High Data Usage

[Calamoor]

I've been upset here with the high data usage that is being reported since I had the PureFiber installed into my house. My data usage has come close to reaching the soft cap before I start getting over usage charges. I'm not a heavy internet user so why the sudden increase before and then after the PureFiber install? What made me start questioning the usage that day is that my LAN network was reporting a usage of 118Gb (WAN+LAN) and yet when I log into Telus to view my usage it's reporting 465Gb used. My inner LAN consists of various computers, phones, NAS and other odd devices. The outer layer LAN consists of the Telus equipment: fiber modem (NH20A), Wi-Fi booster and the PikTV all communicating with each other via Moca.

I have a 550Gb soft cap limit and yet my personal LAN was reporting I only had used 118Gb (WAN+LAN); that would be for inter PC communication, media library, backups to NAS, phones via Wi-Fi, and the odd other devices. I don't subscribe to any other streaming networks like Netflix, Prime, Disney, etc. I do watch the odd YouTube video but that's about it for any streaming content I view. So why am I being charged an additional 348Gb of data?

Onto debugging this... My first step was to shut down (unplug) the Telus devices which prevented me from accessing the WAN & Telus PikTV networks and true enough, there was no external data traffic (WAN) but I did see some internal LAN traffic from backups and watching a few movies from my Media server. I did call up Telus support and they verified that the modem, booster and PikTv could not be accessed (verified they were unplugged). I logged into the Telus.com MyTelus (via Rogers phone browsers) and I verified that I wasn't using any data (upload or download).

I then turned the Telus devices back on and proceeded with using as normal and yes, the usage jump up once again - more than what my personal network was reporting. I'm pretty familiar with how modem/routers work and AP units too (the booster) so could it have be the PikTV?

Next test, power off only the PikTV and those I'm not watching my favourite shows. Sure enough, my usage just about matched what my personal LAN was reporting. So with the PikTV connected and watch some shows, in a 4h46m period, I had used 3.33454Gb of data and with it powered off and doing normal internet stuff, it was down to 0.00286Gb in a 7h13m period.

I’ve also noticed that since upgrading to the PureFiber that I’m no longer receiving any usage limit warnings emails from Telus, and yes, I’ve verified these are set. I’ve also that the Telus.com MyTelus no longer can report any history usage, daily or monthly. The Telus mobile app will at least let me see the previous 2 periods usage (no daily) as well as the current period.

To my understanding, data usage by the PikTV device and the mobile TV+ app are not suppose to be included in one's internet allotment. Yet based on the tests I’ve done, it appears the PikTV box usage is being added to my internet usage. I do have pics supporting this. Can anyone explain as to why this is so. Telus support says everything is working as intended.

Can anyone suggest a fix so that the PikTV isn’t including in my internet usage?

[KHR]

The Pik TV Media Box is no longer supported - and hasn't been for over a year. It was end-of-life due to Google no longer providing security updates to Android P. I would highly recommend disconnecting this box. Are you using the Pik Media Box or the TELUS TV Digital Box (model TELUS TV-21T)? If yes to the TELUS TV Digital Box - any traffic on the TELUS TV+ app does not count towards your home internet usage. However, if you are streaming any 3rd party apps such as YouTube from a TELUS-supplied box, this DOES count towards your internet data usage. The same principle applies to the TELUS TV+ app on any other device.

You mention networking a fair amount - are the devices you access TELUS TV+ from recognizing that you are connected in-home? The quickest way to check is to look at a channel that is only available in-home such as Omni Pacific (119) or Chek (121). Alternatively, you can look at your In Home Status under Account information in settings. If you're showing as out of home - this could explain the data usage and you may need to reconfigure your network so that the TV is connected directly to your gateway. 

[Calamoor]

Thanks for your reply,

I am using the Telus TV-21T box (exchanged from the older box) and it's currently on pause and powered off . You indicated that it shouldn't be counted to my internet usage but my stats (and Telus MyTelus) say it is.  I still have it powered off and will take another reading in the next few hours and compare that with my local LAN. I suspect it to be roughly the same since Telus can't see what I'm doing on my personal LAN. I'm not turning the Tv-21T back on since I don't want to take the chance I'd be charged for exceeding my soft cap of 550Gb.

When you indicated to check the in-home channel / status, I can't seem to find it on the TV-21T box. Any steps on how to do this would be helpful.

One consideration, could the DNS setting have an affect on this? I have set the Telus modem (NH20A) to the Cloudfare DNS since it doesn't monitor site tracking that Telus would do; Telus would love to know what sites I visit and sell the info to 3rd parties. I don't like big brother/little sister watching over my shoulder. But I'm wondering now, could it be using this alternate DNS that is causing my PikTv device not to think I'm not accessing the Telus streaming server. I was using the Telus T3200M prior to the hardwire (fiber) upgrade and yes I did have it linked to the Cloudfare DNS as well without any usage issues.

I'm going to pull out my old Raspberry PI and have it monitor & log the network usage between my network and the Telus devices. That way I will have a true log file of the upload/download of data which will desperate what I use and what the Telus devices suspect I use. I truely expect that the PikTv box (TV-21T) is adding it's usage to my Telus usage. Sorry, I just got ninja'd into a MMO, 6.5 hrs later I checked the Telus.com reading and it indicated 494.73558Gb used, an increase of only 0.67267Gb for the hours of hard gaming time. So you can see, my data usage is small compared to what the  PikTv would have report.

I'd love to remove the Telus controll on the old PikTv box so that it would become a regular Android computer.

[Calamoor]

Okay, I've had some time to do some digging.   As you mentioned to check the In Home Status, and I checked the Telus TV-21T box and it does indicate Not Connected at Home.  That would explain then the high usage since having the PureFiber run into my house.  The usage has been about 3-4 times more than when I was using the T3200M.  Since being switched over, I have also noticed that I no longer received any usage warnings or see my usage in detail.

Just for fun, I check the Telus TV+ app on my phone and when connected to my phone's network (Rogers), I had the same indication that of Not Connect at Home.  Yet when I switched to my Wi-Fi network (not the Boost device), it indicated I was now Connected at home.

I think the next step is to talk to Telus tech support again have have them debug the issue with the digital box and my account.   Thanks for pointing me to the reason for the high usage.

[Calamoor · Accepted solution]

Solution: Perform a factor reset option on the TELUSTV-21TV digital box.

After and hour and a half with Telus technical support and customer support with no solution, I decided to just wing it and try a factor reset. This did change my TELUSTV-21T digital box’s In Home Status from Not Connected at Home to Connected at home.

I had to sign up for the unlimited usage (@ $20/mo) in order to avoid any overage charges I would encounter going over my 550Gb soft cap limit.

I first contact in this hour and a half was with the technical support and for almost an hour I kept trying to explain that the only needed to change the status for me. He kept thinking I as referring to the Telus TV+ app on my phone and I kept telling him the issue is with the digital box. Well, he indicated that since I could watch the channels on the digital box that this was not a technical issue and passed me onto customer support. After explaining the situation to a lady there she indicated there were no issues with my account and passed me back to technical support. Talking to this next technician, he verified that the status on the digital box was indicating Not Connected at Home and since I had upgrade to unlimited it was no longer an issue... he basically was telling me this status is “working as intended.” He then transferred me to another number that quickly disconnected me from the phone call.

It seems Telus has been removing subscription pages and such from their web site for I’m looking for an actual Telus page that explains PikTV and data usage. All I could find was this in the Telus forum:

https://forum.telus.com/t5/Pik-TV/Question-on-Data-Usage/m-p/70177

I remember information that stated “watching live and On Demand TV content on the Pik TV media box will not contribute to your internet data usage on your home network. “ But no luck in finding this on the Telus sight anymore.

I’ll keep the unlimited going for another month and if the usage drops back to my usual 100-200Gb / month, I’ll be removing that unlimited add-on and saving myself $20 / month.

[JR_BoT]

Hi, did that help with the data usage?

[Calamoor]

Hello JR_Bot,

Getting the PikTV TELUSTV-21T digital box to switch from "Not Connected at Home" (aka roaming) to "Connected at Home" did not resolve the high data usage. The high usage started soon after the install of the PureFibre into the house in April which meant my PikTV went from using a copper wire line & modem to a fibre line & modem. Before the install of the fibre line, my usage was between 100-200 Gb / mo. After switching to a PureFibre plan and a factor reset of the PikTV box after, the usage is back to where I expect it to be. I'll stay unlimited for another month or two and if it still is in the expected range, I'll remove the unlimited data option and save myself $20 / mo. Here's the crazy usage readings in the past 6 months: Apr 389Gb, May 548Gb, Jun 599Gb, Jul 727Gb (a lot of using the PikTV this month), Aug 264Gb, Sep 61Gb. Note, my soft cap was at 550Gb/mo and I used only the regular channels on my PikTV; no streaming services such as Netflix, pay per view, etc.

My internal network never registered anything above 200Gb monthly usage which is a mixture of access to the WAN along with accessing computers & devices on my LAN. The only devices outside my internal network were the Telus equipment; that's the modem (copper and later fibre), the fibre WiFi access point and the PikTV box. I've since removed the Telus WiFi AP a month ago since I have no devices able to use the WiFi 6 and it was just wasting power; I'm using the WiFi 5 on my router instead. I'm not sure if any data usage was being recorded on my bill as the fibre modem and WiFi AP were talking with each other but my latest usage amount might indicated that such communication between the two devices is being billed as usage.  Or, as part of their monitoring system which means Telus might be billing as usage as they keep querying their devices in my home to check on the status of those devices.

I suspect the overall issue was that the PikTV ID was registered on the server that services the copper wire network and was never switched over to the server that serviced the fibre network. Once I registered for a PureFibre plan, the correct details where finally put into sync, then saw the usage came down to what I expected to see.

I was not pleased with the Telus help desk in trying to resolve this issue. I got transferred from one person to the next and my frustration was mounting with each new person. I suspect Telus outsources their help desk to some site in India for ever person I was talking to had a strong Indian accent. They likely only had the rudimentary access to just account information and no technical skills or access to networking tools to help debug the issue. On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, the help desk definitely gets a one star rating from me. And they get a one star for at least being able to switch me later from a copper wire plan to a PureFibre plan.