Bt Home Hub & Bb-Usage Via Wireless?

[gl556tr]

__My mother was generously given an iMAC and 'tied up' to a BT contract for phone & broadband (BB); also BT Vision. All my mother uses this iMAC with OSX 10.5.8 for is for emails and writing documents. However, I have noticed a huge amount of BB-usage over the months. For the whole month of May, this totallled nearly 60 GB (yep, 10**9 Bytes). Of this, >25 GB comprised download data-transfer and the rest upload. Not having an iMAC myself nor having any experience with the vagaries of BT's Service capabilities, I really do not know how to tackle this problem - that is, eradicate this BB-usage completely. I feel sure that the BT Home Hub's Wireless is active and do think that there may even be neighbours taking advantage of my mother's present HW/SW configuration. Which Apple program/App will show me what data is being transferred and to/from whom? More importantly, how can I deactivate this Wireless feature is such a manner that no one can force -- EVEN by effecting facotory settings -- this to ever be used again? Phew - rather long-winded, but 'tis a complex issue, me thinks. As the iMAC is always wired to the internet, one other possibility is that nosey firms (Apple?) are continuously taking advantage of the current setup. Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

[mikey4444]

We had a similar query to this a couple of weeks ago. If your Mum has set a
Password for wireless access to her Home Hub, nobody should be able to use it for access to the 'net. I don't know much about BT Vision but almost certainly most of the activity that you say you can see is due to Vision, not her or anyone else surfing the 'net.

Unless anybody else has any other ideas ?

[gl556tr]

__Hello mikey4444 and methyl (is that in Wales?) - and thanks for rapid replies. For me -- living abroad -- and visiting UK four times a year, simply looking at BT's internet pages is mind-boggling; but that's another story....!
I'm glad I'd mentioned that my mother also has BT Vision in her BB & phone packet. Seeing this excessive BB-usage last year, I arranged with BT a new contract of flat-rate for both BB & phone. This eradicated the occasional quantum jump in a monthly bill. Funnily enough, such huge volumes of BB-usage have only been a recent occurrence, with WiFi available for a couple of years.
'Tis not a question of high billing, all now flat-rate, but seeing such volumes of data-traffic does leave one wondering who/what generates this.
I will certainly go to that URL you kindly gave me.
I will be visiting my mother during July, when I will attempt to crack this phenomenon once and for all.

[gl556tr]

__A follow-up to your query, methyl: this is the BB-usage shown when logged-in to BT. No extras - as it is flat-rate; but I find it slow even is posting-off a simple email. Though that could be due to the Apple iMAC being stuffed with loads of programs...
__One would **normally** not see the data using my mother's WiFi (assuming 'tis so). But there are sniffer-SW which work well on Win, for instance. So, there MUST be something that'll perform equally on an OSX. Only, as I've mentioned, this latter OS is a rare animal to me.
__Having said that, I do have Administrator rights both for the OSX and for the Hub. Assuming someone's grabbed the latter's ID, I will perhaps be able to change this. Ramifications if any, please!!
.

[Vic325]

I to have an iMac and BT, my usage so far for June is 69.43GB download, 5.22GB upload but this is not a problem as I have unlimited broadband. I pay £36.34 per month for line rental,unlimited broadband,BT Vision, free evening & weekend calls. The BT hub should be secure, e.g. a password is required to connect to internet via wireless. The original password is set by BT and shown on a removable tab, for example: Wireless network/SSID: BTHub3-X2S3 is the hub identity seen on internet when connected. Wireless key: 3e8e82f95e is the password required to connect via wireless connection. (Both shown are examples only) Its easy to check if your connection is secure on iMac as follows. When connected open Safari, on the menu bar, top right, hover over, or click on the wireless connection symbol,a drop down menu will appear showing your connection to your hub appears with a tick mark to left of hub name/id. To the right of id a symbol of a closed padlock should be visible confirming a secure connection. If there is no padlock or you feel that another person has obtain your key/password you can change settings, hub id & key/password by logging into your BT account online:- (How do I change the WEP key for a wireless connection to my BT Home Hub using Mac OS-X?
Find your Hub's wireless network name/SSID and wireless key, printed on a label on the back of your Hub.

How do I find the wireless network name (SSID) and wireless key for my BT Home Hub or router? How do I find the wireless network name (SSID) and wireless key for my BT Home Hub or router?
Click on the apple icon (top left), select 'System preferences', select 'Network', highlight 'Airport'.
Select 'Advanced'.
Highlight the relevant hub and click on the Edit icon.
Click 'Allow' if prompted to allow access to your keychain.
Type the 10-character wireless key for your Hub into the Password box.
Click 'Add'.
Click 'Allow' if prompted to add this to your keychain.
Click 'OK'.
Click 'Apply'.)

Re BT Vision. Vision is basically a free view box but with inbuilt internet connection for catch up TV, e.g. BBC i player etc or pay to view programmes. If you use "catch up or "pay to view" you are basically downloading programmes which will increase your download usage but BT are unable to advise the download usage for Vision! If you want to ensure that your download usage is not effected by BT Vision disconnect the ethernet cable from box to modem. Also remember that sending/receiving e-mail & just opening Safari browser effects your usage!!!