Conundrum: VZAccess Usage Limit on Macbook Air

[BobbyBarracuda]

Hello,

I got a Macbook Air a couple months back, and I am using a USB760 Verizon card for my regular internet access. With VZAccess Manager, my data usage limit is 5GB. VZAcess Manager is working on my Macbook Air, so that's not my issue.

I am a casual internet user, surfing the internet, email, Facebook, etc (I limit my audio/video internet usage as I know that consumes more data). Before I got my Macbook Air, I had a Dell laptop, and when I used the same USB760 Verizon card for internet, I rarely ever got past using 3 GB a month, even while using the internet almost daily.

After using the same VZAccess Manager card on my MBA, I've noticed a dramatic spike in my data usage consumption. Last month I had to stop using the card for a week just to keep my usage within the monthly 5 GB limit, and my internet habits have not changed since transferring from my dell. Even as I write this, I have used over 1 GB in just 2 days. Do MacBooks just consume more data than PCs, or is there something on my mac that I can adjust that is consuming data much faster than normal? Again, the internet still works fine using this Verizon USB card.

Any advice or direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Bobby

 

[psxguru]

It shouldn't use any more data than a PC would. Have you been doing software updates?

I would install little snitch...
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

and see what active data transfers are taking place. You can keep restarting little snitch every 3 hours as part of the trial.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

A friend had to call on his card the other night - he didn't use it for a week and a half because they said he was over AND the computer power cord broke, and during that off time it went up 2gb of usage! They had records of his calls and ended up waving the overage fee.

He was in the same boat looking at his couple of days worth of usage - more than it should have been.

All i know is something seemed to be going on that shouldn't have been...

Track it and call them about it!