Data Usage on 920?

[pezman726]

Hey All. I have a quick question for everyone. Every few days, at around 12:00am both mine and my wife's AT&T Lumia 920 use our LTE Data. We are at home, and connected to wifi. Does anybody else's phone do this? We both have the 200mb plan on our phones...BECAUSE we are near wifi all the time. Yet this still happened. We never had this problem with our old phones. What the F* is going on???

Here's some examples...

07/18

12:47 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

3817 KB

07/10

12:16 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

455 KB

07/09

12:16 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

85 KB

07/08

12:16 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

333 KB

07/06

12:16 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

23733 KB

07/01

12:30 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

7460 KB

07/01

12:15 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

101 KB

06/30

12:30 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

3261 KB

06/28

12:01 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

3336 KB

06/25

12:27 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

3297 KB

06/24

12:27 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

14373 KB

This is just my wife's phone...at Home, while we are sleeping, and the phone should be connected to wi-fi. She doesn't have any apps installed (except the weather channel), doesn't use social media, and really only uses the phone to check the weather and her email. I did not include every day, only the days with large amounts of usage (and a few small ones just for comparison). Using a small count, that would be right around 60MB of data that we got charged, but didn't really actively use. ALMOST 1/3 of the allotted data for the month. WTF?

So, does anybody else have this happening to them? I'm going to be calling AT&T in a few to complain, as her phone just went over the limit, and we'll be charged another $15.

Thanks,
Pez.

 

[jhoff80]

The first thing I'd do would be go to Settings> Wifi > Advanced, and confirm that "Keep Wifi on when the screen times out" is on.

 

[pezman726]

that was the first thing i did when i got the phones! And I have checked it multiple times to make sure it was still checked. This happens EVERY month, but this month was enough to toss us over the edge. Even if you guys have much larger data plans, can you guys just go on ATT's website and check your usage to see if you have lots of data usage between 12:00 and 1:00am?

Thanks,
Pez

 

[Squatting Hen]

I am wondering if this is the backup of the phones app data and text messaging. I would guess, it would use wifi instead of data if you are connnected though.

You could turn off data before you go to bed and see what happens the next morning. Just to be sure, you said it was both phone's or just your wife's?

 

[pezman726]

I am wondering if this is the backup of the phones app data and text messaging. I would guess, it would use wifi instead of data if you are connnected though.

You could turn off data before you go to bed and see what happens the next morning. Just to be sure, you said it was both phone's or just your wife's?

Thought the same thing too. But my wife doesn't have hers set up to backup anything, and we don't have a text messaging plan (so there's maybe 1 or 2 txts per month), she doesn't have many apps installed (aside from the weather channel) and she doesn't take pictures with her phone. She basically uses it to check the weather before she leaves the house, and get her emails. And it ONLY happens between 12:00 and 1:00am There are multiple days, where she will not leave the house, and the data will show that at 12:xx for 3 days in a row, data was used, yet NO other data at ANY other time throughout those few days, so I know the wifi is staying connected. I have been keeping my Cell data turned off, but Yes. If I turn mine on, it does the exact same thing, and at nearly the same time as well.

for example. Here is my phone

06/30

12:25 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

1440 KB

And here is my wife's on the same day

06/30

12:30 AM

phone

Internet/MEdia Net

Sent

3261 KB

I have noticed some other posts on here of people with limited data plans going over their limits. Again. it ONLY happens between 12:00 and (well, actually 12:59) It NEVER happens after the 12:00am hour.

So, can some other people...even if you have an unlimited or multiple GB plan, please look at your AT&T accounts...or other accounts, to see if you have some data usage between 12:00am and 1:00am while you are on wifi? I'm trying to figure out if this is a windows phone thing, or an AT&T thing, or if somehow my phones are messed up. If it's an OS problem, that's not cool! If I had the data sense, that might shed a little more light on what is happening!

Thanks,
pez

 

[Squatting Hen]

I would check my plan but it is a family plan and I am not the primary so I can't see anything.

Have you called ATT to see what they say about it? Mabye they have more details of what it could be?

Do you have Bing background images setup for your lockscreen? (just trying to think of what could be using data around that time)
I don't think if it was checking for updates it would be sending random amounts of data...?

 

[pezman726]

I would check my plan but it is a family plan and I am not the primary so I can't see anything.

Have you called ATT to see what they say about it? Mabye they have more details of what it could be?

Do you have Bing background images setup for your lockscreen? (just trying to think of what could be using data around that time)
I don't think if it was checking for updates it would be sending random amounts of data...?

I called ATT, got a $15 credit to my account, talked with tech support who said, "i have no idea what's going on. I see no data about this, I'll escalate the issue" Lockscreen is static, and the only apps that have a background task enabled is accuweather and weather channel apps. But it still doesn't explain the regularity of it. If it is the weather app using the data, it would surely update at more times than 12:00.

 

[Squatting Hen]

I called ATT, got a $15 credit to my account, talked with tech support who said, "i have no idea what's going on. I see no data about this, I'll escalate the issue" Lockscreen is static, and the only thing that has a background task enabled is accuweather and weather channel apps. But it still doesn't explain the regularity of it. If it is the weather app using the data, it would surely update at more times than 12:00.

Great you called.

Actually the weather apps have an option to update the live tile once a day. It could be that...maybe? I would check those settings just to be sure. I use Amazing Weather HD, so I don't have the two you mentioned installed.

On a completly different note/situation: We have Frontier for our TV, Internet and Home Phone. We have the bundle because it is cheaper, but we don't actually have a home phone connected. Every month, our bill shows that calls are going out. Sometimes there are 5, sometimes there are 20. We don't even own a landline phone to connect to the outlet. Frontier has no clue what is going on.

 

[msweig]

I just checked mine and I have a somewhat similar thing, though mine typically occur around 11pm. I checked the last billing period, and while I didn't have this occur every day, it did on most. Size ranged from tiny to several MBs. I'm pretty much always home at that time, and have WiFi, though I do not have "Keep Wifi on when the screen times out" activated.

One possibility is that maybe AT&T simply bills for part of your day's billing usage on at that time. Because I know when I look at the list of data, there is no way that I only accessed the internet that few times. They have to be grouping it in some way. Maybe this is part of it.

AT&T also told me once that if you send pictures/videos via text that it counts against your data plan, even if you have WiFi on. However, that wouldn't explain what I see, or what it sounds like you see, as I rarely text that late, and even rarer would be pictures that late.

 

[pezman726]

One possibility is that maybe AT&T simply bills for part of your day's billing usage on at that time. Because I know when I look at the list of data, there is no way that I only accessed the internet that few times. They have to be grouping it in some way. Maybe this is part of it.

I guess that could be a possibility...however, I know when I turn on my data or use it throughout the day and I always see it listed at that approximate time (maybe about 20 minutes later at max since i stop using it). I'm going to do an experiment tonight. I have had my data off all day. Tonight I will turn it on while at home on WiFi. We'll see what it does.

Also, I never noticed this behavior in the 3 years I had my palm pixi. Only with this phone.

 

[rocwest]

You guys are calling in...to the NSA.

 

[sinime]

Do you have "keep WiFi on under screen lock" enabled? Settings -> WiFi -> advanced

I was having data issues for a while... Would get notifications that I was at 70%, half way through the month, and would barely stay under 2gb by the end of the month... Removed my work email (exchange) and my data dropped to around 1.2gb per month... Odd thing is, I had it set to manually check emails and would rarely do so. Only thing I can think, is syncing security and contacts was killing my data... Keep in mind, we have thousands of employees across all our divisions.

 

[pezman726]

Do you have "keep WiFi on under screen lock" enabled? Settings -> WiFi -> advanced

I was having data issues for a while... Would get notifications that I was at 70%, half way through the month, and would barely stay under 2gb by the end of the month... Removed my work email (exchange) and my data dropped to around 1.2gb per month... Odd thing is, I had it set to manually check emails and would rarely do so. Only thing I can think, is syncing security and contacts was killing my data... Keep in mind, we have thousands of employees across all our divisions.

see post number 3. that was the first thing i did when i got the phone.

im about to flip my data on and just leave my phone alone the rest of the night.

 

[Racing Snake]

OP, I don't think it's a phone issue... there is a HUGE thread on the apple forums about this with other AT&T users:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11618193#11618193
and I've posted up a similar thread in the windows phone 7 section on here, but we're in the UK on EE and am burning data like it's going out of fashion

 

[MrWhiteman]

jhoff80 is correct. Wifi is turned off automatically when not in use.

 

[Racing Snake]

jhoff80 is correct. Wifi is turned off automatically when not in use.

This doesn't answer what or what is causing the massive data usage - it just shifts it from chargeable and visible to 'don't care' and not visible... it's masking the symptoms rather than solving the problem. :|

 

[MrWhiteman]

Have you got the Data Sense app? It tells you exactly how much data each app is using. If not, you'll have to wait for Amber. What i found uses a lot of data is: here drive running in the background and gmail.

 

[Racing Snake]

In my instance, it's on my wifes lumia 710, (WP7.8), therefore no datasense app.

 

[envio]

There are multiple ways the phone can use data, you need to check all of these in turn. I haven't even included regular methods that use data from time to time like downloading content from e-mail+accounts settings which can be set to 'daily' - could that be around that time?

- WiFi connection data - Settings > WiFi > Advanced > Send information about WiFi connections to help discover nearby WiFi
- Backup - Settings > Backup > app list+settings / text messages / photos
- Keyboard - Settings > Keyboard > Advanced > Improve suggestions be sending information about my keyboard usage to Microsoft
- Speech Recognition Service - Settings > Speech > Speech Recognition Service
- Feedback - Settings > Feedback > Send Feedback
- Background tasks - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > Background tasks. Which apps are allowed?
- Browsing History - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > Internet Explorer > Advanced Settings > Send browsing history to Microsoft to help improve Bing services
- XBox Music Suggestions - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > music+videos > suggestions
- Bing Saved Check-in Searches - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > People > Save check-in searches and locations with my Microsoft account to improve search results.
- Saved Location searches - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > Search > Send location information for Microsoft Tags
- Saved Bing Vision searches - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > Search > Allow Microsoft to store and use images from vision searches
- Store Suggestions - Settings > Applications (swipe right) > Store > Suggestions > suggestions

 

[Bizarro_Prime]

OP, I don't think it's a phone issue... there is a HUGE thread on the apple forums about this with other AT&T users:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11618193#11618193
and I've posted up a similar thread in the windows phone 7 section on here, but we're in the UK on EE and am burning data like it's going out of fashion

I'm on EE as well with a L920 and I struggle to use even 1GB. I've got 840MB to use up in 3 days.
I use Wi-Fi at home. I only turn on the data connection when I'm out of the house for long periods of time (work and out with the family on a Saturday).
260MB over around 25 days a month seems stupidly low usage but its true.

How are you using your data?