????????

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## RecQuery

Okay there are a couple of links to usage applications at the bottom of this post. That being said they won't be very accurate, they only work on a per computer level so you'd need to install it on every device and then add up the usage and even that won't be accurate.

I can't believe ISPs get away with offering such crappy service and usage, I get about 250GB a month and anything I don't use gets carried forward. Anyway check with your ISP to see if they have some sort of web-based usage monitor already in place. Something like this.



That won't really help but it's good to know. To try and fix this, first consider switching entirely to cables and disabling wireless. If that's too extreme try turning off the router when no one is using the Internet, that will stop any script kiddie connecting at certain times.

I'd also suggest checking the security on the router, if it's WEP or even an open network then change it to WPA or WPA2 and choose a decent password. For reference WEP can be cracked in about 30 seconds to 3 minutes as can many WPA networks with simple passwords and it's a lot easier to do than it used to be, hell no specialist knowledge or skill required now or anything. You may also want to scan any computers for malware.

Finally a good way to see how heavily the connection is being used is to watch the flashing lights on the router (the one that says ADSL or Internet, not Wireless) the faster it flashes the heavier the connection is being used. That may help you work out if someone else is using it. I've got nothing against 'borrowing' wireless in certain situations but if someone else is using your connection their obviously abusing it.

Usage Links:

Rescue Time
Broadband Download Monitor

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## unicorn

Hi
Thanks for that, I installed broadband download monitor after searching a bit, I put it on all laptops, All that is on is the WEP key and I had not been turning the router off at night. I questioned the flashing light at night when I was in bed but my daughter thought it was her IPOD touch so I don't really know. I am clueles about changing security etc, I have enough trouble setting up a router and dread having to change over.
I was told plusnet is good it's £18 or close to that for 60 gb limit. Do you have any recommendations? 
Since 12 today my pc has used download 752.4mb upload 50.38 mb my daughter is about double. Is this high usage? I have no idea.

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## Serenity

> Hi
> Thanks for that, I installed broadband download monitor after searching a bit, I put it on all laptops, All that is on is the WEP key and I had not been turning the router off at night. I questioned the flashing light at night when I was in bed but my daughter thought it was her IPOD touch so I don't really know. I am clueles about changing security etc, I have enough trouble setting up a router and dread having to change over.
> I was told plusnet is good it's £18 or close to that for 60 gb limit. Do you have any recommendations? 
> Since 12 today my pc has used download 752.4mb upload 50.38 mb my daughter is about double. Is this high usage? I have no idea.


Yes that is high usage. It is in total approximately 2257 mb download, which is over 2 GB. So if you are using this everyday you will soon go over the limit. Around 60 GB a month in fact which ties in with what they are telling you.
In my experience on ISP helpdesks a lot of customer's who went over usage limits said the only thing they did was play things like like farmville. If you think of the number of images you are downloading when you play it soon adds up.

Personally I would look into changing ISPS.

The other thing I would also do is check out all your anti virus and security are up to date as malware can sometimes cause high usage too.

 If you are staying with O2 I would also change to WPA too as like RecQuery said WEP is pretty useless. It tells you how to do it on their website under help and support. I have copied and pasted the below instructions from them. At some point between the last two steps you should have to choose a new key as well._


Your O2 wireless box comes with WEP encryption. It means that you need a key or code to connect to your network. To make it even more secure, you can change it to WPA. This is the latest way of encrypting wireless networks. It's very secure, but it's worth noting that it won't work on some versions of Windows Vista. You also have to make sure all your devices that are on network are WPA compatible._

_To change from WEP to WPA, simply follow the steps below:_


_Open up your internet browser and type the following address into the address bar: http://o2wirelessbox.lan or http://192.168.1.254


__Once the page has loaded, click on "Home Network" on the left hand side of the page. 


__Click on the name of your wireless network.  This will be located towards the top of the page.


__Click on "Configure" in the top-right of the page. 


__Select the "Use WPA-PSK Encryption" option and click 'Apply'. 


__You can check it has changed to WPA-PSK by looking at the 'Security Mode' under the 'Security' heading._
To be really safe I would also hide the network name, it also tells you how to do this on the O2 website.

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## unicorn

I am changing to plusnet as O2 have not given me the choice, they give 60gb peak and unlimited 12-8 am, they are also cheaper than what I had. I got a refer code also so I get the first 3 months free.
It definately is farmville, so that has been curbed. I was honestly surprised that it could rocket my usage like that, so my own fault.
We willl just be very careful from now on.

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## RecQuery

> I am changing to plusnet as O2 have not given me the choice, they give 60gb peak and unlimited 12-8 am, they are also cheaper than what I had. I got a refer code also so I get the first 3 months free.
> It definately is farmville, so that has been curbed. I was honestly surprised that it could rocket my usage like that, so my own fault.
> We willl just be very careful from now on.


Ouch, so that usage didn't even include offpeak... can't believe Farmville would use up that much. Again it's still worthwhile switching to WPA and scanning for anything dodgy.

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## unicorn

Thats the new allowance with plusnet, O2 was 40gb fair usage and thats their unlimited package so plusnet far better deal.

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## dx100uk

don't forget BT [coughs]

having been paying £25 BB [opt 3] and £30 phone anytime [high usage]

i moaned last month after they wanted to put the phone up to £35PCM

i've now got the whole lot for £27.99 with unlimited BB [was 100GB now 250GB PCM] and no phone bill 24/7 if less than 1hrs and 7ppm mobiles.

also got 9months refunded back to the start of the last contract.

apparantly they have has a new billing system since july last year and everyone that got billed sep for BB & phone
can get this discount and refund, but only if you go through to disconnections via the press button options on the BT bills line.

dx

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