Using too much data

I suggest checking your router settings and seeing what devices are connecting.

If it were me I'd suspect someone was stealing my internet.

 

What's your monthly bandwidth limit? How much are you going over?

 

I suggest unplugging your Mac and close all the active apps, install iStat Pro then open up your apps again one by one and see which one is consuming all that data.

 

It could be anywhere. Notifications, iCloud? Are you streaming video at a higher bandwidth now?

What OS did you come from? OSX 10.8 is a whole new ballgame compared to what you used before.

 

That's a pretty low limit if you're doing ANY youtube or anything with a lot of gifs/big images.

I have 300GB and I went over this month... you should consider a slight upgrade for this day and age!

 

Four finger swipe to the right, go to the window with the calculator and stuff. Or click the forth from the left key at the top of the keyboard and click the "Desktop" window at the very top.

The 300GB is only $45, kinda cool.

 

AT&T unlimited, uncapped for me at $45.

This is an old DSL plan I've had for over 10 years. It's not the fastest but it's cheap.

 

Yeah unfortunately to go to an unlimited plan I would lose my bundle discount for other stuff.

The speed is 75 down/50 up however. Can't complain.

 

I think for starters, you might want to cut down on your internet usage until you get a plan with more data. 5GB is pretty little to be fair.

Sucks to be in your situation, but I think moving from an 7 year old iBook to a MacBook Pro you would be using the computer more because its just faster and modern computers are just data guzzlers.

 

This is the panel you want to be looking at, specifically the in and out total shown in parentheses. What you were looking at had nothing to do with the internet, you were looking at RAM consumption and processor usage.

They will tell you how much data was passed through your internet/network connection since the last time you rebooted.

I suggest you reboot the computer, with the "Reopen Windows when logging back in" option unchecked.

Once the computer has booted check to see if you have any network activity. This'll be shown by a speed in kb/s on the in and out. A spike once in a while is normal, the computer is communicating to the modem to insure it remains connected.

If you see a steady stream of data as you start opening your usual apps back up, then you'll find the culprit.

 

1) New OS updates are larger?
Go into System Preferences / Software Update
and turn off "download updates automatically"

2) Look for other options? 5GB data allowance is not normal for U.S.

 

I'm guessing this is over cellular, correct?

Either way, how much data were you using before? What exactly are you using Internet for?
Stuff like YouTube and Netflix could be sending you better versions since your Mac can handle them now.