A submarine fibre-optic cable fault between Perth and Singapore could be why.
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Jen S asks: Is there a way to track who in the house is using all our internet data, and what they are doing to use it up?
Answer
Now I need to include a warning before I answer this one! This area is hard to talk about without some technical jargon! So apologies in advance.
This is an issue that I have looked at many a time myself - especially on those days where our internet usage has reached around 100GB for ONE DAY! The best way to monitor what is going on with your home internet is through your router. Some routers provide logs of internet usage by IP address, allowing you to track down the data gobbler in your house. While this may be possible for some, it is certainly not possible with the modem/router that Telstra provided for our home internet service. It has really limited capabilities and cannot be configured to provide any monitoring capabilities. One of these days, I am going to buy another router to replace it so that I can have the extra features that I need. Depending on how 'locked down' your own router is, you can also look at using something called OpenDNS to set up parental controls on a router that does not provide adequate features in this area. Now I know this will sound technical, but I'll say it anyway! To access OpenDNS, you 'just' need to change your router’s DNS server settings to use OpenDNS instead of the default DNS settings defined by your internet provider. If you are brave enough to look into this OpenDNS option further, click here to see how OpenDNS allows you to set up an account and configure web filtering. Below are a couple of articles I have 'scooped' on this topic on the iTandCoffee Scoop.it page. If you need help to check out and configure your router or OpenDNS, call iTandCoffee on 1300 885 420. 7/9/2014 0 Comments Is iCloud Safe?
There has been a lot of press lately about iCloud and the alleged 'hacking' of celebrity iCloud accounts - where nude photos of these celebrities were stolen and published.
This has caused many people to worry that iCloud may not be safe, and may be easily hacked. Is this the case - should you be worried about using iCloud to sync your data and backup your iPad and iPhone? The answer is - it depends! The security of your information in any Cloud-based solution is only as good as the password you use, the security questions/answers you choose, and the level of security that you apply to the account. Additionally, if someone was to steal your iPhone, iPad or computer, the security of your online accounts is very dependent on whether you have password protection on that device. Here are some hints for ensuring that your online data is protected - especially if you store those nude selfies in the cloud, something I would never recommend! 1. Choose strong passwords and use different passwords for each online account
Consider your password as the key protecting your information assets - just like your house key protects your physical assets.
Using an obvious password is similar to leaving your key in an obvious location (e.g. under your doormat). If you then use the same key for your home, your car, your office, your holiday house, etc, then all of these assets will be at risk if someone gets hold of your key (and knows your addresses). Most online accounts have the same address (i.e. your email address), making them easy to access once someone knows your email address and password combination. There are many ways that someone could get hold of your password for a particular online account - through a Phishing email, perhaps if you use public WiFi to access an account in a manner that is not secure, perhaps if a site at which you have that email address/password combination registered is itself hacked and your details stolen (as has happened for eBay and other sites recently). If you use different passwords for different online accounts, you minimise the potential impact of any theft of your login credentials for another online account. 2. Try to choose more obscure security questions and answers
Sometimes, the security questions and answers that you set up to deal with forgotten passwords are just too easy to guess if the person illegally accessing your account knows anything about you.
For the celebrities whose data was illegally accessed in the past week, this is most likely what happened. Given that these people are in the public limelight, answers to their 'secret' questions were probably not as secret as would apply to the average person. If you are given a list of questions/answers to choose from, choose those that would be really difficult for anyone else to guess. 3. Consider turning on 2-step verification for your Apple ID/s
This is something that has been covered in earlier articles, in relation to improving the security of your Gmail and Outlook/Live/Hotmail accounts.
Apple provides the same additional security setting for your Apple ID. If this is enabled, if a device is not listed as a 'trusted' device is used to access your Apple account, a four-digit verification code will be sent to your mobile phone - this could would need to be entered on that other device before access to your account is granted. This would tell you if an un-authorised person is trying to access your account, and would prevent any such person from getting access to your account and its data. Check out the below article 'Scooped' on theiTandCoffee Scoop.it page, to find out how to set up this 2-step verification. Apple has acknowledged a deficiency in its notifications for iCloud
While Apple's iCloud security was not actually compromised or the cause of the celebrity account hackings, Apple has acknowledged that there was a gap in their notification processes.
There was no notification sent to those celebrities of the fact that their accounts had been installed on, or restored to new devices (ie. the devices of the hackers). This has now been rectified, so that you will in future receive a notification whenever your iCloud is installed on, or restored to a new device. A client who is on an overseas trip recently unfortunately lost her phone in Turkey. Luckily, she had signed in to iCloud and turned on ‘Find my iPhone’ before she left. She got herself a replacement phone in Turkey and, using Find my iPhone on that device (after signing in to her iCloud account), she put the lost/stolen phone into ‘Lost mode' and contacted Telstra to lock the phone’s SIM to stop it being used for calls and data. But she was then puzzled to find, many days later on her trip, a new photo appear in her Photo Stream - a photo that she did not take, of a man holding his daughter, taken in Turkey! So, of course, she was worried that this might have meant someone was using her phone and had access to her information on the phone! She had a Passcode Lock on the device, so how did this photo get into her iCloud Photo Stream? She went back into Find My iPhone on her replacement iPhone, ‘found’ her old iPhone in the list of devices, and chose the ‘Erase iPhone’ option for that device. Since she did this, no unexpected new Photo Stream photos have appeared. But given that she had a Passcode Lock on her device, how did that photo find its way into the Photo Stream of her new iPhone? Regardless of whether there is a Passcode Lock on the Phone, it is still possible to take photos from the ‘lock screen’ when you don’t know the passcode. If the iPhone is signed in to iCloud and the ‘Photo Stream’ feature turned on, any photos taken on the device will automatically appear in the Photo Stream on other devices. The lost phone would just need to be connected to the internet via WiFi for this to happen. Of course, there is always the chance that the person who had this lady's iPhone actually ‘hacked’ her passcode and did have access to the contents of her device before the device was erased. This poor client’s experience is a lesson to all of us on the value of using iCloud, and ensuring you turn on the ‘Find my iPhone’ feature on the device. Then, if your iPhone (or iPad) is ever permanently lost or stolen, make sure you use the ‘Erase’ option of Find my iPhone as soon as possible. This will wipe the device and prevent the person accessing any information on the device, and stop any further interaction with your iCloud/Photo Stream. Your lost/stolen device will be rendered useless, since the person who has it would need the password associated with your Apple ID to activate it again. Another lesson here is to make sure you have a Passcode Lock on your iPhone and iPad, especially when you travel. This prevent any unauthorised access to your device. You would be surprised how much personal and valuable information can be stored on these devices! As has been mentioned several times in articles, don't store your list of passwords in your Notes or Contacts - or anywhere else that is easily accessible. And a third lesson is that it is worth considering turning on the iCloud Backup feature so that, should your lose your device, you can simply replace it and everything from this iCloud backup. For more information on any of the above, contact iTandCoffee. 22/5/2014 0 Comments 'Let the fun begin' with TelstraFun has not been the term a senior client of iTea&Coffee would use! After being door-knocked by a Telstra Representative, this lady was convinced to sign up for a new Telstra internet and phone Bundle. She had not, until that point, considered that she needed any change, and only used very little internet for emails and a bit of web browsing. Well, after a period of more than 4 weeks (it was only supposed to take a few days), and hours and hours (adding up to days) that each of us has spent on the phone to Telstra on the merry-go-round of the Telstra call centre, her new Telstra Bundle is now finally 'provisioned' and her phone is finally back working properly for her. During this time, her internet was cut off for several days, and there was so much mis-communications (and non-communications), wasted phone calls repeating the same thing over. I know she regretted ever answering the door to that Telstra door-knocker! And its not yet over - she has been advised that there will be issues with the next bill that will now need to be resolved in early June, so at least one further (probably lengthy) Telstra call will be required to finally put this one to bed.
In the meantime, her online account with Telstra.com.au is still wrong. After several calls to Telstra about this matter, the last rep we spoke to finally advised that it can take up to 2 billing cycles to get the online account looking right after a change to the account! - even though the paperwork and emails she received about her new bundle recommend using this website to view her account and check on her usage. So she can't use the Telstra 24x7 app on her iPad to track her usage against her 5GB plan until the corrections to her online account have been completed. In the meantime, she has been told she will have to call Telstra any time she wants to know her usage!!! Imaging sitting on hold for an extended period just to ask how much data you have used! I know that this sort of thing doesn't happen for every client who upgrades their Telstra service. But when it does happen, the frustration comes from being passed from one person to the next and each new person having no idea what has happened or been discussed previously, and from people given wrong information and making further errors. If only we had been able to deal with a single person on this matter right from the start - we had to raise a complaint to get any real help, and even then were passed amongst 3 different 'case handlers' for this case before we finally got a 'regular' to talk to. If you are finding that you don't have the 'language' and understanding to talk to Telstra or another Telco about a problem or upgrade, iTea&Coffee can help with this. Just call on 1300 885 420.
This is an interesting article for those of you who have ADSL and who are not satisfied with its speed. I just feel very grateful that we can get cable to our house, and get speeds of around 100Mbps (as compared with the average speed of 4 or 5 Mbps that the writer of the article is getting).
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