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Can I get my monthly data usage?

jdickson007
On our wavelength

A number of colleagues have suffered from Virgin outages, and I want to avoid same by obtaining a 2nd broadband - perhaps pre-loaded SIM.

It would be useful to know / estimate current usage so I know how much data I might need for backup line.

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Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

There is no further detail, and for most mixed domestic/WfH scenarios that usage is dominated by software downloads/updates and video streaming or "on demand".   If this is purely about work use, then you'd presumably have an idea of download/upload use from the file sizes you use, but things like Teams are a bit more troublesome.  If you work on 225 MB per hour, and estimate how many hours of such use, that will give you some idea (or 500 MB if your video conferencing is in higher quality settings).

Mobile hot spots or mobile routers are an acceptable technique for a day or so here and there (I've done this in a VM outage situation) and if only for work use don't normally use excessive amounts of data, but they're still a bit of a kludge.  Before spending money on a SIM-capable router, try it out for a day using a phone in mobile hotspot mode, see if the signal quality and speed limits work for you, as well as seeing what that does for data use on the mobile phone.  In terms of a PAYG SIM, bear in mind that you need to check the networks terms carefully to avoid losing the pre-loaded credit every month or two, or the SIM being cancelled for non-use.  You'd also need to try and stop (for example) Windows treating a hot spot connection as an unmetered one - a computer, game or program update running in the background could chew through tens of GB of data without you even knowing.

The other option is somewhat more costly, but more dependable and won't fall foul of data volume problems, is to run in a 35 Mbps Openreach line, for around £30 a month with a 12 month contract from a competent ISP.  £350 a year sounds like a lot, put like £1 a day for peace of mind it may be more acceptable.  How much do you value having a backup option?    

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horseman
Alessandro Volta

https://www.virginmedia.com/myusage 

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Thanks, but does not really have any detail - unless I missed something.

japitts
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

It's probably the best you're likely to get - AFAIK VM don't record this data in any C/S-accessible format.

Many routers include a "data meter" function, my Netgear does - but this would rely on your using the SH in modem mode with your own router. I'm guessing you don't.

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Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

There is no further detail, and for most mixed domestic/WfH scenarios that usage is dominated by software downloads/updates and video streaming or "on demand".   If this is purely about work use, then you'd presumably have an idea of download/upload use from the file sizes you use, but things like Teams are a bit more troublesome.  If you work on 225 MB per hour, and estimate how many hours of such use, that will give you some idea (or 500 MB if your video conferencing is in higher quality settings).

Mobile hot spots or mobile routers are an acceptable technique for a day or so here and there (I've done this in a VM outage situation) and if only for work use don't normally use excessive amounts of data, but they're still a bit of a kludge.  Before spending money on a SIM-capable router, try it out for a day using a phone in mobile hotspot mode, see if the signal quality and speed limits work for you, as well as seeing what that does for data use on the mobile phone.  In terms of a PAYG SIM, bear in mind that you need to check the networks terms carefully to avoid losing the pre-loaded credit every month or two, or the SIM being cancelled for non-use.  You'd also need to try and stop (for example) Windows treating a hot spot connection as an unmetered one - a computer, game or program update running in the background could chew through tens of GB of data without you even knowing.

The other option is somewhat more costly, but more dependable and won't fall foul of data volume problems, is to run in a 35 Mbps Openreach line, for around £30 a month with a 12 month contract from a competent ISP.  £350 a year sounds like a lot, put like £1 a day for peace of mind it may be more acceptable.  How much do you value having a backup option?    

Thanks - good advice

Would connect only work PCs to backup line/router - not TV, gaming consoles etc

Yes, Teams/Zoom etc are unknown quantities and may be chatty

Good advice about try mobile hotspot - not clear if router + sim gives better quality since effectively same technology.

Yes, the SIM contracts and roll-over/loss of credit seems overly complex.

I was hoping to see day-time (working) vs night stats.

 

A mobile hotspot is fine if you are just emailing & typing to people over chats like Teams.

However, I've had complaints when I've tried to talk to people over teams whilst using a mobile hotspot - typically that my audio is poor quality. I generally don't do video chats so not sure what they are like. I doubt it's my equipment as over VM broadband I get no such complaints.

Download over hotspot is typically 100mbps+ but Uploads are dire at about 3 mbps - maybe this is why. Or could be the latency, estimated by speedtest.net at 50 - 65ms depending on time of day.

It's a 3G/4G hot spot. No 5G here yet.

 

 

This doesn't give me any clue as to my usage.