Related
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.
Hi Folks,
Just checking my data balance with my operator.. and its showing i am using on average 12 megs per day... seems a little high as i'm on wi-fi at home..
does synching with yahoo mail eat a lot of data? i sync news reader subs on the wifi ini the morning.. and only use browsing a little on the phone.. nothing major..
does google maps use a lot of data?
Just seem a little high.. my current data plan offer 250 megs a month.. so might be a little low!
Cheers,
Mick
Ive noticed this as well. I think it has something to do with google maps. According to my data usage program I have uploaded 15mb and downloaded 5mb today. What on earth is doing all the uploading and why?
i assume this is because of the my location service
if you have this enabled you agree that the service can withdraw these details at any time during the day.
try disabling the my location service from the settings menu and try again.
especially if you have gps disabled in which case it will find your location based on your GSM which will use your phone's connection?
again it's just a theory but this definitely applied to my hD2
Its a shame nobody has written an app to show data usage per application. I`ve searched and found nothing
when you say "a little bit of browsing". it won't take many pages to add up to 12mb these days. on graphics heavy, or just badly made websites this could easily be as few as 10 pages!
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Google maps only stores a limited amount of the map to it's cache and all the rest it pulls from your data bundle to update what you see on your screen. There are a few apps available with the maps downloadable to your SD card. These apps will remove the need for maps to cache if you use it.
I'm having a problem with something using data on my phone. I have the data counter widget and if I havent used wifi or 3g all day then turn one of them on it shows me as downloaded around 20kb. I disabled auto update on the weather and the set the download frequency in the mail app to manual. Can't think of anything else. Anyone got other suggestions?
Bet you've got Latitude enabled.
Whats latitude and how do you disable it?
The part of Maps that tells you where your buddies are and your buddies where you are.
If you don't know what it is, it's probably not enabled.
Open Maps, press menu and tap Latitude, menu again then privacy settings. You disable it there.
paulruk said:
Its a shame nobody has written an app to show data usage per application. I`ve searched and found nothing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try 'Spare Parts'. Whilst its doesn't exactly show this you can see Network usage under the battery section. It's by application but am not sure if its really network usage or just battery usage by network functions.
I would also be interested in such application. On my WinMo device I used SPB wireless monitor, which did the job very well.
I am using around 1MB of data per day (gmail-only emails-sync, weather sync 3 hours), but even if I disable everything, there are still some data transfers. This could be a problem when abroad...
slokii said:
This could be a problem when abroad...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
APNdroid...
This is freaking me out. I'm on Wi-fi practically all the time and have still used 80mb in three days!
My frequencies in terms of auto updates for Facebook etc are the same as on my previous hd2 but it didn't chew up anywhere like this amount.
Any ideas? Is it really Google location?
I can't believe that there hasn't been more talk about this. I have a corporate limit of 500mb per month.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
same here.. i switched tariffs yesterday to get a 1gb monthly limit..
you can turn off internet connection via mobile networks.. might be worth trying to save data.. also i'm using the opera web browser as it uses a lot less data.. also turn off background sync altogether.. wont stop your emails etc....
wonderstoat said:
This is freaking me out. I'm on Wi-fi practically all the time and have still used 80mb in three days!
My frequencies in terms of auto updates for Facebook etc are the same as on my previous hd2 but it didn't chew up anywhere like this amount.
Any ideas? Is it really Google location?
I can't believe that there hasn't been more talk about this. I have a corporate limit of 500mb per month.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wonderstoat said:
This is freaking me out. I'm on Wi-fi practically all the time and have still used 80mb in three days!
My frequencies in terms of auto updates for Facebook etc are the same as on my previous hd2 but it didn't chew up anywhere like this amount.
Any ideas? Is it really Google location?
I can't believe that there hasn't been more talk about this. I have a corporate limit of 500mb per month.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone goes into standby, by default it turns off WiFi and switches to cellular data. It's in the setup Wireless menus, there's options on when to do this, including never which means all network connectivity will cease when the phone is in standby, so no push email etc.
no, never means that the wifi never turns off and it will continue to use wifi when in standby.
however, if you have it set to 15 minutes, then yes the wifi will turn off and go back to cellular data.
wonderstoat said:
This is freaking me out. I'm on Wi-fi practically all the time and have still used 80mb in three days!
My frequencies in terms of auto updates for Facebook etc are the same as on my previous hd2 but it didn't chew up anywhere like this amount.
Any ideas? Is it really Google location?
I can't believe that there hasn't been more talk about this. I have a corporate limit of 500mb per month.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd install 3gwatchdog (which monitors your data usage, excluding wifi), and then start quitting apps, making whatever changes you want to try and see what's causing it.
Thanks guys, I already had Wi-fi sleep set to 'never'.
Ok today I have no Wi-fi and up to 1600 I have used over 30mb.
These are the apps I believe are drawing data down (28mb is data in).
BBC headlines widget, set to 2hrs
Guardian app, only downloads on Wi-fi
Facebook 2 hrs
Twitter 2 hrs
Google location - allow wireless location
Email for both corporate and hotmail accounts.
I can't think of anything else. This is all consistent with my hd2 but it was using far less. I can't believe there isn't an app that can slice it by app.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
slokii said:
I would also be interested in such application. On my WinMo device I used SPB wireless monitor, which did the job very well.
I am using around 1MB of data per day (gmail-only emails-sync, weather sync 3 hours), but even if I disable everything, there are still some data transfers. This could be a problem when abroad...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By default, data when roaming is disabled so this should not be an issue unless you are like me where I am roaming from the second I walk out of the office door so need to have this enabled. I must remember to turn this off when I get on a plane
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 everyone,
I'm having to get a new contract and am considering the Vodafone Premium £41 Web 24month package, which has 750MB of data included per month.
I've previosuly been on an unlimited data package on T-Mobile, but I don't know if the 750MB is enough!
How much do you guys use on average? I onyl use it for emails/occasional internet, and most of the time I'm within range of wifi.
Are there any apps that can summarise this data expost? My contract expires soon, so I don't have time to wait a month and tests it!
I have a 1000 MB monthly data plan - and usually I use around 850 - 900 MB.
Of course this includes watching Youtube videos and downloading mp3s - which greatly add to consumption.
I don't know of any program, that can do it. However, if occasional is truly occasional, and you don't often download via phone and you don't watch youtube, than 750 MB should be more than enough.
I usually consume between 300-450 MB, with lots of browsing, and app downloads, no streaming
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I use around 450MB a month, but only stream data generally if connected via wifi.
Normally i use between 20 and 30gb per month, as i use the WiFi-Hotspot as my main connection to the internet. My contract includes 10gb per month, and if exceeded, they will only lower the speed (hasn't happened yet ). This month' count is already 11,2gb, but still full speed
My free limit is 150MB (my monthly fee is 1 AUD) and I rarely get charged. I only intentionally use mobile data for email, fb, maps (probably the worst), looking up public transport/movie sessions/restaurants and the occasional RSS feed reading and browsing. Everything else is on wifi at either home or Uni (my most common non-home location).
Data usage
If I only stick to browwsing and IM I normaly use 3-400Mb. On a more heavy usage (youtube, other streaming, downloading apps and stuff) about 6-700Mb. But if you turn your phone in a Wi-Fi hotspot ( which I do some times) it takes 100Mb in a couple of hours easily. Try 3G Watchdog and go with a smaller plan for the first months and you can increse if is not enough. It can vary a lot from person to person.
I have 1000mb packet and i'm usually using a ~600mb of it per month
Wow. £41 a month for 2 years....
Swyped...
I have a 1 GB plan but never use more than 250 megs, usually more in the 100 meg range. I have wifi at home and work, and don't do any streaming while on data. If you plan your data usage (updates & downloads while connected to wifi) you will be fine unless you plan on streaming music while you drive or something like that. My commute is close to an hour each way and I'd love to have unlimited data for streaming.
Try bandwidth monitor or data counter widget. The first shows each apps usage the second shows cell and WiFi usage
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e
fridgeman said:
Try bandwidth monitor or data counter widget. The first shows each apps usage the second shows cell and WiFi usage
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that man, been looking for an app like bandwidth monitor for a while now!
Be the change you want to see in the world.
danmaskell said:
I have a 1 GB plan but never use more than 250 megs, usually more in the 100 meg range. I have wifi at home and work, and don't do any streaming while on data. If you plan your data usage (updates & downloads while connected to wifi) you will be fine unless you plan on streaming music while you drive or something like that. My commute is close to an hour each way and I'd love to have unlimited data for streaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same
on o2
pay £28 a month i think it is for 300min/unl sms/1gb data
i use about 200mb/day from listening to google music beta travelling to/from work
started using 3g watchdog to stop myself from going over
was thinking of the tmobile/3 plans for truly unlimited data
i wish i could trade in my unlimited sms as i probably send 50 text per month!
Hey all, I'm going to be switching to Verizon in the next couple months, I am getting tired of sprint's 3g "dial-up" speeds. The problem obviously is verizon's data plans. I normally use about 3gb of data, and I am trying to get it down to under 2gb so I can get that plan with verizon. I have been using 3g Watchdog Pro for the last few days to monitor my data usage.
I use Google Music Beta a few times a day, but I see it's using WAY more data than it should. I cleared out the data usage from 3g watchdog pro, and then opened Music Beta, and streamed 2 songs that were each about 3 minutes long. After streaming those two files, 3g watchdog shows Music Beta used 80MB of data. I don't know how that is possible since those songs are each about 4mb big.
Anyone else who uses Music Beta and 3g Watchdog notice this?
Use an SDcard with music that you actually want. remove google music. enjoy 2gb of data.
Indirect said:
Use an SDcard with music that you actually want. remove google music. enjoy 2gb of data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but that doesn't really help me. I have 100gb of music, there is no 100gb card.
Verizon Data Plan
Or wait until tomorrow, and get 4GB data plan for the 2GB data plan price - [can't post URL - google "Verizon Data" and see articles about "Verizon Offering Double Data Package On LTE Phones Beginning November 8th"]
But there is also no 100gb data plan. Lol
Sent by breaking the sound barrier
And it's interesting how Verizon calculates their data as well.
I have an aircard through them which is still under an unlimited cap (don't ask), but they do send me automated messages when the card gets up over 5GB/mo..
During the data period, I think they also count some internal packet overhead. In checking the logs for my use on both the card and the server I connect to, they bill out a little more than 1k for every k you actually send and receive. YMMV
sitlet said:
Thanks, but that doesn't really help me. I have 100gb of music, there is no 100gb card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'Technically' you could get a 128gb SDHXC...but that's 100$+ and not for micro.
Though I haven't noticed it. Have you tried downloading via wifi only, and try caching the music?
Google Music downloads stuff even when not using the application
I have noticed that Google Music is constantly downloading things at random times. Sometimes LOTS of things. I had it somehow download 250MB in the middle of the night when I wasn't using my phone a few times, and the application was not running ( at least not as far as my task manager knew ). What is it doing? I have gone through all of the applications' settings, and I don't see anything that stands out as an option. I ran through my 2GB data plan in 5 days. This is my first experience using Google Music, but let me tell you, I am very close to removing it, and going back to sync'ing music to the SD card.
Any sort of streaming service (Pandora, Crackle, Netflix, Hulu Plus, et cetera) is not really ideal for plans with bandwidth caps. I'm sorry, dude, but you are going to be paying through the nose unless regardless unless you only stream over wifi. I know it sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it.
If you stay with Sprint, though, you can do this, which may solve your speed issues. However, you will not be able to get unlimited Any Mobile calling (if you have the 450 minutes plan). I would do that first and see if it works. If it doesn't, then consider switching to Verizon.
I hope this helps.
I totally understand the part about streaming services not being ideal for mobile service plans that are capped, but I guess I only expect for the streaming application ( in this case Google Music which is more like on demand than "streaming" - like Pandora ) to consume data while I am actively using it.
In the example I'm trying to make, it appears that the application is using large amounts of data when I'm not using it. That's the question I was hoping to have answered here.
Check your background processes and see what's running.
google is meant to cache... and it downloads the files in a pretty big block... so after it's done downloading for the moment... you can skip... five or more songs... and it will pick back up... so unlike pandora... google actually caches.. and instead of only streaming one song at a time.. so it uses even more data then pandora does because of that...
the only thing i can really say to help has pretty much been mentioned... have it set to only stream/download over wifi... download a sizable playlist... and go from there
So no one has any other solution to getting Google Music to stop downloading so much data?
I have been grandfathered under the unlimited plan (as long as that lasts) and I too was surprised when I saw how Google Music used 1.3 GB for me when I at most played 20-25 songs the whole weekend.
my slacker.com account - which I used much more during the holidays only used 35mb. That is over 37x the data usage!
Pay for spotify 10$ a month all u can listen too, sink playlists to phone over WiFi whenever u want, u can stream too if u want
Sent from my PC36100 using Xparent Green Tapatalk