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thanks in advance for the help.

Main issue: by using an internet data traffic monitoring app (TripMode), I finally found out what was using up my home internet data allowance (1TB/month).... Time Machine backups to Time Capsule! I don't understand why, as TM backups should only be local traffic.

I use the modem from my ISP, and connect that to my TC so it can act as a router that my laptop connects to for internet usage (and TM backups). I also have an Airport Express connected wirelessly to the TC that I use for sending audio out to my speaker system.

Is there some way to change settings on my TC and/or modem to restrict the TC's access to the internet and then just use the modem as my apartment router, while still enabling TM backups and the Airport Express (airplay) audio functionality?

OR, the holy grail here, just stop TM backups from using my internet data. I have definitely verified that the backups are using internet data: I have done isolated sessions with backups going and TripMode on that show the same data usage as TM backup data amount. TripMode shows this usage as being from "Disk Images" (as opposed to "Mail" or "Chrome", etc).

Any help would be sooo appreciated.

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    I'm not familiar with TripMode; does it distinguish between local network traffic (which TM will generate lots of, but shouldn't affect your data allowance) and true Internet traffic (which Time Machine shouldn't generate much)?
    – Gordon Davisson
    Commented Mar 30, 2021 at 20:49

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Time Machine is not accessing the internet. Your ISP or your modem are incorrectly categorizing the traffic as network traffic.

Time Machine operates entirely between your computer and the drive itself (necessarily communicating to the device the drive is plugged into). There's no intermediary servers.

You will need to pursue solutions specific to your modem or ISP.

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    Reading the product page for tripmode,it's advertising itself as marking data usage per app on your mac. Does not sound capable of seeing which device may be using your 1TB/mo. I see no ability to track data usage from your router out to your ISP. It's just your device's outbound usage. Time Capsule is outbound from your device, but not your home. In the rare case where your device was on a VPN and you were traveling outbound and inward to the time capsule, that could use that much data, it still requires a purposeful networking setup to do so, and you should already be aware of this.
    – Timmy Browne
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 2:52

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