Charged for 3g data

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Charged for 3g data

AviZ

214 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#93384 19-Nov-2011 19:31

hi,

over the last week i have been noticing enabling and disabling 3g on a android phone costs money, viewing the your telecom site also costs money too

ever since i have owned the phone all background data is turned off but yet im using small amounts of data e.g 23kb at different intervals even when im asleep.

why does it hurt so much on a prepay plan.

your telecom is unmetered and free but yet when there is no money on my phone i cant view it due to not having the funds to do so.

seems to be a hint that the service isn't free and how many new Zealand users are getting wrongfully charged?

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446 posts

Ultimate Geek

#547327 19-Nov-2011 22:49

IIRC, free web services are still blocked when you have no money, because when you have no money, data is simply blocked.

Small amounts of data and random or regular intervals including overnight sounds like 'something' syncing.

Could be email, twitter, facebook, weather, or a multitude of other applications.

AviZ

214 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#547328 19-Nov-2011 22:53

background data is off and there is no widgets loaded like weather and all syncing is off also but still continues to take money.

however telecom are working on this as they see there is a problem

traderstu

332 posts

Ultimate Geek

#547348 20-Nov-2011 07:54

Yes, I had similar problems when I switched from my CDMA phone to XT. It took 3 calls before I managed to get Telecom to turn off data at their end. Hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but they must be laughing all the way to the bank charging $1 (from memory) for a few kb of data. Could never quite figure out how the charging system worked and their web portal was no help. Couldn't even print off an invoice from there.

AviZ

214 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#547353 20-Nov-2011 08:17

Date Time Units Description
Sun 20-Nov-2011 6:49 am 3 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 5:53 am 2 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 4:57 am 2 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 4:01 am 2 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 3:05 am 2 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 2:09 am 3 KB Internet Data
Sun 20-Nov-2011 1:12 am 2 KB Internet Data

in these hours i have been asleep as far i can see its some sort of keep alive polling.

and yet i have been charged yet another $1

i had a nokia 6120 with 3g enabled all the time and never got charged but as soon as i brought a smartphone then it becomes not worth it.

they offered to switch data off but that kinda pointless if you have one of their phones on the flagship network

and yes telecom are rubbing their hands all the way to the bank.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#547355 20-Nov-2011 08:28

if you have a smartphone, and agree that it is pointless to have data switched off (since that is what smartphones are for)then I have to wonder why are on $1/day casual data plan? that is bound to work out much more expensive than the cheapest 30 day prepay plan which is 50MB for $6.

with regards to your specific problem - do you have any apps running in the background? that is the most common cause. Often these might not be obviously still open. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in to make sure the phone has a full reset.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#547357 20-Nov-2011 08:32

Sorry but this is not Telecom issue, The issue only started when you got a new phone,

Bet if you turned your phone off at night these charges would not happen

sbiddle

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#547360 20-Nov-2011 08:43

AviZ: background data is off and there is no widgets loaded like weather and all syncing is off also but still continues to take money.

however telecom are working on this as they see there is a problem

Turning off background data doesn't stop all data use.

If you don't want to use 3G data then disable it - because right now your phone is clearly using 3G data.

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AviZ

214 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#547362 20-Nov-2011 09:02

johnr: Sorry but this is not Telecom issue, The issue only started when you got a new phone,

Bet if you turned your phone off at night these charges would not happen

yes well

anyway the telecom support guy looking into this has a personal Samsung and his don't do it so he went away and got a lg p500h like mind and its using data, yes Google maps had been using the data for location in the background but that's all been disabled now.

telecom seem to think lg p500h's run alil differently

cokemaster

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#547363 20-Nov-2011 09:14

On Android any of the following can use data:
* Widgets on the home screen (weather, news, Location widgets). A lot of devices have weather widgets loaded by default.
* News Feeds (google news is a common one) / Weather Apps / Social Networking (Sometimes doesn't matter if its not logged in if 'Whats trending' widget is in play) / Stock Tracking apps
* Vendor recommendations / FAQ / news (I believe HTC includes one on the sensation).
* Any mapping client / navigation client that DOES NOT STORE MAP CONTENT LOCALLY. (Have a look at Sygic if you want a navigation client that doesn't require mobile BB access to run)
* Email Clients (Built in Android client, Yahoo! Client, Gmail Client)
* Applications with advertising or 'online functionality'
* Skype / any IM apps
* Image upload apps, ie. Photomule.
* HTC Sense / Motoblur / Similar products
* Locate my phone services (phoning home with location)
* Youtube (both viewing videos, browsing through video lists, monitoring for new videos by user etc.
This is not a complete list - just a few that I can think of.

Based on the usage shown above - I'd say that its polling potentially Email, Facebook, News, Weather, or something similar. If you check your accounts screen, have a look for any accounts set to sync hourly.

I've been in this boat before where I had a Chinese firmware flashed on a SE p910 and SE z600. I followed this up with VFNZ, let us say after a lot of phone calls and resetting of the phones - I was WRONG (hello john :-P ) . In saying that, I have used Android devices on one of my SIM's that does not have data and can confirm that if you set it up correctly - it won't use data. Its definitely possible - however in saying that, really doesn't allow you to maximise your smartphone.

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keewee01

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#547365 20-Nov-2011 09:18

NonprayingMantis: if you have a smartphone, and agree that it is pointless to have data switched off (since that is what smartphones are for)then I have to wonder why are on $1/day casual data plan? that is bound to work out much more expensive than the cheapest 30 day prepay plan which is 50MB for $6.

with regards to your specific problem - do you have any apps running in the background? that is the most common cause. Often these might not be obviously still open. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in to make sure the phone has a full reset.

+1 - why did you buy a smartphone in the first place?

AviZ

214 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#547369 20-Nov-2011 09:27

keewee01:
NonprayingMantis: if you have a smartphone, and agree that it is pointless to have data switched off (since that is what smartphones are for)then I have to wonder why are on $1/day casual data plan? that is bound to work out much more expensive than the cheapest 30 day prepay plan which is 50MB for $6.

with regards to your specific problem - do you have any apps running in the background? that is the most common cause. Often these might not be obviously still open. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in to make sure the phone has a full reset.

+1 - why did you buy a smartphone in the first place?

for the likes of wifi

cokemaster

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#547371 20-Nov-2011 09:34

If you want it for Wifi only then turn mobile based data off.
The steps may vary for your LG but on my Sensation, it can be found under: Settings, Wireless & Network, untick "Mobile Network - Use Phone for data connection when Wi-FI is unavailable"

This is different to 'disable background data', because it will prevent your device from starting GPRS/UMTS data sessions outright.

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sbiddle

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#547374 20-Nov-2011 09:48

AviZ:
keewee01:
NonprayingMantis: if you have a smartphone, and agree that it is pointless to have data switched off (since that is what smartphones are for)then I have to wonder why are on $1/day casual data plan? that is bound to work out much more expensive than the cheapest 30 day prepay plan which is 50MB for $6.

with regards to your specific problem - do you have any apps running in the background? that is the most common cause. Often these might not be obviously still open. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in to make sure the phone has a full reset.

+1 - why did you buy a smartphone in the first place?

for the likes of wifi

Disable 3G data in that case. If you have that disabled it's impossible for your phone to use 3G data.

You're quite clearly under the impression that disabling background data disables 3G, which is not the case.

traderstu

332 posts

Ultimate Geek

#547375 20-Nov-2011 09:52

AviZ:
keewee01:
NonprayingMantis: if you have a smartphone, and agree that it is pointless to have data switched off (since that is what smartphones are for)then I have to wonder why are on $1/day casual data plan? that is bound to work out much more expensive than the cheapest 30 day prepay plan which is 50MB for $6.

with regards to your specific problem - do you have any apps running in the background? that is the most common cause. Often these might not be obviously still open. Try taking the battery out and putting it back in to make sure the phone has a full reset.

+1 - why did you buy a smartphone in the first place?

for the likes of wifi

for me its GPS, and my phone is my MP3 player. I'm going to upgrade to one with wifi. I want to explore some more of the VOIP options on a smartphone.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#547376 20-Nov-2011 09:57

Next time maybe a Nokia 5110i might suit you better :-P

looks like cokemaster is now an expert on everything that can use mobile data in the back ground on a handset ;-)

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