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Hey everyone,
Last month I gave a TP2 as a gift to a relative of mine, who is not the most tech savvy. Now, after having been in use for a month, my relative complained about an unsually high phone bill. So I checked it out, and it turns out that the phone used just short of 400 MB in a single month!!! The itemised bill showed that the phone sent or received several megabytes (usually around 4 MB) during times, when the noone was using it (like the middle of the night, 5 in the morning and so on).
The following services were enabled on the phone, that potentially use data:
- Automatic downloading of weather data
- Push notifications for Windows Live Hotmail (
- Windows Update
- Windows Customer Feedback Program
I've now disabled all of the above. Nevertheless, I have to say that blocks of 4 MB without actual use seem pretty excessive. I get push emails on my phone with Google Mail and I never have any more than a couple hundred kilobytes a month. And things like the Customer Feedback Program shouldn't use any data at all (if i recall the dialog explaining the service correctly).
Does anyone have any idea what could be the cause of all this? I actually feel bad for giving someone a phone that causes an astronomical phone bill without having been used excessively. Do you think my relative has some chance of getting at least part of the bill refunded?
Thanks for your input.
Easy.
Just delete the t-mobile setting under connection.
Or change the server to epc.1tmobile.com
Done!
Thank for the input, but I'm sorry to say that that does not actually apply in this case. It is a generic HTC Touch Pro 2, bought in Germany, running on the E-Plus network. Deleting the internet settings all together is not an option, since the phone is supposed to be able to go online (eg. to check stock quotes).
What I'm really wondering is:
- What, out of the services I mentioned, would use up such rediculous amounts of data for no aparent reason?
- How much data do other users see, who do not go online with their phone all day long?
PS: I forgot to mention that Google Latitude was also engabled at some point in time, but was then disabled on account of the fact that it does not update the location when the phone is in standby, and is thus, utterly useless.
Is there some kind of data service on that line? Is this a prepaid line or a post paid(monthy bill). The bill for this overage shows what? Does it show a charge per mb?
A program like SPB wireless monitor can report usage split between which applications are using the data. I don't know whether the trial version would be good enough to get to the bottom of this, but even paying for the full version would be worthwhile if it saves the big bills.
I agree that this is a very large amount of data for the phone to be using by itself!
Did you use Google Maps?
Edit: If not, I would definitely install spb wireless monitor.
xanthene said:
- How much data do other users see, who do not go online with their phone all day long?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I go online with Exchange push, Gmail every 4 hours, Hotmail push, weather, web browsing, facebook, upload pictures, etc
and my monthly useage are around 100-150MB on average.
User who are not go online with their phone all day would be much less than my usage.
Check if she has websites set to push during those times.
Hey everyone,
The phone is on a prepaid plan, but it shows you very exactly how much data was used when.
By now I am fairly confident that the problem lies with Windows Live and Hotmail push notifications. I have in the meantime reactivated the Windows feedback thing (after all, we all benefit from the information I submit to MS ) and have not noticed any additional data charges. I have disabled automatic updating of weather data, but syncronized once manually and was shocked to find that it used a whopping 1.2MB!!! Absoulutely rediculous.
I have not reenabled Windows Update, but since there are no updates available anyway, I fail to see how that might cause as much data as was used.
Which only leaves Windows Live as the culprit. What I fail to see is how it managed to use up so much data when downloading E-mails. Even newsletters, which arrived on the phone too, rarely have more than a hundred or so KB.. and that includes pictures, which the phone does not download automatically.
Well, I'll install the SPB Monitor and let you know what my findings are.
xanthene
PS: There are no push pages set up
I 100% agree with you about the SPB Wireless monitor.
The new version of SPB wireless monitor is great. It will break down which programs are using what data amounts, which connections are being used and will even give a chart showing these things. You can view daily, weekly and monthly. It monitors USB, MMS, GPRS, and even WiFi but all you want is the gprs.
A weather program that uses 1.2 megs is rediculous. I use Weatherpanel (free) it updates once an hour including radar images for 3 cities and it uses about 400k per day!
It is a necessity on my Kaiser and if and when they bring the HTC to North America it will go on that as well.
Do you have facebook sync set up up? When I had it set to auto sync on the 2.1 beta I use on my Touch Pro it was blowing through data and battery.
She may have used less than the bill shows...some carriers round up on up on the data use/cost.
Thanks again for all your input, the matter is basically settled now. I've disabled data connections on the phone, preventing it from accumulating such rediculous charges without reason. Now the data connections just have to be manually turned on before going online - which isn't really an issue considering how little the phone is being used to surf around the net.
SPB Wireless Monitor obviously shows next to no data, on account of the fact that data has been turned off. I used it to read two news pages once and SPB reported 2.5MB. Again, pretty rediculously high amounts for some news. Looks like Opera isnt the most efficient browser. I should benchmark it against Skyfire and Opera 9.7b with Turbo when I have some time.
Regarding the units that get charged: data gets counted in increments of 10 kilobytes, which is more than fair on a prepaid plan.
Facebook sync is turned off.
I guess the matter is settled. Weather uses way more data than it should, and the only other service that I haven't tested yet is Hotmail Push. The cold, hard process of elimination clearly blames Hotmail.
Thanks for all your input.
Hey there,
I am thinking about jumping in the cold water and picking up a WP7 device, despite all the missing features that I enjoy right now on my iPhone...I just need a bit of fresh air
But there's an important question for me that I couldn't find any reliable info for: Can anybody tell me how much background data traffic WP7 produces, compared to iOS or Android? That is, with eMail- and Facebook accounts activated.
I read somewhere that one user had around 16 MB of traffic in 3 hours without even using the phone actively... I guess something was misconfigured on that guy's device (maybe debugging was turned on), but anyway, I would love to hear some reallife facts about this.
Reason I'm asking is that I only have 300 MB of data included in my mobile contract - after that I get throttled to GPRS speed. It would suck to have those 300 MB eaten up by background tasks.
If anybody can give me an estimate, I would be glad!
what i've been doing is app downloading through zune desktop over whilst on wifi. i'm pretty crazy with the news on my phone and all that, and just after 4 weeks of having my phone, i've used just under 400mb.
this is without youtubing (tried 1 clip, looks pretty horrid), but i have viewed quite a few full desktop websites on my phone because they didn't have a mobile version, and i did try and download a game or two here and there.
i'd say that it is doable. i use the maps quite frequently as well which chews a bit of data.
but yea i reckon if it was put to a challenge to me i could easily keep it under 200mb. but i set my phone to rapid fire pretty much and it's still good. i have 1.5GB of data on my plan as i wasn't sure how much i'd need... after close to a month i can tell you now... i don't need that much. could get away with 500mb, but aye good to know i have it and if/when tethering kicks in, i know i can use my phone.
Let's get this into perspective, gentlemen.
A page of an average novel has 30 lines of 12 words per line. The average word is 6 letters plus a space. If a book has 300 pages, that means the average novel is this big;
300 pages x 30 lines x 12 words x 7 characters = 756Kbytes.
I have a data plan of 500MB per month. This means I could theoretically download enough text to make this many novels;
500,000,000 / 756,000 = 661
So let's get this straight. In terms of emails, even with text attachments, facebook updates, etc etc, I can download the equivalent of;
661 books / 30 days = 22 books per day
Now I admit that adding images and video into the mix throws these figures out, but if we're talking about the kind of background network traffic that drives WP7's facebook integration, email etc., I think we can safely say that I'm unlikely to run out of data in a month.
In fact I'd be surprised if WP7's background downloading even amounted to a single novel per day, let alone 22 of them.
Jim, you're right about that - the actual expected amount of background traffic (push notifications, facebook/email updates, calendar-synchronization etc.) should hardly do any difference.
What I was more worried about are things that go on under the hood without the user even noticing - maybe the marketplace does something in the background as well, maybe Windows Live is showing some strange behaviour, sending a lot of stuff without any obvious reason, etc. - you never know with a new OS, they have their quirks. That's why I wanted to double check before I dismiss that topic from my list.
But thanks already for your answers, both of you! I guess phantom data traffic is the least of my problems anyway, should I decide to switch to WP7
Sneets said:
Hey there,
I am thinking about jumping in the cold water and picking up a WP7 device, despite all the missing features that I enjoy right now on my iPhone...I just need a bit of fresh air
But there's an important question for me that I couldn't find any reliable info for: Can anybody tell me how much background data traffic WP7 produces, compared to iOS or Android? That is, with eMail- and Facebook accounts activated.
I read somewhere that one user had around 16 MB of traffic in 3 hours without even using the phone actively... I guess something was misconfigured on that guy's device (maybe debugging was turned on), but anyway, I would love to hear some reallife facts about this.
Reason I'm asking is that I only have 300 MB of data included in my mobile contract - after that I get throttled to GPRS speed. It would suck to have those 300 MB eaten up by background tasks.
If anybody can give me an estimate, I would be glad!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got 250MB a month on my contract and by the look of it with 2 Exchange Accounts set to as items arrive, some light browsing and a few app downloads, I will be using under 50MB in a month. I do connect my phone via WiFi when it is charging overnight which brings it down slightly. Also I disabled OTA updates so it only checks over WiFi and when connected to my computer.
Wow....so with 3GB of data the world is my oyster
Thanks t-mobile *huggles phone lovingly* "mwah mwah mwah"
Here's the thing, there isn't a lot of background data flow moving as far as I know. The facebook status updates in the People hub don't update unless you move to the "Whats New" page.
I have Exchange, Hotmail and Gmail all set to "as items arrive", I've downloaded a bunch of apps and games, constantly check twitter, facebook and AP Mobile, I've even watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy through Netflix instant view and so far I've only used around 650mb - 750mb. Oh, and I hardly ever use wi-fi. My wife has a BlackBerry Torch and with what she does, she's actually used around the same amount as me.
I don't, however, have background reporting enabled, but I disabled that because of battery concerns.
My point is, don't even worry about it.
word is the initial setup uses a lot of data...you can always turn the 3g off over night and use wifi only. scale back the amount things you intergrate into the phone or up you plan...i couldn't imagine not having an unlimited data plan these days.
I have a t-mobile contract, there is no REAL limit of data I can use. If I use 80% of 1gb(800mb) t-mobile will send me a text informing me i've used 800mb. There is no consequence of using this much data but as with all fair usage policies they will warn/throttle me if I use EXCESSIVE amounts(id say 5gb a day or something insane like that).
I use my phone for web browsing, email, marketplace, weather live tile and ive used 250mb in a month. Obviously if I don't download apps that figure can be halved.
In answer to your question: 0mb if you turn off usage of 3g/hsdpa.
As someone mentioned before; the default WP7 UI will only download data if you request it(view contacts "what's new" for example). Custom live tiles such as the Weatherbug tile that updates every 20min would use minuscule amounts based on the fact its only downloading a weekly weather forcast.
I'd suggest you get an "unlimited" internet plan and then see how much you use in a month and gauge what plan would be best for you after that.
Hi,
I got a replacement Desire on Sunday, rooted with UnreEVOked, install Modaco r9 without A2SD.
On Monday, I turned my phone on about 11am. By 3pm it seems to have used 172 Mb fo data according to 3g watchday. This is crazy. I recieved some small emails, have FB and weather set to sync every 3 hour - but nothing else, didn't even use the internet.
So, turned 3g off. Turned it back on and noticed that it have used 5mb in about 15 minutes. I just can't work out what is doing this? Has anyone got any ideas?
Installed items:
Tasker
3g watchdog
advanced task manger froyo
astro file manager
c:geo
angry birds
angry birds seasons
rom manager
titanium backup
battery monitor
traffic stats lite (which seems to reckon my mail has recievd 18mb!, People has received 328kb!, Dailer 141Kb!).
Any ideas welcome, should I unstall something (or install something more detailed than traffic stats lite). At this rate I'll be rocketing through my data allowence in 2 days - which seems stupid if I can only use the phone for wifi. And, my set up is the same as my old Desire (lost at weekend) and this crazy data useage didn't happen.
CHeers
Paddy
Check with your operator to see what you've used, If 3G is off it sounds like a faulty app
Latitude from maps?
Sent from my HTC Desire
Hmm,
Cheers for the suggestions. The data is definately happening when 3g is on; and I haven'y joined latitude so that shouldn't do it. How odd.
The configuration change was installing Advanced Task Killer Froyo rather than the plain Advanced Task Killer. I've uninstalled the Froyo version and gone back to the previous one, just to see if that makes a difference (although can't think why it would, oh well).
Seemed to have calmed down a bit today, just have to keep a beady eye on it as I don't want mental data charges near Christmas...
padsmcnulty said:
Hmm,
Cheers for the suggestions. The data is definately happening when 3g is on; and I haven'y joined latitude so that shouldn't do it. How odd.
The configuration change was installing Advanced Task Killer Froyo rather than the plain Advanced Task Killer. I've uninstalled the Froyo version and gone back to the previous one, just to see if that makes a difference (although can't think why it would, oh well).
Seemed to have calmed down a bit today, just have to keep a beady eye on it as I don't want mental data charges near Christmas...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude you need to get a pay as you go sim. you get unlimited data for £10 month
I apologize if this has been brought up before, but the data reporting in ICS is almost double what the myverizon app is showing.
Just wondering if the usage shown by Verizon is going to catch up. If not I got a lot more streaming I can do
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
do you have a task killer installed, if so then you may be killing the myverizon tracker their for its not collecting all data
You need to set the data usage to match your billing cycle dates than it should match. I have found that it needs set manually.
Please hit the thanks button if I helped.
Don't know about VZ, but comparing Tmo's website and ICS's data meter, they're almost identical (ICS was a few MB ahead)
The 'Total Data Usage' meter appears to be relatively consistent with my operators readings (Sunrise/Switzerland).
On the other hand, the 'per app' reading appears to be completely off the wall. (See this thread.)
etbrandt2 said:
I apologize if this has been brought up before, but the data reporting in ICS is almost double what the myverizon app is showing.
Just wondering if the usage shown by Verizon is going to catch up. If not I got a lot more streaming I can do
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Measured by your phone. Your carrier's data usage accounting may differ.
My carrier (Unitel, Laos) is reporting me using just over double the data ICS is reporting.
I'm on O2 in the UK and the ICS data is about 85 mb behind the networks calculation ?
Two days ago I was pushing 2GB and now suddenly I have only used 608 MB? How can that be explained?
Has anyone seen their usage suddenly go down for no reason?
I'm in the middle of the billing cycle. I've done nothing to the phone.
Now I've lost all faith in the data usage meter.
GR
GPSRider said:
Two days ago I was pushing 2GB and now suddenly I have only used 608 MB? How can that be explained?
Has anyone seen their usage suddenly go down for no reason?
I'm in the middle of the billing cycle. I've done nothing to the phone.
Now I've lost all faith in the data usage meter.
GR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You remember to move the slider to correct date? It doesnt do this by default so it looks like your data usage dropped everytime you go to the data usage section.
Yes, it doesn't matter where the sliders are set, I get the same result.
It appears to have forgotten about one week's worth of data, my first week. I got the phone on the sixth and now it is showing zero data used until the 12th.
My usage cycle is set for 27th-26th, so it doesn't make any sense to me that it would suddenly forget about six days of data.
It's forgotten about the data used on the wifi side before the 12th as well.
Any ideas?
GR
For me the "data usage" on the phone was reporting slightly higher than VZW, but imo that's better than slightly lower!
badassirocz said:
You need to set the data usage to match your billing cycle dates than it should match. I have found that it needs set manually.
Please hit the thanks button if I helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no way to set it manually! If I am wrong please correct me.
GPSRider said:
Two days ago I was pushing 2GB and now suddenly I have only used 608 MB? How can that be explained?
Has anyone seen their usage suddenly go down for no reason?
I'm in the middle of the billing cycle. I've done nothing to the phone.
Now I've lost all faith in the data usage meter.
GR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have experienced the same! I was around 3GB, my phone went completely dead on a Sat night, when I plugged it up in the car and tried to boot it back up it apparently didn't have the juice to boot all the way. I let it charge for a while, booted it, all my SMS tones had been reset and so was my "data usage"!! Sucks!
Well, I have let the battery run down until the phone turned itself off several times, but I hope this is not causing this problem. That would be a pretty significant bug!
Hi,
I am currently using Samsung Focus Flash on AT&T network. It shows I have used 45 mbs in just over 3 days and most of them like yesterdays nights 12:48AM 21mbs are at odd times when I am at home and on wifi. I previously used Blackberry Bold 9000 and never exceeded 100mbs of usage per month. Before that I had iPhone and it too stood around 120-140mbs per month.
I mainly use it for mails and hardly any multimedia. One thing I suspect is when downloading podcasts its not considering Wifi, as other then that I can not think of any other reason as I do not use it for any video streaming like intensive activities.
I came across few threads but all from early 2011 like on engadget etc. Few suggested it has something to with Yahoo mail. I have one yahoo mail account.
To debug this for now I have turned off cellular data as will be home over the weekend. Please suggest.
Thanks
dub123 said:
Hi,
I am currently using Samsung Focus Flash on AT&T network. It shows I have used 45 mbs in just over 3 days and most of them like yesterdays nights 12:48AM 21mbs are at odd times when I am at home and on wifi. I previously used Blackberry Bold 9000 and never exceeded 100mbs of usage per month. Before that I had iPhone and it too stood around 120-140mbs per month.
I mainly use it for mails and hardly any multimedia. One thing I suspect is when downloading podcasts its not considering Wifi, as other then that I can not think of any other reason as I do not use it for any video streaming like intensive activities.
I came across few threads but all from early 2011 like on engadget etc. Few suggested it has something to with Yahoo mail. I have one yahoo mail account.
To debug this for now I have turned off cellular data as will be home over the weekend. Please suggest.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't have it plugged in, you aren't on WIFI. WIFI turns off when the screen goes off unless the phone is plugged in to power.
Please ignore will monitor and update if still an issue
how are you able to tell when the data is being used?
I did notice that this month, my past bill was pretty high on usage. I usually don't ever use more than ~200 mb...this bill, i hit over a gig...don't know how
I can check minutes and data used from AT&T website as well as their mobile apps.
Thanks
It might be AT$T cheating u on ur data. I have Tmo and I don't notice any leaked data usage.
Thanks, I have done complete reset of phone and started with minimal settings to narrow down to leak if possible. Does any one of you download podcast directly to phone ? As that is only thing which would have bandwidth, but when downloading I was always connected to Wifi so should not have been charged to Cellular data.
Yea there is a setting that will make it only download podcasts over WiFi.
Downloading Podcasts
dub123 said:
Thanks, I have done complete reset of phone and started with minimal settings to narrow down to leak if possible. Does any one of you download podcast directly to phone ? As that is only thing which would have bandwidth, but when downloading I was always connected to Wifi so should not have been charged to Cellular data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I download a lot of podcasts to my phone, using several different Apps including "Bringcast", "Podcasts Pro", and "Podceiver". As someone else pointed out, if your phone is not plugged into usb or wall charger and receiving a charge, as soon as your screen turns off, the download will revert to cellular data and stop using your Wifi.
Garrickus
I think i know what was my jump in data...that damn game Fragger. I remember the install was 85 MB's and it wasn't coming down correctly. I kept having to retry the download and it was telling me to get on wifi,,which I was. I bet those hiccups caused the jump for me last month
After rest usage went down but still between 12-1 in morning I see few mbs used. I have connected phone to fiddler2 to monitor the network usage, and shut down cellular data. Will update my findings if anything serious.