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For the past 5 years, I have been using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. During that time, I didn’t face any unwanted internet data consumption issues. Recently I installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I haven't installed any other software yet. I configured auto update settings as below. Ubuntu 20.04 software & update settings

Even after the above settings, Ubuntu 20.04 consumes around 1 GB of internet data within a few minutes in idle state (not browsing anything). I am using Wi-Fi hotspots internet data from mobile. Please help guide me to stop this huge unintended consumption of internet data by Ubuntu 20.04. Thanks.

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    What traffic occurs? or how are you measuring it? I find it hard to believe, as I've not noticed any differences in traffic to prior releases (and I've used 20.04 for ~six months during the development cycle). Are you talking desktop? server? did you clean install? or how did you switch? I suspect it's a setup issue (when you moved from 14.04 to 20.04 where you provided no details, and that is an unsupported jump so it matters)
    – guiverc
    May 8, 2020 at 11:06
  • Does it consume data continuously, or was it just during the update period?
    – Soren A
    May 8, 2020 at 11:18
  • Would change update settings to daily or weekly, instead of never(my opinion). Use nethogs from the answer to see what is using it.
    – crip659
    May 8, 2020 at 11:44
  • @guiverc: Thank for your response. I installed desktop version alongside dual boot windows 7. I measured data lose through my mobile data.
    – user12207831
    May 8, 2020 at 12:03
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    Is it only during install and soon after, or is it continuing? Depending on type and timing of install, some do download updates at install so you have have a fully updated system at reboot. This is an option you choose. If it continues after reboot that is a problem. It does seem to be a lot though.
    – crip659
    May 8, 2020 at 13:14

2 Answers 2

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You have to find out which process use your bandwidth, you should install and use nethogs to check how much which process use:

sudo apt-get install nethogs

https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man8/nethogs.8.html

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  • I will check nethogs command when I face this problem and let you know. Not this problem all times. Some times I face this problem and lost huge data. Is the browser may be the reason? I used Google chrome. Which browser is recommendable in Ubuntu?
    – user12207831
    May 8, 2020 at 12:38
  • Your browser may be an issue but not to the limit of > 1GB still you could avoid a lot of bandwidth by using an ad blocker like "ublock origin" or directly opt for a built in anti ad browser like "Brave"
    – Saxtheowl
    May 8, 2020 at 12:56
  • But I lost > 1GB just after installing Ubuntu 20.04 in one laptop. That time period nothing I did. The frequent data loss in another laptop with Ubuntu 18.04 mostly in morning when I first open my laptop and connect to internet. Some other random times also I faced this problem often.
    – user12207831
    May 8, 2020 at 13:18
  • I am finding that firefox if left open for a few days will tend to use bandwidth at a constant 300 or 400kib/s.
    – crip659
    May 8, 2020 at 13:18
  • But this problem I didn't face in Ubuntu 14.04 for the last 5 years where I installed Ubuntu 20.04LTS.
    – user12207831
    May 8, 2020 at 13:20
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Adjust automatic update settings in Software & Updates.

To hold updating snaps when on a metered connection.

sudo snap set system refresh.metered=hold

Snaps update automatically, and by default, the snapd daemon checks for updates 4 times a day. To only refresh snaps on the last Friday of the month:

sudo snap set system refresh.timer=fri5

More information about the date-time formats that the snap CLI supports can be found here.

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