Some Google Home Speaker owners are currently experiencing an issue where hundreds of gigabytes of data are continually downloaded to their device in the background. The error, reported by 9to5Google and several Reddit users over the past week, it may be because the speakers were unable to properly download and install a firmware update, with one Redditor finding that their device was consuming more than 200GB per day.
Fortunately, Google is aware of the problem. In a statement to 9to5GoogleThe company said that “a fix is already being implemented that should fix this issue for users.” Most of the reports are specifically related to the new Google Home Speaker model, but it’s unclear how widespread the issue is. We have contacted Google to request more information about the cause and confirm the affected devices.
My colleague Tom Warren confirmed that his own speaker is not affected and 9to5Google reports that another Home Speaker in a different home downloaded just 2GB last month, compared to 132GB used by an affected device during the same period. A big concern for anyone with a limited data plan here is that the bug could quickly exceed the allotted limit, and they wouldn’t know unless they periodically check how much data their devices are using.