Huawei HSDPA

[sylvasly]

Hey Guys

I had a very serious problem today. I had a client that was complaining about the Huawei HSDPA Data Card. Basically he has used his data bundle (500MB) in a week!!!!!!!

What happens is when you put in the pin code of the sim card in the Vodafone software and you click connect when you receive the message saying that you are connected and the speed (1.8MB) the data card starts transferring data I mean huge amounts between (500kb and 1mb). This is just by clicking on Connect he hasn’t even opened the internet or downloaded any mail yet. It just carries on transferring it doesn’t stop I noted that he transferred about 2.5mb in a minute.

The thing is that he is not the only one I’ve had about six to seven other people tell me that they experiencing the same data transfer problem and they all have the Huawei Data Card.

The other problem I also had was that despite him turning his windows automatic updates off the HSPDA card is still accepting downloads from Microsoft. He has Norton Internet Security on his pc and if you go into the network connections log it gives you a history of all the sites that he has visited and everyday he downloads updates in the background from au.download.microsoft.com and rs.update.microsoft.com.

I tried blocking the IP addresses for those sites on his firewall but the next time you connect it just uses another IP address and carries on downloading updates.

Please guys if you could tell me why the Huawei Data card is transferring data without you going on the internet and why is the data card downloading updates from vodacom even though automatic updates are turned off.

Sorry for the lengthy post

 

[ic]

sylvasly, this is 100% a Windoze issue, and there could easily be other data being transferred other than M$ Updates, also Norton is not the best firewall s/w to use.

This is a frequently raised issue, best to search the forum for Netlimiter, have a read through previous suggestions to install Netlimiter to find out what is actually causing the data transfer - it definitely will not be the HSDPA data card as HSDPA only provides the connection to the Internet...

 

[sevenworth]

Had similar problems with my Option Nozomi, see "Still don't understand" thread.

Also found the solution... switch to linux. Don't think us mere mortals are ever going to be able to control what windows does while you're not looking (or even while you are)

 

[sylvasly]

that's my problem how do you explain to a client that its a windows problem because basically this guy can't use his data card for the rest of december because all his data has been used.

 

[sylvasly]

thanks for the help guys but i'm kinda stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place first I don't think he would wanna change to linux and how do I explain to him that windows is causing the data transfer. Because his argument wiil be that he disabled the automatic updates so it shouldn't be downloading the updates.

 

[sylvasly]

Took a look at your post sevenworth but the difference between our problems is that the Huawei card is transferring data before I have a chance to open a web page. I did a test and it transfered 1.5MB in 55 seconds and I never even had a chance to open a web page, I was still in the Vodafone software application

 

[ic]

that's my problem how do you explain to a client that its a windows problem because basically this guy can't use his data card for the rest of december because all his data has been used.

The only way, is to show him what is actually causing data to be transfered in Windoze, and explain that it is not the data card that causes the data to be transferred - it's only the messenger, and there is that saying "don't shoot the messenger"...

 

[sylvasly]

I could do that IC but I know that his gonna tell me that I'm not solving his problem. That's what I'm struggling with I need a solution to this problem and I have no idea what to try next. I wanna try to give a answer just incase I get the same problem by a different client

 

[Syndyre]

Not sure if its at all related, but I had the same problem with random data transfers when connecting via my phone. Tried reinstalling windows and the same thing happened, was a windows process svchost.exe generating the traffic, blocked that in my firewall and its been fine since then.

 

[ic]

I could do that IC but I know that his gonna tell me that I'm not solving his problem. That's what I'm struggling with I need a solution to this problem and I have no idea what to try next. I wanna try to give a answer just incase I get the same problem by a different client

The answer you seek, is Netlimiter - start with that as it will help you narrow down the Windoze processes that are transferring data, I recommend showing the guy what Netlimiter shows you...

Not sure if its at all related, but I had the same problem with random data transfers when connecting via my phone. Tried reinstalling windows and the same thing happened, was a windows process svchost.exe generating the traffic, blocked that in my firewall and its been fine since then.

svchost.exe is an integral part of Windows, it is a surrogate process that generally loads a DLL and runs it as a service - this was introduced by M$ for Windoze 2000 + [AFAIK] to allow DLLs written for NT4 to be reused without having to rewrite the code to run as a service. Blocking svchost.exe is not a permanent solution that I would recommend.

There are also some basic TCP/IP settings that one should disable on a raw internet connection, like File and Printer sharing.

 

[Syndyre]

svchost.exe is an integral part of Windows, it is a surrogate process that generally loads a DLL and runs it as a service - this was introduced by M$ for Windoze 2000 + [AFAIK] to allow DLLs written for NT4 to be reused without having to rewrite the code to run as a service. Blocking svchost.exe is not a permanent solution that I would recommend.

Just did it as a temporary solution at the time, whatever the problem was seemed to automagically resolve itself luckily.

 

[sevenworth]

i've also noticed that Media Player (Especially v11) almost continuously crawls the web looking for information on your music. Was using considerably less bandwidth when Media Player was not running.

<edit>But I don't think it was a major part of the problem</edit>

 

[sylvasly]

Spoke to the client and told him about Netlimiter but he said that he is in the process of cancelling his contract because of the poor service that he recieved from Vodacom.

Just spoke to a colleague of mine about the issue just wanted to run this past you guys.
Could it possibly be the Nortons Internet Security that is allowing the updates to download from Microsoft?
Let me know what you think

 

[ic]

Just spoke to a colleague of mine about the issue just wanted to run this past you guys.
Could it possibly be the Nortons Internet Security that is allowing the updates to download from Microsoft?
Let me know what you think

NIS is IMO just about the very worst of s/w firewalls, same with its anti-virus, there are several better options and some are even 100% free and still better than Norton.

Having said that, first install and use Netlimiter.

Spoke to the client and told him about Netlimiter but he said that he is in the process of cancelling his contract because of the poor service that he recieved from Vodacom.

In that case, now sounds like an excellent time to suggest that he ditches Windoze and switches to using Linux [joking of course] .

 

[vodacom3g]

Spoke to the client and told him about Netlimiter but he said that he is in the process of cancelling his contract because of the poor service that he recieved from Vodacom.

Can you pass me the clients' details and I can check up on the 'poor service' issue? Did he log a call with Vodacom, can you pass me the call number?

Where is he based?

Just spoke to a colleague of mine about the issue just wanted to run this past you guys.
Could it possibly be the Nortons Internet Security that is allowing the updates to download from Microsoft?
Let me know what you think

I would scan the the system with as many different malware / spyware / virus / worm scanning software as possible. And install Netlimiter.

Had a system doing this the other day, took 47 virusses off and no more unaccounted downloads.

Also, how is Norton getting it's virus definition files? How often? how big are they?

Check for other 'legit' updates, many applications, Java, etc. all pdate themselves, even Acrobat Reader.

And then the BIG one; Is he running any P2P programs? Limewire, Kazaa, etc. These are bound to grab all bandwidth the moment you connect. Using a gig overnight is not uncommon.