My Metronet Bill Was Higher Than Xxpected
Imagine my surprise when I received the latest metronet bill only to find that the amount due was almost double what I would normally pay. For a person who scrupulously calculates his or her expenses every month, and who never overspends, receiving such an outrageously high bill is a real shock.
Once the shock of experiencing such an event wore off, my head started working overtime to try to understand what had occurred. Is it possible that I left the streaming of movies on the television set all day and night? Maybe the wiring problem was what led to an increased usage? Did metronet make a mistake? I thought hard in an attempt to try and find out what might have made costs to rise to such high levels from nowhere.
Reviewing My Usage
The first step I took was to go online into my metronet account to check my monthly usage information. I examined each section side by side with the prior billing cycles. I believed that all of them were typical activities of mine until I entered the “Additional Usage” column. And that is when I found the problem – an additional 700 GB data usage! Now I just had to discover what all that extra data was doing.
I am a single person and normally my usage stays almost the same for a month, although sometimes it may vary a little. What new activities came up during this billing period that could have warranted a usage of more extra bandwidth than was expected? That’s when it dawn on me – my brother had come to visit me for two weeks before he moves into his new apartment.
Tracking Down the Culprit
Of course! With my brother staying here, there was another internet connected device in the house streaming videos, gaming, and who knows what else. Mystery solved! I expected that it might just be a fluke and that the high usage from my guest was the reason for it. Nevertheless, 700 GB I thought was quite excessive so I had to cross check with my brother. Not surprisingly, he sheepishly agreed with them about his overindulgence with streaming movies and sometimes drifting off to sleep with the TV still on. Well, at least now I know who to send the bill to!
Lessons Learned
While frustrated at first, dealing with this surprise bill taught me some valuable lessons that I'll keep in mind going forward
1. Be cautious if having guests over - Perhaps establish that you can only use so much data or inform the guests that you have a limited amount of data.
2. Allowfor notifications on over usage – Most of the ISPs such as metronet, allow users to set warning that is sent when the user is likely to reach the stipulated amount of usage.
3. Think about the value of the unlimited data plans – At times, when the usage is high than normal, an unlimited data plan can be very useful if the prices are low.
4. Automate payments or enroll in budget billing – It can be difficult to handle fluctuating bills or bills that are evenly divided which makes spikes unexpected.
In conclusion, it is disappointing that a little planning and talking it through could have prevented this whole mess. At least it happened when he was there for a brief visit instead of becoming a new permanent way of life. Moving forward, I believe I am prepared for an unexpected increment in data usage that will lead to a high bill like the one I received this time.
In a nutshell, one should discuss the usage of the internet with the guests who are coming to visit the facility, use tools to control the usage, and check those increased usages right away to identify the problems. It is possible to avoid horrible billing surprises if one spends some time to make certain preparations and pay attention to details.