Smart Hub over usage

[FThomas]

I live in an area that does not allow for fibre optics or the regular internet. We therefore had to go with the Telus Smart Hub with the sim card. We have had this type of internet for about 1.5-2 years with 1 terabyte of coverage per month. When we signed up, the Telus employee stated that this would be well enough coverage for full time streaming and gaming and whatever else we wanted and he would be very surprised if we ever went over the terabyte. For the first year or so, we also had a roommate that streamed Netflix and used their phone for internet daily as well. The roommate moved out this past summer so it is just our little family at the house. We use 2 tv's with Netflix and our two phones. 1 tv is used more than the other. Very rarely we use a laptop as well. We NEVER download anything, do not have a 4k or high definition TV, and do not use our TV's very much during the day. Last month we got a notification that we went over a terabyte for the first time and we were charged an overages fee, EVEN THOUGH one of us was gone for 2 weeks (so we only had 1 tv being run and 1 phone) and we no longer had a roommate either. At the very start of this month, we turned off the Netflix/ internet that was streaming to our living room tv and only used DVDs to watch tv in the living room AND started using only 1 phone with wifi, the other phone uses a personal data plan. We did watch occasional Netflix on the bedroom tv. So in this month we only used 1 tv and 1 phone for internet. Well we just checked our bill and within 1 WEEK we used nearly HALF A TERABYTE of data! Even with the extra steps we took to preserve data! We called technical support and they claimed we really must've just used that much data. They refused to hear us out on how it was IMPOSSIBLE! They said they can't tell us where the data is being used, only that it is all "legit on their end". How does 1 tv and 1 phone use up half a terabyte in 1 week without downloading, gaming, no 4k or high definition?! The Telus employee said it might be "background usage" and that we should "unplug the smarthub when not in use".. that is ludicrous to believe background usage could be getting anywhere close to using that much data. Obviously we are well on our way to being over our data plan again this month and we don't know what else to do, short of keeping the internet off completely. We were transferred to another Telus support person who finally admitted that there may be a problem with the device but wouldn't help us beyond that. Can someone explain how we are using less data but being charged for more usage than we were when we had more people living here and more devices being used?! How do we go through half a terabyte in 1 week? Hopeful for an answer and some assistance. Thanks

[Nighthawk]

No other computers in the house besides the laptop? What is the laptop used for when it is on? Windows or Mac? No other smart devices that use data for anything?

[FThomas]

Just the one laptop and we only use it for streaming Netflix. It's a windows computer. We have stopped using our TVs for streaming Netflix and only watch DVDs now. We will be replacing the smart hub sim to see if that helps at all.

[Nighthawk]

If your TVs are smart TVs, maybe disconnect them from the network as well. It's not unheard of for smart TVs to use data without telling you. If the laptop isn't regularly used it may be less of a possible issue but I'd make sure it's got up to date antivirus software on it and the computer isn't using data. If it's Windows 10, you can see the network utilization in Task Manager under the Performance tab. If it's using a lot of data, there could be an issue on the laptop also.