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Melissa Mpofu, Showbiz Editor
“My Wi-Fi data is getting gobbled up in no time. You people are ripping us off,” I texted a friend who works for a leading telecommunications company the other day. She simply laughed and said: “It’s because you’re home 24/7 now.”

For the longest time, I was convinced that the Internet service provider (ISP) was stealing from me or my home Wi-Fi password had been hacked because of the way a month’s data was getting gobbled up in under two weeks.

So when I got that response, I decided to do my research, starting with monitoring all gadgets that were connected to the Internet. I realised my friend was right because I personally was using a lot of data than usual as I was, like she said, home 24/7 since I am working from home.

From mostly using the Internet during weekends, I now use it daily so definitely, the usage will be higher.

Other than me was my young brother who ideally, would have been at school at this time of the year as he is a boarder. But now, he is home 24/7 doing online schooling which requires data. When he is free, since he cannot go out to be with his friends, he will be looking for ways to keep himself entertained online.

Still conducting my research, I observed that he no longer watches DStv as he prefers to stream movies on Netflix or play music and watch shows using YouTube. There was the problem right there because Netflix, an online movie and TV shows streaming platform is so addictive and because of its HD quality, it uses up a lot of data. YouTube as well, if one does not reduce the viewing quality, can also use up a lot of data.

To contain this, I had to plead with the young teenager to go slow on the streaming or at least reduce the quality on YouTube so that we save our little data which has gotten so pricey by the way. We have not yet found a way to reduce the quality on Netflix.

Now, all things are back to normal.

Software updates for certain applications must also be monitored as they use up a lot of data, so before agreeing to an update, one may want to check how big the file is. Backing up photos on Google drive, a friend informed me, used up to eight gigs which is no child’s play.

Just for interest sake, I asked another friend how they were coping with the exorbitant data charges and they made a shocking revelation.

“I use my neighbour’s Wi-Fi,” my friend told me with confidence.

How could this be possible? The guy does not even talk to his neighbours for starters so how on earth could they have possibly shared their password with him.

“These passwords are very easy to get my friend. All you need to do is know the favourite child’s name or that of the wife and you have your password,” he said.

Quite true it was because most passwords are often names of loved ones and birthdays or house addresses so if people take their security seriously, they may want to start being more creative with their passwords. If not, their data will continue vanishing in a few days as they will be powering the whole street.

Following this conversation, I realised that most home Wi-Fi’s are under attack especially now when everyone is stuck at home with nothing much to do due to the lockdown. People are so desperate for the Internet with the tech-savvy hacking passwords like no man’s business so people need to be on high alert.

Still on the issue of Wi-Fi, some have, for the past couple of weeks, been up in arms with one of the country’s leading Internet service providers over poor service.

“I am exceedingly disappointed. I pay nearly $9 000 for unlimited Internet yet I do not have any Internet. I have called Customer Care constantly and all I am told is we have reset your signal, please restart your modem. The talk the whole 45 minutes you are on hold is fast affordable reliable ADSL. What a crock.

“I have then had it reported and a technician comes and says I will test your connection but nothing changes. I will be changing my service provider and undertaking a vigorous campaign informing everyone of ***** shortcomings and complete lack of knowledge and support,” posted a disgruntled customer on Facebook the other day.

It is hoped that this provider ups their game and improves their service as more and more of these complaints are being passed almost on a daily basis. Considering that most people are relying heavily on the Internet during this lockdown, a non performing network is the last thing people need especially after parting with thousands of dollars for the service.

Responding to this user and complaining about poor service as well, one brought up an issue similar to mine and said: “I’ve had 30 gig finished in three days. What a rip off.”

Upon seeing this post I was not sure if this person’s data had genuinely been used up or if it had conveniently vanished. Advice though for such users who are doubtful of their data usage is to constantly monitor their usage on their service providers various mobile applications.

This helps a lot, even in terms of planning as you can monitor on a daily basis, how much data you are using.

If you feel robbed, you can easily contact your service provider and ask them to give you a breakdown of your data usage so that you see if they are stealing from you (as most would love to believe) or if there is a hacker/s in sight.

Another thing Wi-Fi users must be wary of especially now when the rains are very violent, is the importance of disconnecting the modem from power supply when it is raining. I learnt the hard way recently when my modem was struck by lightning.

“Switch off all appliances when it’s raining” they always say. I’ve learnt to do this and advise you to do the same if you want to save yourself from unnecessarily having to buy a replacement modem which again, is quite costly. Sorry to break it to you that your service provider will not give you a replacement for free.