topic Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data in Get Support

Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

orangelegobrick — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 08:24:05 GMT

I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data? What gives? I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page. My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data. Most of the time I am within wifi range. Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Indican — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 01:54:16 GMT

It's really hard to say how it happened, but you could easily use 5Mb almost instantly nowadays, depending on what you were doing.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Psygineer — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 02:05:57 GMT

@orangelegobrick wrote:
I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data? What gives? I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page. My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data. Most of the time I am within wifi range. Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

It was probably your phone itself doing it. You likely have system apps (or apps you installed) that bypass data disables. I know I have used over 2MB this month and have not had data turned on since November. If you have not had data before or recently, it's likely you had a few things your phone felt needed done over data right away. Maybe like an MMS text sent to you previously? Those require data to view, check any old messages you couldn't see before and see if they are displaying now.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

will13am — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 02:06:46 GMT

@orangelegobrick, some phones like iPhones have WiFi assist features that consume mobile data even when WiFi is turned on. In any event, Public Mobile does not owe the customer anything. They did not do anything wrong. Providing data to a customer's phone when requested is their obligation.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

youbme — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 02:15:18 GMT

I was curious and did a search on the forums here for 5.293, turns out that you aren't the only one who has noticed this. I do remember numerous discussions a couple years back about this topic as well. Two broad conclusions were made; 1) there may be a buffer used by PM when counting data, the counter has this buffer when you have data turned on; 2) as mentioned already, there may be processes in the background that override your disabling of data to 'check-in' with the network.

All in all, you should notice the numbers align more accurately with your phone's counter. I've found that usually my counter is higher than Public Mobile's by the end of the month.

Here is one of the threads from three years ago:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/I-started-off-with-5-293-4096MB-used/td-p/40515

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

ShawnC13 — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 02:43:01 GMT

@Psygineer wrote:
@orangelegobrick wrote:
I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data? What gives? I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page. My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data. Most of the time I am within wifi range. Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!
It was probably your phone itself doing it. You likely have system apps (or apps you installed) that bypass data disables. I know I have used over 2MB this month and have not had data turned on since November. If you have not had data before or recently, it's likely you had a few things your phone felt needed done over data right away. Maybe like an MMS text sent to you previously? Those require data to view, check any old messages you couldn't see before and see if they are displaying now.

@Psygineer, you just need data turned on and you would be able to send and receive MMS even if you have no data in your plan. It won't use any data out of a data plan

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

cavemantoronto — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 04:08:02 GMT

@orangelegobrick wrote:
I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data? What gives? I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page. My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data. Most of the time I am within wifi range. Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

Could there be a glitch in the self service system causing it to the count to not start from 0? This shouldn't happen, but it wouldn't surprise be from what I've read about glitches.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 05:23:16 GMT

@orangelegobrick

I'm liking @youbme's findings. I have a data add-on. When I turn it on it will automatically

check 3 email boxes. Of which I cleared of new messages before trying. I suppose there could be other things in the background but I usually turn those things off.

I had a number to start and a number after.

The difference was 5.293 precisely.
The "Web" Call Type isn't even showing up in the details but it did immediately show that change in the overview.

I seem to recall wondering about this. Then I think I didn't really care as it's inconsequential.

To the OP...have a look now since it's been a while. It may have dropped back down. I also seem to recall it dropping. Perhaps after it figures out the actual consumption rather than a buffered amount.

~~I just did this quick test now but I haven't looked at it in a while to remember that it dropped. I just think I remember that it did 🙂~~

Edit: Yup. I wondered if it was going to figure it out at midnight ET but a couple minutes in and it didn't. So I went into Airplane mode and back and lo and behold it dropped back down to have used 0.083mb on that quick test.

Still not showing in details though as of this edit.

A quick google and someone on the Koodo forum asked the same question and someone answered saying something about "data reservation". So apparently it's a thing.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Psygineer — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 05:21:27 GMT

@ShawnC13 wrote:
@Psygineer wrote:
@orangelegobrick wrote:
I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data? What gives? I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page. My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data. Most of the time I am within wifi range. Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!
It was probably your phone itself doing it. You likely have system apps (or apps you installed) that bypass data disables. I know I have used over 2MB this month and have not had data turned on since November. If you have not had data before or recently, it's likely you had a few things your phone felt needed done over data right away. Maybe like an MMS text sent to you previously? Those require data to view, check any old messages you couldn't see before and see if they are displaying now.
@Psygineer, you just need data turned on and you would be able to send and receive MMS even if you have no data in your plan. It won't use any data out of a data plan

That's good to know. That means I have some trouble shooting for my mother's phone. She can't open my MMS texts her data is turned on but doesn't have a data plan.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Zy — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 06:42:07 GMT

Ya it’s weird happens to me also, my plan just got renewed I’m on the 2016 120/12g plan, I still had 700mb left after it renewed it some reason consumed 5.xxx mb of data also. But after I checked the data usage it says it was “ on hold “

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

computergeek541 — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 06:54:49 GMT

@slash407 wrote:
i seen this to much....alot of the oracles will insist its ur apps or u got auto updates over data etc and mayb they are right but big companies are also known to tamper in the companies side.............gas stations are known for doing this, car wash spots, cable companies and im sure telcomm companies arent any different.......again dont know ur details and dont care, all im saying is that big companies are known for cooking the books...so even if u go overboard abit, they'll push it even more, time in and time out

Slash407, I'm not saying that you're necessarily wrong, but how can you say this is happening at Public Mobile without providing some type of proof? I will admit that consumers have long been suspicious of such billing activities.

You say Oracles will say it's the apps that are consuming the extra data because of badly programmed software. That's because that usually is the case. I'm not sure why would single the Oracle team out when we are customers just like you. We don't know own shares in the company (at least I don't), so I have no incentive for encouraging Public Mobile to overcharge on payments or make customer use up add-ons any faster.

When I think about it, right at the onset of the activation of this data add-on, that would be a rather strange time for "cooking the books" as you say. Why wouldn't they just gradually exxagerate the usage, instead of right at the beggining if they were going to do something deliberate?

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

RobertQc — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 07:05:31 GMT

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/privacy-legal

"All data usage is rounded up each session to the nearest kilobyte."

If a data session closed each time data was used, then there would be 1000's and 1000's of rounding operations per day since our phone is using data all day long even extremely small amounts. Syncing, check for updates, location data to google, usage history, weather, etc etc

In my findings. Once the data session is opened ~5mb gets added. We can refer to it as "ghost data". Once the data session is closed (hours, overnight, 12 hours,etc) the 5mb data usage will be removed and it will be updated accurately.

Please read through this thread when I started keeping track since it was something I had noticed daily.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

youbme — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:28:47 GMT

For those who may be skeptical about 'ghost data', simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

So, while I agree that we should be vigilant, as corporations have a history of cooking numbers to squeeze out more profit - I really don't think this is one of those cases, at least from what I have observed.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

CalgaryBen — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 13:44:38 GMT

@youbme wrote:
simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

Great little test! Thanks! It (somewhat) explains why I've never seen 0 consumption in the counter after a new billing cycle begins, or when a data add-on is applied on a dataless plan. It's always been 5+ MB. It also might explain why I once hit my data allowance (according to the counter), but was able to "squeeze" a bit more out at the end before completely depleting it!

Okay, one mystery solved. Another mystery is the 0 MB data data usage occurring in the Usage History daily (as long as the phone is turned on) at the same time each day. I thought it might be the phone "checking in", but now I think it's PM registering that the device was on during the day and acquired an IP address... anyone else know? Does this happen for you Android users out there as well? One of my kids has the $10 plan with no data, and I use the 0 MB data usage in the history to see if his phone's been charged and turned on (not in real-time, but I'll easily see that his phone has been off for days at a time).

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Doonerz — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:16:42 GMT

@CalgaryBen wrote:
@youbme wrote:
simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

Great little test! Thanks! It (somewhat) explains why I've never seen 0 consumption in the counter after a new billing cycle begins, or when a data add-on is applied on a dataless plan. It's always been 5+ MB. It also might explain why I once hit my data allowance (according to the counter), but was able to "squeeze" a bit more out at the end before completely depleting it!

Okay, one mystery solved. Another mystery is the 0 MB data data usage occurring in the Usage History daily (as long as the phone is turned on) at the same time each day. I thought it might be the phone "checking in", but now I think it's PM registering that the device was on during the day and acquired an IP address... anyone else know? Does this happen for you Android users out there as well? One of my kids has the $10 plan with no data, and I use the 0 MB data usage in the history to see if his phone's been charged and turned on (not in real-time, but I'll easily see that his phone has been off for days at a time).

Great mystery solved! I noticed the 5.xxx data use for my first month of use as well. Was curious as to how the data could be used (even looked through data usage on self serve). I am on the $10 plan and have an iPhone as well.

Love this community for answering even the most obscure questions!

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 15:53:18 GMT

Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞

🙂

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Doonerz — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 04:26:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞
🙂

@Anonymous I read every post - probably my downfall - over-information! Sorry if I didn't make the proper quote - I'm new to this community thing - I'll get the hang of it!

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 04:29:00 GMT

@Doonerz wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞
🙂
@Anonymous I read every post - probably my downfall - over-information! Sorry if I didn't make the proper quote - I'm new to this community thing - I'll get the hang of it!

Oh I was just having a stupid little whine. Not to worry. I'll get over it. 🙂

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

powerg21 — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 21:41:24 GMT

My Andtroid phone also keeps track of my data. I know they are not synced with PM's network so the numbers are different. Yesterday the difference was 20MB. Today the difference is more than 100MB! It's ether a glitch in their system or PM's data tracking is a lot different than my phone's tracking.

Re: Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

RobertQc — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 21:44:50 GMT

@powerg21 wrote:
My Andtroid phone also keeps track of my data. I know they are not synced with PM's network so the numbers are different. Yesterday the difference was 20MB. Today the difference is more than 100MB! It's ether a glitch in their system or PM's data tracking is a lot different than my phone's tracking.

@powerg21 Are you using the stock andriod software? It's difficult to do without using software designed for a 30/90 day plan because PM is 30 days, not a month, so the built in andriod tracker messes up the amounts as the amount of days in a calender month change vs each renewal period. Look up software called "PM Data witness"