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DavidDavid Author

Level 1

17 points

Apple TV Data Usage

Has anyone figured out what's wrong and how can this be fixed? Obviously Apple hasn't.

Whenever I turn on my TV with Apple TV 3rd Gen and watch content like SkyNews, I can see in my Wifi monitor that it uses about 30 GB in 5 minutes, much more than any other application or data stream. This is eating up my XFinity allowance and making me hit maximums.

I have downgraded display from 4K to 1080p and even 720p with little difference.

Plus, if I happen to simply turn off my Samsung TV without unplugging (yes, physically unplugging) my Apple TV, the hog continues.

Posted on Mar 10, 2021 8:55 AM

Top-ranking reply

Urquhart1244

Community+ 2024

Level 10

143,076 points

Posted on Mar 10, 2021 10:05 AM

Something is not right, that much is clear.

Apple TV (3rd generation) has 10/100 ethernet port, maxing out a bit below the theoretical limit of 100 Mbps.

Apple TV (3rd generation) has Wi-Fi 4 (802.11a/b/g/n), maxing out a fair bit below the theoretical limit of 300 Mbps.

30 GB in 5 minutes = 6 GB/min = 800 Mbps, which is far more than Apple TV (3rd generation) can handle.

If your router has UPnP activated, then turn that off. It can be abused by others posing as you to hide themselves e.g. in DDoS attacks. While doing so, it also gobbles up your bandwidth. It is not about you specifically; their method requires the combined nonsense output from large groups of unprotected devices from many unsuspecting users.

Plus, if I happen to simply turn off my Samsung TV without unplugging (yes, physically unplugging) my Apple TV, the hog continues.

Apple TV can stay on, keep streaming (and acknowledge UPnP requests) if the TV set is off, so that is no surprise.

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Apple TV Data Usage

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