Over use charges for internet

[AH]

Has anyone on here experienced being charged by BT for excessive internet use having not previously been charged such excess and not having altered working practice etc?

My internet useage has gone up in the last four months from less than 1GB to in excess of 150GB per month!

Same old BT taking an age to sort it out going round in loops with no single department able to resolve the problem whilst in the meantime BT are quite happy to keep on billing me.

No signs or reports of a virus on my computer, ethernet connection only to single computer and BT now say my broadband number isn't the one I've been using for the last 4+ years.  All very strange.

I was passed from pillar to post and back earlier today between BT departments - quite a shambles. 

[Wracey]

Yes I have just been told we have an excess for November (It's only the 11th now) and got nowhere with it on the phone.

[Fiona]

Hi

If your usage has gone from 1gig a month to over 150gig a month then it does sound like you have a virus or malware on your PC. Also, if you have a wireless router, I would make sure that you have it set as a secure wireless connection. I would also make sure you don't have any programmes on your PC that may be updating or sharing information (e.g. peer to peer software and someone is uploading a lot of files from your computer) or accounting / banking software.

I have checked with the technical case and can see that you spoke with the technical team today and they agreed that your usage had increased and this would point to either your PC or Connection being compromised, and advised you to discuss the options with Security. Were you given any additional advice on security from them?

If there is usage on your line and connection that exceeds 10gig you will be billed for it. I understand how frustrating it must be if you are not using the internet that much, but there must be something that is sharing data through your broadband connection. Have you installed any new software or hardware 3 months ago, or has anything changed in your setup.

There may be other users on this forum that can think of other reasons why your connection may be compromised.

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business Forum Moderator

[AH]

Thanks Fiona,

Router has wireless disabled as I only operate a single PC via an ethernet cable.  Anti virus software on PC and regular scans.  No new software recently installed.  No noticeable difference in PC performance.  Discussed all this with BT security and they assisted by providing me with an email address to make a complaint.  A main issue here is who's number have I been using and paying for as there has been no useage against my broadband number?

Will see what happens.

[Fiona]

Hi AH,

I'm glad your PC and connection are secure. I'm really sorry I can't think of anything else that could be using the connection. If you send me your account information I can look over your account and see if I can find anything else that may be causing this.

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business Forum Moderator