Steam using over 1 TB in one day and over 700 GB on another. ISP has data cap.

[PandaPoop]

Twice now my ISP has reported that I am over my 1 TB data cap. In the last 2 months, my husband and I have not used more than 150GB in a single day. This includes online gaming, streaming with a modest speed, and VoIP services like TeamSpeak.

On Thursday, 3/30 our home used 1,082 GB and on Thursday, 4/6 we used 767 GB. Checking both our phones and PCs data usage, my husband's Windows 10 pc says Steam used over 2 TB of data in the last 30 days. He also hasn't installed anything new since this has happened.

My ISP (Cox Communications) charges $10 for every 50 GB over the cap. That's going to be a pretty hefty bill, so I am not pleased with steam.

This has never happened before and my husband regularly plays games and has used steam for a long time.

How is this possible?
What can we do to prevent this?
Any advice on negotiating the internet bill with my ISP?

[The Giving One]

If you are unaware, Steam can be set to only launch manually and not automatically when you start your computer. And of course, you should be logging out and exiting the client when not using Steam.

There can be situations where you have many games installed, and they require updates, and depending on your update settings, the games can be automatically updating.

In short, Steam is probably doing what you have it set to do.

EDIT..There can also be security software conflict issues possibly, such as misconfigured antivirus programs quarantining .exe files for games, just as an example. Those files have to be reaquired, of course, which can be using data.

[Hodman]

That sounds pretty similar to an issue I read before here in the forums. Do you have any game that uses workshop mods or similar? They may be updating constantly for whatever reason.

I remember habitual (a forum regular) helping with this very same issue in the past.

[PandaPoop]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

If you are unaware, Steam can be set to only launch manually and not automatically when you start your computer. And of course, you should be logging out and exiting the client when not using Steam.

There can be situations where you have many games installed, and they require updates, and depending on your update settings, the games can be automatically updating.

In short, Steam is probably doing what you have it set to do.

EDIT..There can also be security software conflict issues possibly, such as misconfigured antivirus programs quarantining .exe files for games, just as an example. Those files have to be reaquired, of course, which can be using data.

We are aware of the manual launch and automatic update. What's suprising is that after 10 years of using steam, this has never been an issue, and no where near 700 GB or 1 TB in a single 24 hour period.

Originally posted by Hodman:

That sounds pretty similar to an issue I read before here in the forums. Do you have any game that uses workshop mods or similar? They may be updating constantly for whatever reason.

I remember habitual (a forum regular) helping with this very same issue in the past.

I didn't think about the mods. Is there a way to see a history of specific downloads to see if a particular game or mod is doing this?

[The Giving One]

Aside from what the good Hodman is saying about the possible issue with the mods and workshop example, I still suggest you always log out and close down Steam when not using it. This not only would surely help with any issues with data usage, but it is a better security practice for your account.

From what you have said, if I am understanding the situation correctly, you have Steam running all the time, on more than one account even, and you or both of you always logged in.

If so, I highly suggest against that type of use. Hope you understand. Thanks.

[PandaPoop]

I understand the suggestion and the best practice behind it. As clarification, I have steam on a seperate pc of my own, so one steam account on each pc. Since finding this issue, we are both going through steam and disabling automatic updates.

On a different perspective, it is a nice feature to have the background updating so that when his buddies hop on different games each night, the games are ready to play without waiting to update.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by PandaPoop:

On a different perspective, it is a nice feature to have the background updating so that when his buddies hop on different games each night, the games are ready to play without waiting to update.

I assume you are talking about family sharing here, and not account sharing.

Sounds to me as if Steam is just doing what you have it set to do , as I said above. Depending on the example that the good Hodman posted above, among other possibilities.

[Hodman]

This is the thread I was talking about:

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/154643795213320330/

Originally posted by PandaPoop:

I didn't think about the mods. Is there a way to see a history of specific downloads to see if a particular game or mod is doing this?

I'm not sure if there's a way to check download history but you can see what's in queue by going to your library, on top of your game list click "games" then downloads.

[Muppet among Puppets]

What is your downloadspeed?
767 gb would at least require fulltime 8mbyte/s

[Snapjak]

That was a Garry's Mod workshop problem. But it may have happened again with another workshop.

[BossGalaga]

It sounds like you need something to monitor and log your network traffic and data usage for your computers. There are a number of programs that do this. You may also want to check any other internet connected devices in your home, phones, tablets, consoles, etc.

[PandaPoop]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

What is your downloadspeed?
767 gb would at least require fulltime 8mbyte/s

Up to 150 Mbps download, would have to be 16 hours at full speed....

[PandaPoop]

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

It sounds like you need something to monitor and log your network traffic and data usage for your computers. There are a number of programs that do this. You may also want to check any other internet connected devices in your home, phones, tablets, consoles, etc.

Definately going to do that now, but I don't know how to handle this month's internet bill...