Roku setup

[japullin]

I've owned three Rokus for several years without any problem. One has 4k capabilities, the other two don't. In the last two months, the non-4k units in separate occasions have gone berserk and consumed 600GB of data in one day. Given that they gave no problem for years, I assume it must be something introduced by the latest software updates. I'm not using them anymore

[andyross]

In the settings, there is a bandwidth saver. Make sure that is turned on. Also, whenever you are done using an app, you should ideally exit out of it cleanly. In most, just keep hitting back until it either exits or asks to verify to exit. For some, like Netflix, you have to choose a menu entry. For Netflix, it's the left-side menu, at the very bottom. Hitting HOME to exit may cause some apps to get stuck and keep streaming.

[japullin]

Thanks, but there has to be something else. A non-4k Roku cannot normally go through 600GB of data in a day even if it is continuously streaming. Also, as I mentioned, this was not an issue for many years.

[Strega2]

How are you measuring the data? I ask because I used to have a router with a traffic meter that was fine (and presumably accurate) until I would launch YouTube on a Roku. (Other apps on Roku did not cause this effect.)

Once I ran YouTube on a Roku, all data use metrics on the router would be messed up (Terabytes too high) until the next month when the router reset its data meter. Something about the Roku YouTube app (of that era) would cause the router traffic meter (of that era) to add an uninitialized variable, or something similar, that caused it to show ridiculous data use. At the time, I was using an ISP with a data cap but fortunately, their meter didn't have the same bug.

[japullin]

Thanks. I use a tool called Colasoft Capsa to analyze the net. Unfortunately my modem (Cox Panoramic) does not offer real time data information (apparently it used to but the feature was removed).

[andyross]

Does Cox have a usage meter on-line? Can you verify you actually used that much data, and that it is not a bug in the software?

[japullin]

It has an overall daily meter. Unfortunately that makes diagnosing things using that feature very difficult as you have to wait till the next day to see if any change you made in the network makes any difference, which can be very tedious when you have several devices (and the data keeps on being consumed).

Thanks!

[andyross]

But again, your ISP should have a web page or app with the ability to see your data usage. Depending on them, it may be updated daily, or just historical by month. Not sure what your normal usage would be, but if that has been going on for awhile, you should be seeing terabytes of data being used over the past few weeks or more.

[japullin]

Yes, Cox offers a daily meter in their phone app and webpage. But it only gives overall data usage per day, does not break it down by device. And worse, it updates at 8am, so by the time you get to see yesterday's usage, you are already eight hours into today's usage.

Thanks!

[Strega2]

Have those 600GB blasts  (2 at least?) shown up there?