High Phantom Data Usage

[Daniel Lewis]

Remember when WP7 came out and there was a plethora of issues with phantom data usage? I'm having the problem again on my HTC 8X running Windows Phone 8. Is anyone else seeing this issue? I have changed all of my phone settings to minimize auto uploads to skydrive, feedback, disabled phone location, etc...

I've had the phone less than a week, and it's sent up 980+ MB.

26-Nov	7:31 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	761 KB
26-Nov	5:27 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1251 KB
26-Nov	5:26 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	13698 KB
26-Nov	4:05 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4412 KB
26-Nov	4:05 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	216 KB
26-Nov	2:35 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1332 KB
26-Nov	12:44 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	30971 KB
26-Nov	12:33 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	25 KB
26-Nov	11:09 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3057 KB
26-Nov	9:50 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	2015 KB
26-Nov	7:51 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4121 KB
26-Nov	12:36 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	10141 KB
25-Nov	11:36 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	5735 KB
25-Nov	4:28 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	462 KB
25-Nov	3:08 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4532 KB
25-Nov	2:00 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	298 KB
25-Nov	11:56 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	7108 KB
25-Nov	11:40 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	149 KB
25-Nov	11:22 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1147 KB
25-Nov	11:05 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	751 KB
25-Nov	6:07 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	5891 KB
25-Nov	5:07 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1378 KB
25-Nov	4:36 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	131 KB
25-Nov	12:15 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1548 KB
24-Nov	11:37 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	256 KB
24-Nov	11:06 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1583 KB
24-Nov	11:02 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	9703 KB
24-Nov	9:15 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4743 KB
24-Nov	8:52 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	7 KB
24-Nov	8:38 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4390 KB
24-Nov	7:56 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	394 KB
24-Nov	6:58 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1295 KB
24-Nov	6:41 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	117 KB
24-Nov	4:50 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	328 KB
24-Nov	4:22 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	12217 KB
24-Nov	4:11 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	824 KB
24-Nov	3:53 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	310 KB
24-Nov	3:22 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	7015 KB
24-Nov	2:57 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	6101 KB
24-Nov	2:43 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	44 KB
24-Nov	2:30 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	210 KB
24-Nov	2:04 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	28494 KB
24-Nov	1:23 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	116635 KB
24-Nov	12:07 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	7911 KB
24-Nov	11:43 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	174 KB
24-Nov	11:32 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	848 KB
24-Nov	12:34 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3517 KB
23-Nov	11:19 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	442 KB
23-Nov	9:16 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1237 KB
23-Nov	4:39 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	167355 KB
23-Nov	4:09 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	129 KB
23-Nov	3:15 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	245 KB
23-Nov	2:40 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3320 KB
23-Nov	1:48 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	526 KB
23-Nov	12:48 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	738 KB
23-Nov	11:43 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	672 KB
23-Nov	9:57 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	340 KB
23-Nov	7:19 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1313 KB
23-Nov	12:19 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3995 KB
22-Nov	10:19 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	959 KB
22-Nov	10:03 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	58 KB
22-Nov	9:05 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	64 KB
22-Nov	8:26 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	214 KB
22-Nov	7:58 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	349 KB
22-Nov	5:05 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1118 KB
22-Nov	4:31 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	287 KB
22-Nov	3:58 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	259 KB
22-Nov	3:34 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	306 KB
22-Nov	2:39 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	648 KB
22-Nov	1:39 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	581 KB
22-Nov	12:54 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	290 KB
22-Nov	12:26 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	227 KB
22-Nov	12:02 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	718 KB
22-Nov	10:55 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	187 KB
22-Nov	10:25 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	738 KB
22-Nov	10:12 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	2852 KB
22-Nov	9:43 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1178 KB
22-Nov	9:29 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	657 KB
22-Nov	9:15 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	20 KB
22-Nov	9:08 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	309 KB
22-Nov	8:30 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	9475 KB
22-Nov	12:02 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	6462 KB
21-Nov	12:36 AM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	13453 KB
20-Nov	11:36 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	624 KB
20-Nov	4:28 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	104785 KB
20-Nov	4:12 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	197 KB
20-Nov	4:04 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	80 KB
20-Nov	3:43 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	4494 KB
20-Nov	2:15 PM	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	365305 KB

 

[Daniel Lewis]

Service is AT&T

 

[philpeeps]

I have used 1.3GB in 8 days with my 920. This is about 50% higher than my monthly usage with iOS with similar usage patterns with still 20+ days left in the billing cycle. Luckily I have a shared data plan and light users on my account.

 

[eruptflail]

Are you using 3g or 4g? Do you leave your data on all the time? Do you have Skype installed? Apparently skype has an auto sync issue that may be causing you to be using a lot of data.

 

[fwaits]

If you have apps in the background doing things while the phone is locked it may be that due to the WiFi turning off it is instead pulling from your carrier data. Only you would know if this sounds likely or not, but it is one of the arguments for having WiFi on full time when the phone is locked. MS has said that will likely get updated in the next WP8 update.

 

[alex2364]

I'm having the same problem with my AT&T Nokia Lumia 920. I'm coming from an WP7 AT&T Samsung Focus and I used between 500MB - 1GB a month. Now 2 days into my billing cycle, I'm already at 100MB and I barely used the phone.

 

[kittengirl]

I don't believe I've had an issue. I got my 810 on launch day, and looking at my data useage records, I've only had a few large downloads, which I assume are apps and music I downloaded while not on wifi. Otherwise, the data useage looks pretty normal to me (I'm coming from a Windows 7.5 phone though, so can't compare to other OSs.)

 

[TexasLabRat]

I don't believe I've had an issue. I got my 810 on launch day, and looking at my data useage records, I've only had a few large downloads, which I assume are apps and music I downloaded while not on wifi. Otherwise, the data useage looks pretty normal to me (I'm coming from a Windows 7.5 phone though, so can't compare to other OSs.)

Same here...810 with several updating apps, mail checking every 15 minutes, skype installed, location services enabled for all apps that request it. Even done a fair amount of Nokia Music "mix" streaming. I've had the phone 10 days and I've used about 200MB in that time. I've been very careful to make sure that all my video streaming and app downloads have been done with wifi. I can see from the OP's post that there are several very large downloads that have greatly skewed the overall number. When you have a couple of downloads of 100+ MB each..that adds up In the OP's case there are 754MB worth of data sessions that consisted of "transactions" that were 100MB or over...clearly something that the OP was doing as a user..either downloading stuff, streaming media, or whatever...and not the phone just doing background auto-pilot stuff. That leaves just 225MB or so of "background" data usage plus active use that was less than 100MB per transaction. Seems pretty reasonable to me...I don't think there's a "phantom data" issue here. I think there's a "I need to use wifi more" issue.

 

[TheSuperShoe]

Sorry for the revival of a week old post, but I'm having this problem. I use almost 4GB every month and I'm on WiFi at home and at work and I just noticed this:

12/04	06:00 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19543 KB
12/04	05:50 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19524 KB
12/04	05:48 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19528 KB
12/04	05:42 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19542 KB
12/04	05:38 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19479 KB
12/04	04:49 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19512 KB

I have been on WiFi all day with the phone plugged in (I heard that it keeps WiFi under lock screen when plugged in). But it sent ~20MB of data in under 10 minute intervals over my data connection. This is on AT&T with the Lumia 920.

 

[fwaits]

Sorry for the revival of a week old post, but I'm having this problem. I use almost 4GB every month and I'm on WiFi at home and at work and I just noticed this:

12/04	06:00 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19543 KB
12/04	05:50 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19524 KB
12/04	05:48 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19528 KB
12/04	05:42 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19542 KB
12/04	05:38 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19479 KB
12/04	04:49 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19512 KB

I have been on WiFi all day with the phone plugged in (I heard that it keeps WiFi under lock screen when plugged in). But it sent ~20MB of data in under 10 minute intervals over my data connection. This is on AT&T with the Lumia 920.

Wow that's a really precise amount recurring. Any idea what would be sending that amount of data in a short period? I'm guessing it's happening when the phone is idle and the WiFi goes to sleep under lock, but I'm guessing. It could very well be some kind of data bug as well.

 

[jsk0703]

This thread made me curious so I logged in to check our usage. My wife and I have a shared 6Gb plan and we have used 1.5Gb in 2 weeks. We use wifi at home though.

 

[philpeeps]

I have used 1.3GB in 8 days with my 920. This is about 50% higher than my monthly usage with iOS with similar usage patterns with still 20+ days left in the billing cycle. Luckily I have a shared data plan and light users on my account.

UPDATE: 14 more days in my billing cycle and I have used 2.3GB...more than double my normal usage for a month and only half-way through.

 

[Etyrnus]

What sync frequency do you have your email set at? Do you have a lot of apps that are running notifications? I've used only about 20 MB in 2 days between 2 lines. Wifi at work and home.

 

[smurfercom]

UPDATE: 14 more days in my billing cycle and I have used 2.3GB...more than double my normal usage for a month and only half-way through.

This was a big deal in the iphone forums and women thought their husbands were cheating due to late night high usage. It turns out it was an At&T issue and seems to still exist to this day with no fix on their end. So the answer to kill the data usage was some sort of app. I can't tell you what it is because they are being very cryptic about the app, but this was in 09 and ATT is still up to their old tricks. They say it's used for updating certain apps with ads, only suggestion is to turn off data at night. My 810 is at 20mbs since I got it on the 22nd and use wifi where ever and when ever I can.

 

[philpeeps]

What sync frequency do you have your email set at? Do you have a lot of apps that are running notifications? I've used only about 20 MB in 2 days between 2 lines. Wifi at work and home.

Nothing more than I had on my iPhone 4, Palm Pre+, HTC Fuze, Treo 750, & Samsung Blackjack. I have streamed music in locations where I have wifi connectivity just like I have on previous devices and the wifi "feature" of shutting off when the screen is locked is the only explanation I can come up with from playing/pausing via bluetooth headphones....

 

[anon(5399450)]

I always turn off my data connection at home and use wifi

EDIT: and I have no strange usage issues

 

[Etyrnus]

If you're using WiFi, and don't need mms, you can turn off cellular data, and it will keep your WiFi going.

 

[AngryNil]

Sorry for the revival of a week old post, but I'm having this problem. I use almost 4GB every month and I'm on WiFi at home and at work and I just noticed this:

12/04	06:00 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19543 KB
12/04	05:50 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19524 KB
12/04	05:48 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19528 KB
12/04	05:42 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19542 KB
12/04	05:38 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19479 KB
12/04	04:49 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	19512 KB

I have been on WiFi all day with the phone plugged in (I heard that it keeps WiFi under lock screen when plugged in). But it sent ~20MB of data in under 10 minute intervals over my data connection. This is on AT&T with the Lumia 920.

That looks far too frequent for an ordinary background task. It's most likely a problem of an integrated service such as email, or possibly an app using the GPS / VoIP background agents.

 

[TheSuperShoe]

I remember WP8 had some issues with gmail (Severe Windows Phone 8 bug rears its head for Gmail users | Windows Phone Central), so I deleted my gmail account to see if it helps any... Hopefully it stops because I only have .5GB left (mobile share) and the other person on my plan has the same phone but does not have LTE where he is. Are the people not seeing this issue not in an LTE area or use gmail?

 

[MikeInBA]

My data usage has more than doubled since I got my 920. Just the other day i checked my account just to see what i was up to. Although I am still on an unlimited data plan, I had heard a while back that ATT was going to start throttling us after a certain amount (whats throttled LTE speed anyway? 3g?). In the past year I have owned both an iPhone4 and Lumia 900. During those times my data was about .5gigs a month. Now I am averaging over 1.5gigs. Didnt think much of it since I am a member of Xbox Music and all my playlist are streamed (does anybody know how to download?).