Solving playback issues

[ex_spurt]

I understand that Roku player keeps streaming under some conditions with TV off. I'm pretty certain this is not one of those cases. I've been using Roku for many years, and have had 3 different players starting with the original one that had analog connections.

I have not been able to watch TV for various reasons for the past few months, and have not used the Roku in that time. But suddenly, after idling along nicely, it used 800 GB in two days, mostly downloading something (all I can tell is it's SSL/TLS data). My Asus router has a statistics page that shows data used for every device for the past month, week, or day. Also, in my home, I have a 500 GB limit, and have never reached that amount, usually not even close.

The only change I can conceive of that has been made during this time is I changed the DNS setting on my router to try out Cloudflare's free DNS 1.1.1.1, which is a popular service supposedly providing fast, private DNS. I haven't used any sort of VPN, or even Cloudflare's WARP service, which can be used on devices, but not routers, I dont think.

My TV, which I haven't watched, is only an old standard HD unit, and I don't think it could use that much data even if it was somehow continuously streaming.

I have powered the Roku off for now, but I'd like to be able to use it in the future, so it would be nice to have some idea what could have happened. Any clues?

[AvsGunnar]

@ex_spurt 

To use 800gb in two days (48hrs) you would be going through nearly 17gb an hour.  Although reportedly some Youtube 4k content at 2160p can reach about 16gb/hr, most other 4k content reaches out 6 or 7 gb/hr.  https://www.gvec.net/streaming-video-data-usage/  B

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Are you making sure you are pressing the Home button after you are finished streaming so that the Roku returns to your Home Screen and ceases streaming (data usage)?

Since you are using a standard HD TV, even continuous streaming from one device at HD levels will not put you near the 800gb number you are seeing.  Therefore, either the router is mis-reporting your data usage per your Roku device, someone is piggy-backing on your network using your data, or you may have a breach.

First thing I would do is change all the passwords associated with my router and internet connection.  Change the admin password for how you login to your router or your mobile app for your router, change the wifi (SSID) passwords (this is the password you use to connect to your network), and change any passwords you use for web-based portals of your ISP (this is the password if you are going to your ISP's website to make changes to your network).  I would also change the SSID name of your networks as well. (this is the name of the network you are connecting your devices to).

Good practice would be to make sure all the above are different.

Second, I would enable "Bandwidth Saver" on the Roku Premiere+. (Settings/Network/Bandwidth Saver).  This will just stop bandwidth usage after 4hrs if you happen to leave the Roku device on,fall asleep, etc.

Third, get in to the habit of returning to Home Screen after finished streaming if you currently aren't doing do.  Remember, pressing Power button on your Roku remote only powers off your TV.  It has no affect on Roku device.  Need to press the Home button on Roku remote to stop streaming/cease data usage/allow Roku to enter sleep mode.  (Assuming since you have used Roku a few years, you probably already know this.)

Fourth, disable any Guest Networks on your network (any hotspot sharing options) or any unsecured/open connections to your wifi network.  Make sure any connection needs a password to join.

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Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 is a reputable public DNS so would not cause any concern there.

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I would just do all the preventative measures mentioned above (regarding the password changes), and then verify with ISP if they are seeing the same data usage that your router is reporting.  If so, I think you just have a breached network more than a rogue Roku device.  Best case scenario is just an insecure/breached network that is causing freeloaders to use your data rather than some bad actor.

[ex_spurt]

I thought I had answered this, but I guess not.

First, I know 800 GB is a lot, which is why I was looking for a reason. As I said, I have not used it for a few weeks, so if I had forgotten to press home, it would have been streaming for the previous few weeks, not just the past two days. Before this, it did not use much at all.

Second, I didn't mention this, but the area I live in is single family houses with decent sized yards, and I know all the neighbors all around me. Most are older, not especially internet savvy enough to hack my network. The others are simply not the type to do that even if they were close enough to connect. But the data was being used only by Roku, obvious from the router's information. And when I unplugged the Roku, the data immediately stopped and has not started back - even after reconnecting it to get the serial number so a Roku engineer could use the information to troubleshoot a bug they are working on. It seems the device can get stuck downloading the home screen artwork repeatedly.

And after this problem, I searched for Cloudflare and Roku, and did find a couple of people in the past on Reddit  who could not connect when using 1.1.1.1 DNS.

But thanks for your input.

[Da12]

I’ve seen data uploads and downloads to my Roku device, at one point, the traffic was going through miniupnp, at this time, router indicated multiple connections. I’ve seen as much as 90g in 2 hours to various sites that I’m not using when transfers occurs including Cloudflare. CloudFlare was forwarding data to another country, I wrote but did not receive a response. Some traffic is expected, a lot more is not. Why would Apple be doing regular data transfers? I reformatted the Roku, I have several, but not plugged in. I just bought 2 new ones, but would like to resolve issue prior to installation. The TV is not connected to Wi-Fi.  I enjoy my Roku, but how can I resolve these issues? I’d like to remove the Apple Home kit as well, if possible. I had removed Apple TV. I like Netflix but don’t watch often, but also see data transfers there as well. Could someone look at my traffic? Could I get needed sites/ports to block the ones that can’t be identified? One is a data collection site. Thanks. Oh, is there another or bettervway to factory reset? My password was reset yesterday, but was locked out today, I changed it. Could others be using my account w/o my knowledge?

[ex_spurt]

I posted about this to Reddit, and was contacted by a Roku engineer, who thinks it's a problem he's been working on. He had me send info which he said was helpful.

He said "It looks like there was a runaway download process for some of the images that show on the home screen that caused the device to grab those over and over. We're working to figure out why this logic went wrong, and how we can change that code to avoid hitting the issue in the future."

He also said it seems like it happens when the Roku is sitting at the home screen with no screensaver confiugured. This fits my situation, as I don't have a screensaver set up.

I have not heard back from him; I may contact him at some point to see if it's safe to go into the water.