I have a massive spike, of over 600gb within 2 days, showing in my data usage. Told our browsing is causing the issue. WE'VE DONE NOTHING! Nothing different than we've always done. Past 3 months only used between 450 & 680 gb. (A little over half of what I pay for every month). But Dec 2nd & 3rd spiked over 600! WTF!? I told support that something is wrong... they say it's me. Uuuhh.... no sir! It. Is. Not. Again.... We've done nothing different than we've always done.
This SAME exact thing is happening to me. Ive had the same data plan for over a year with no issues of even coming close to hitting the cap. Suddenly, October, I hit 1.3TB.... I changed my password, but it did no good. Ive tried pausing devices on the network to figure out what was doing this and thought it might have been my Roku device, but that was not it. November went over2TB of data usage, and Cox's "help" is laughable at best. Like you they blamed me.... My cycle just reset 3 days ago and I am already at 28% usage... the last 2 days I have completely unplugged my Wifi Router altogether while I am not home, so at least 12hrs, and it still showed 110GB of data used. Though Cox's website CLAIMS their Panoramic Wifi Gateway can break down usage by device, it absolutely can not.... You can see what devices are connected and you can see the days total usage, but not until the day is over.... I am absolutely fed up with their lack of any kind of help.... Im ordering a new Router that CAN track individual device usage..... If I had any other option for ISP I would gladly take it, but in my area there is nothing.......
Wow, got on here to see if anyone is experiencing unusual data spikes since October. Guess I’m not the only one. This is very frustrating and Cox has been no help. Day 4 of this cycle and I’m at 37%. Something sketchy is going on here.
They were absolutely no help to me at all and only kept throwing the higher data package at me. Not a solution to the issue. I have disconnected their Panoramic WiFi router, and bought my own modem and router. Since hooking that up (about 4days so far) the numbers look WAY more normal.
The same thing happened to me over 3/1/2024-3/2/2024. According to the daily breakdown, I used over 1TB on the 1st and 500gb on the 2nd. Here’s the kicker - our family was on vacation so we weren’t even home to use the WiFi. The customer support team is rude, dismissive, and incompetent. They had me convinced our router got hacked and so I spent the better part of the weekend factory resetting my router, changing all my passwords, scanning devices for malware, and contacting our banks to report potential fraud. Now after reading this I’m realizing my original suspicion that Cox is miscalculating our data usage is correct.
They’re either doing it by accident and choosing to turn a blind eye to a bug or they are committing fraud. Class action lawsuit?!?!!!!
There are several network sniffers that are free to use that can be installed on a system so you can see anything and everything going across your network so you'll know if a device on your system is actually sucking up bandwidth or not.
Check your usage break down for "Network Management and Testing". Seems like a problem affecting a lot of people. I would post the thread but something is broken with the forum right now. Links aren't working. Check the forum for the "What is “Network Management and Testing” data usage category?" post.
Cox may have renamed the “Network Management & Testing” usage category to "Communication Applications' a couple of month ago.
For the first time, I noticed “Network Management & Testing” and "Communication Applications' are both listed in my 'Data usage activities' this month. It would make month-to-month comparisons easier if we knew Cox wasn't changing data usage categories.
Have you bought any new equipment like a PS% for gaming or a new phone or tablet? Sometimes a new or replacement device will use a lot of data to update itself to replicate an older phone or tablet you replaced, or in the case of gaming systems, downloading your games and such.
FYI, it looks to me like you may have mistakenly used a capital 5 in your post in place of a lower case 5.
I know I hate it when I miss caps on a 5 and having to go back with lowercase.
Thank you for writing it like that. It truly gave me more happiness than anything in the past week at least. I will be able to use that feeling for days.
I hear all the input, and am grateful to all of you for your thoughtful responses. This spike is nearby a terabyte of data. NO ONE uses that much in a 24hr period. Also, we have not changed anything. If stuff is playing in the background, or updating, or downloading, or browsing, etc, etc.... there should be a higher data usage all the time. There isn't. We have consistently stayed well below the amount I pay for every month. This is an incredibly abnormal spike. Something is wrong. The responses from 'support' are comical and even offensive...one of them talked to me about changing my lifestyle. I'll try again to talk to someone, tomorrow.
There are things that can cause that spike. If you have amazon alexa devices, they can get into a loop listening/broadcasting to amazon trying to decipher/decode normal conversations as instructions and they can use an EXTENSIVE amount of data. I helped a friend out last week who's alexa was using over 325gb daily. We know now it was those devices, cause when we removed all of his alexa devices from his network, the usage dropped back to normal usage. We reconnected 2 days later and the usage went sky high again. We "DEDUCE" it's in a translation loop of some sort, but it could be something else. We removed it again and usage dropped back to normal, so he has taken all of his alexa/amazon echo/dot devices off and all is good now.
Hello FamilyAllen4. I apologize for the data spike issues you are experiencing. I can understand how frustrating that can be. We can take a look and see if there is anything we can determine from this end or find a way to assist you in this matter. Can you send us an email to Cox.Help@cox.com with your full name and complete address? We would like to investigate this issue for you.
Shaun, you guys are no help at all. Cox is no help at all. I was told the issue was my fault and due to browsing. You people are insane. In December your modem had me over 2TB of data usage. Absolutely impossible with what I do on a daily basis. Funny enough though… I got rid of that POS panoramic router and bought my own modem and router and, surprise… I have not come close to barely a half a TB per month since….
Hello I can understand what you are saying because it’s now happening to me and nothing in my house has changed. I never went over for years now and all of a sudden I’m going over!!! And it says it’s being used by the others category but doesn’t show or say what that means!!! Just keep getting the run around from cox about it
Hi, there. I'm really sorry for the issues with the data usage. I want to help. Please email us the physical address and any other pertinent information to Cox.Help@cox.com with your name and a copy of this forum message. We would be glad to look into this for you and help out in any way we can.
I have a massive spike, of over 600gb within 2 days, showing in my data usage. Told our browsing is causing the issue.
According to Cox's "Data Usage Calculator", general browsing 24 hours per day for a 30-day month (November) would use 130 GB of data. 130 GB per day / 30 days = 4.33 GB per day
600 GB / 4.33 per day = 138 man-days / 2 days = 69 concurrent, non-stop sessions for 2 days
Also, according to their Data Usage Calculator, one 2-day, non-stop session for each of the eight activities listed would use an estimated 531.2 GB of data, short of the 600+ GB you mentioned.
That's all theoretical of course, because it's unlikely you have the people, devices, bandwidth or desire to actually do any of that. Did you happen to mention this to the individual that told you browsing is your issue? If not, you probably should. I'd be interested in hearing what they say.
After re-reading your post, I have a feeling I know what Cox would say. "Change your Wi-Fi password." What threw me off was the idea the spike was solely due to general browsing. Someone could have pirated your Wi-Fi to download their wish list of every game they ever wanted. Some game title downloads use more than 50 GB of data. 10-12 of those would get to your 600 GB data usage spike. In what data usage category was the spike reported?
You don't need to change your lifestyle. Just change your Wi-Fi password.
The same thing is happening at my home. I was out of town this past weekend and it shows I used 98 to 100GB data each day.
Do you think your reported data usage is a mistake? If you do, change your Wi-Fi password to a strong password and don't share it with anyone. Then, if your data usage spikes when you're away, you'll be able to make a more impactful argument with Cox.
Yea to be quite honest since round February we have been reaching a stupid ridiculous 2500-3200 gigs and we used to not use more than the original amount warranted. Definitely feels like a security leak and data’s draining out the ears hat cox is ignoring since it falls into the security category or something cause it’s not normal. For gods sake it’s me and two seniors. I monitor my network personally and I know for a fact nor I nor the elders are pushing that kinda data 🥲
Have you changed your Wi-Fi password since February? You may not be using that much data, but your neighbors could be pirating your Wi-Fi. Even if you don't think it's happening, change your password anyway and let others in your household know they shouldn't share it with anyone. Let us know if your reported data usage significantly drops next month.
I’m having the same issue, massive spike in network management and testing usage, putting me at my limit, nothing has changed, no unknown devices on the network, cox wanted me to buy more data, also change the password but nobody is around to steal my WiFi, I’m fairly isolated, I’m thinking to change to satellite, has anybody else done this?
Anyone seeing this spike that doesn't have a Panoramic gateway?
I'm having the exact same issue and I do not have a Panoramic Gateway. I'm also getting the same response from Cox as everyone else, the only difference on my end is that all of the usage is showing in the Other category. I've been searching threads, wondering if anyone has found any type of resolution to this issue, but haven't found anything yet.
If you don't have a oanaromic gateway then checkk your router's breakdown of data usage. It will give you by day per device breakdowns of data usage and aggrates. If they don't match cox's numbers it's unlikely your router is incorrect.
If data logging at least if the current month (which you can adjust to match your billing cycle on ever router I have seen in the past 15 years) is disabled, turn it on and check back tomorrow.
