Earlier this week we were notified by our internet provider that we had exceeded our monthly limit of 250 GB of data usage. We didn't even know that we had a limit. Three days before the end of the month, we had already used 262 GB of data.
After calling the internet service provider, we discovered that we have been on an upward usage curve for months. But, like I said, we didn't even know there was a limit.
Kevin told someone that we had exceeded our limit, and they asked him how he planned to keep the kids from doing it again. Which was funny, because neither of us had actually thought of doing that. We just wanted to know how we could get more data for us to use! We are not only Data Hogs, but we are Data Hog Enablers.
We all use the internet here. There's Netflix and Youtube, blogs and podcasts, and Pandora. We rent movies on Vudu and watch tv shows using apps. The kids use the internet for homeschool. Go Math Academy, Brain Pop Jr, ABC Mouse, and Typing Agent are all online learning programs. They like to play on Club Penguin. I like Facebook. Just about everything we do is internet-based. If we could hook the toaster and the coffee maker up to the Wi-Fi, we would.
But I think that the thing that pushed us over the top this month was Minecraft. The kids bought a Minecraft Realm, which is like their own server with pre-built mini-games, so they have been playing on that more. And they have been having Minecraft parties. The other kids in the neighborhood bring their iPads and iPhones over, and they all join our network, and then they can all play and build on the same Minecraft PE world at the same time. And they love it! The kids all sit next to each other on the couch, and they scream and laugh with glee as they build worlds and games to play together. But I have to imagine that uses a ton of data because sometimes there are 5 or 6 devices all connected at the same time.
And I don't see any reason to stop allowing them to do that. Like I said, we are Data Hog Enablers.
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