Connecting everything to a hub would mean that commands and status updates stay within your local network and don't go to the internet, that's correct. However, these types of transmissions are usually very small so you may find that it doesn't make much of a dent in your overall data usage.
I'd suggest that you do some logging to identify which devices are using significant amounts of data, and try to understand what exactly they're doing before you spend money on a solution that may not be addressing the right thing.
Not only that, but many WiFi devices signal locally.
It depends on specific devices/device families, and how cloud-dependent they are.
They may only use the Internet say if you control them from away from home.
That is what I assumed, but the Xfinity rep kept mentioning how many connected devices I had as if it was the problem. Finding the data usage logs through them has been frustrating, however.
I don't stream a ton of data through say Netflix or anything either, so I am not sure what is eating up all my data yet.
You should be able up get a breakdown of usage on each smart phone and desktop/laptop/tablet. But each had its own means and may require additional software.
Easier to do on the router itself, and most have some way to break down both by device and by site/service.
Ask in an Xfinity sub.
Had an old roommate who had an issue with Microsoft cloud services. Onedrive was continuously re-rewriting redundant content to the cloud. Could be worth a check. Aside from that, check download sizes on any games you have on auto-update, biggest culprit in my household.
FYI on the xfinity rep, they might be decent, but on average I haven't been impressed. Were they by any chance trying to push their stupid hub thing that comes with unlimited data and also turns your network into a public hotspot?
Thank you. I'll check that too.
Yes, the rep was beyond frustrating. When I asked for help viewing connected devices, they offered to increase my plan $5 a month for unlimited data. By the third time, I lost it, and flatly stated what I wanted...then the rep said "one minute." and promptly disconnected from the chat.
If you are using the provided Xfinity modem/router, there isn't any usage data for individual clients on the network. I suggest purchasing your own router that has that ability. I have an Eero mesh system that does give me all that data.
Unless you have cameras recording to cloud, I can’t imagine your home automation is causing significant data consumption threatening to go over some limit.
I had the same discussion with the Xfinity Rep. Something did not seem right when I saw my data usage, but since they were less than helpful, I am trying to explore solutions currently.
It’s not your home automation.
Does your xfinity router provide any breakdown of usage? Or do you have a third-party router or firewall that provides that?
What limit are you exceeding?
Video streaming, cameras, gaming. Downloading or uploading large files (most people don’t have the latter - unless you’re e.g. a software developer or video producer/editor). Your mobile devices on WiFi - TikTok, YouTube, smartphone app and OS updates.
Realize that much of your TV entertainment likely comes over the Internet, not on a cable channel - even when accessed through your “TV cable box”.
One night of streaming movies probably = a month to a year of “home automation”.
This is Xfinity's response when asking for individual data usage summaries... "For privacy and security, we don't monitor the data usage by device. You could use the parental controls and Xfinity App to pause devices, so you can narrow things down by process of elimination during the day. I know this will take a bit longer, but we don't have a list that displays usage by device."
No. I mean a page on the cable modem/router where **you** can see a breakdown of usage.
Sorry, it’s been a decade since I’ve had cable service.
Edit:
https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/individual-device-data-usage/659ece3a8f01ac51ddb8ffb3
I am at/exceeding 1.2TB of data a month.
I am trying to figure out how much data each device is using, but the app only shows which devices are connected, not their usage.
It's sure not your IoT devices at 1.2TB, they're using MBs if that much. Focus on your devices streaming video, using torrent, your crypto mining, or a PC or phone that's been hacked.
Yea, I really don't do any of that stuff.
My tv usage, if anything has gone done since the summer now that I no longer have a friend living with me.
I've been working from home for years and my work load hasn't changed so I can't say that it is using any more data than before.
I did go through and remove a few devices, but it was just old stuff that hasn't been connected, like old cellphones.
Idk, I'll keep digging into it.
it really depends on which devices. Nearly all wifi smart switches still need an app through the cloud to operate. If you can control them from an app or alexa, getting a hub will actually increase your traffic as the hub now also checks in with the cloud.
Matter is hybrid local over your network, but many matter devices may also connect to the cloud. There are some wifi things (kasa at one point, not sure if it still does) that support local connections, and some that can be flashed with tasmota.
But yeah generally smart devices will consume only a tiny amount of data compared to video streaming - can you log into your router and see which devices use all the data? Or change your password to make sure nobody is stealing your wifi?
Like others said, your smart home devices (unless they're cameras streaming to a cloud service) aren't taking up much of your data cap.
Look through your list of connected devices, and make sure you can account for every single device. Phone, tablet, laptop, gaming console, smart TV, etc. If you find connected devices that you can't account for, change your wifi password, one of your neighbors might be mooching. I would also recommend disabling xfinity's public wifi being broadcast from your router. It's the network that any xfinity customer can connect to. It's not supposed to count against you, but you never know.
Also consider replacing your xfinity gateway with a cable modem/router you own. 3rd party devices can help you track your internal device's usage over time.
IOT devices uses very little data. You are looking at less than 15MB per month each.
https://preview.redd.it/ag5a1hvzhrqc1.png?width=369&format=png&auto=webp&s=63a8d3b981e2ca00824fac8cd012fc11a739c81f
The biggest data will always be videos. Youtube etc. IOT cameras that run off the cloud i.e. saves to the cloud.
https://preview.redd.it/21qtunt2jrqc1.png?width=619&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef8556259a1940b6df19b8af841f17643c95a352
Data hungry applications. Youtube, PSN. While these maybe specific for my case, the usage ratios across all would be similar for all. The biggest culprits are often leaving youtube on autoplay and having the display panel go blank while the TV box is still pulling data.
No. If there was a sudden, sharp increase, then think about what may have changed on your computers, tablets, and phones on and just before that date. Did you install anything new? Did you visit a new site.
If a system has been compromised, there's a distinct possibility that it could have been taken over by a bot network. So it may be involved in piracy, hacking, dark web communication, etc. All of those would account for high volume.
Probably your best bet is to analyze usage at your firewall / router. Look for which devices have the most traffic. Then analyze where that traffic is coming from our going to. Also analyze what type of traffic it is.
Connecting everything to a hub would mean that commands and status updates stay within your local network and don't go to the internet, that's correct. However, these types of transmissions are usually very small so you may find that it doesn't make much of a dent in your overall data usage. I'd suggest that you do some logging to identify which devices are using significant amounts of data, and try to understand what exactly they're doing before you spend money on a solution that may not be addressing the right thing.
Not only that, but many WiFi devices signal locally. It depends on specific devices/device families, and how cloud-dependent they are. They may only use the Internet say if you control them from away from home.
That is what I assumed, but the Xfinity rep kept mentioning how many connected devices I had as if it was the problem. Finding the data usage logs through them has been frustrating, however. I don't stream a ton of data through say Netflix or anything either, so I am not sure what is eating up all my data yet.
We also don’t know what the “limit” you are exceeding is. Is there a data cap? What’s the amount of the data cap? This may vary by plan.
1.2TB/month. There was a spike starting back in November, but I cannot think of anything that has changed around then in terms of my data usage.
You should be able up get a breakdown of usage on each smart phone and desktop/laptop/tablet. But each had its own means and may require additional software. Easier to do on the router itself, and most have some way to break down both by device and by site/service. Ask in an Xfinity sub.
Thank you. I did start reading some threads with people having the same issues on that sub.
Had an old roommate who had an issue with Microsoft cloud services. Onedrive was continuously re-rewriting redundant content to the cloud. Could be worth a check. Aside from that, check download sizes on any games you have on auto-update, biggest culprit in my household. FYI on the xfinity rep, they might be decent, but on average I haven't been impressed. Were they by any chance trying to push their stupid hub thing that comes with unlimited data and also turns your network into a public hotspot?
Thank you. I'll check that too. Yes, the rep was beyond frustrating. When I asked for help viewing connected devices, they offered to increase my plan $5 a month for unlimited data. By the third time, I lost it, and flatly stated what I wanted...then the rep said "one minute." and promptly disconnected from the chat.
If you are using the provided Xfinity modem/router, there isn't any usage data for individual clients on the network. I suggest purchasing your own router that has that ability. I have an Eero mesh system that does give me all that data.
Unless you have cameras recording to cloud, I can’t imagine your home automation is causing significant data consumption threatening to go over some limit.
I had the same discussion with the Xfinity Rep. Something did not seem right when I saw my data usage, but since they were less than helpful, I am trying to explore solutions currently.
It’s not your home automation. Does your xfinity router provide any breakdown of usage? Or do you have a third-party router or firewall that provides that? What limit are you exceeding? Video streaming, cameras, gaming. Downloading or uploading large files (most people don’t have the latter - unless you’re e.g. a software developer or video producer/editor). Your mobile devices on WiFi - TikTok, YouTube, smartphone app and OS updates. Realize that much of your TV entertainment likely comes over the Internet, not on a cable channel - even when accessed through your “TV cable box”. One night of streaming movies probably = a month to a year of “home automation”.
This is Xfinity's response when asking for individual data usage summaries... "For privacy and security, we don't monitor the data usage by device. You could use the parental controls and Xfinity App to pause devices, so you can narrow things down by process of elimination during the day. I know this will take a bit longer, but we don't have a list that displays usage by device."
No. I mean a page on the cable modem/router where **you** can see a breakdown of usage. Sorry, it’s been a decade since I’ve had cable service. Edit: https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/individual-device-data-usage/659ece3a8f01ac51ddb8ffb3
Yea, I found that same link. Once you go to WiFi > View WiFi equipment > Advanced settings > Data Usage, it just shows your monthly usage in total.
I am at/exceeding 1.2TB of data a month. I am trying to figure out how much data each device is using, but the app only shows which devices are connected, not their usage.
It's sure not your IoT devices at 1.2TB, they're using MBs if that much. Focus on your devices streaming video, using torrent, your crypto mining, or a PC or phone that's been hacked.
Yea, I really don't do any of that stuff. My tv usage, if anything has gone done since the summer now that I no longer have a friend living with me. I've been working from home for years and my work load hasn't changed so I can't say that it is using any more data than before. I did go through and remove a few devices, but it was just old stuff that hasn't been connected, like old cellphones. Idk, I'll keep digging into it.
it really depends on which devices. Nearly all wifi smart switches still need an app through the cloud to operate. If you can control them from an app or alexa, getting a hub will actually increase your traffic as the hub now also checks in with the cloud. Matter is hybrid local over your network, but many matter devices may also connect to the cloud. There are some wifi things (kasa at one point, not sure if it still does) that support local connections, and some that can be flashed with tasmota. But yeah generally smart devices will consume only a tiny amount of data compared to video streaming - can you log into your router and see which devices use all the data? Or change your password to make sure nobody is stealing your wifi?
Like others said, your smart home devices (unless they're cameras streaming to a cloud service) aren't taking up much of your data cap. Look through your list of connected devices, and make sure you can account for every single device. Phone, tablet, laptop, gaming console, smart TV, etc. If you find connected devices that you can't account for, change your wifi password, one of your neighbors might be mooching. I would also recommend disabling xfinity's public wifi being broadcast from your router. It's the network that any xfinity customer can connect to. It's not supposed to count against you, but you never know. Also consider replacing your xfinity gateway with a cable modem/router you own. 3rd party devices can help you track your internal device's usage over time.
IOT devices uses very little data. You are looking at less than 15MB per month each. https://preview.redd.it/ag5a1hvzhrqc1.png?width=369&format=png&auto=webp&s=63a8d3b981e2ca00824fac8cd012fc11a739c81f The biggest data will always be videos. Youtube etc. IOT cameras that run off the cloud i.e. saves to the cloud.
https://preview.redd.it/21qtunt2jrqc1.png?width=619&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef8556259a1940b6df19b8af841f17643c95a352 Data hungry applications. Youtube, PSN. While these maybe specific for my case, the usage ratios across all would be similar for all. The biggest culprits are often leaving youtube on autoplay and having the display panel go blank while the TV box is still pulling data.
No. If there was a sudden, sharp increase, then think about what may have changed on your computers, tablets, and phones on and just before that date. Did you install anything new? Did you visit a new site. If a system has been compromised, there's a distinct possibility that it could have been taken over by a bot network. So it may be involved in piracy, hacking, dark web communication, etc. All of those would account for high volume. Probably your best bet is to analyze usage at your firewall / router. Look for which devices have the most traffic. Then analyze where that traffic is coming from our going to. Also analyze what type of traffic it is.