topic Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment? in Get Support

Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

Scotty2 — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 08:48:40 GMT

Hi - I just signed my daughter up for the $25 plan, which includes 500 mb + 500 mb (prepaid plan), unlimited Canada calling and unlimited international texting. She starting using her phone yesterday and I checked online to see that she has already used almost 500 mb of data in less than 12 hours. She was on wifi, so I looked a bit further online. I say that the had MMS texts that seem to have used data that counts against her allotment. Should this be the case? Do MMS texts count against the allotment of data? Thanks for the help on this one.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:18:04 GMT

@Scotty2, MMS uses data, but not from the data-bucket.

If your daughter's phone is an iPhone, the data is data, and not MMS specifically.

On WiFi, it should use the WiFi data. There is a setting on iPhones to use 'WiFi assist' which is wrongly named, should be Cellular assist, as it will use cellular data on a weak WiFi signal. Ensure this is off. Androids also have a similar feature which is a name in a similar fashion.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

duffer900 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:18:15 GMT

From what I have read and seen tested, you require data/wifi to sent the MMS, however, it should not use data. Tests were done and 4 MMS's were sent, each 2.5MB, and no data was used.

Hope this helps.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

Scotty2 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:30:45 GMT

@stonechucker , thanks for the info. It is an iPhone. So if it doesn't count towards the allotment, then why would it show that she used close to 500 mb and the only data events listed are MMS texts? Thanks again.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

Scotty2 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:33:33 GMT

@duffer900 , @stonechucker , thanks for the info. So if it doesn't count towards the allotment, then why would it show on her account that she used close to 500 mb and the only data events listed are MMS texts? There are no other activites that showing on her account that used data. Pure MMS texts. Thanks again.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:36:24 GMT

what phone is she using? If you're seeing usage, it shouldn't be taking it from the data-bucket.

On the overview page, are you seeing a value of data out of her allowed amount, and it's in usage history also?

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

duffer900 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:37:07 GMT

Did a little more digging and found that The data used by MMS is filtered through a proxy and is not charged, however still may show up. Sorry for the vague response. Perhaps @stonechucker can shed some extra light on this 🙂

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:37:32 GMT

Also, specifically, what chat app is she using? Things like FB Messenger and WhatsApp also don't strictly send as SMS/MMS, depending on settings.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

CalgaryBen — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:42:06 GMT

@Scotty2 wrote:
There are no other activites that showing on her account that used data.

@Scotty2 are you able to check your daughter's phone? Settings --> Cellular, and then scroll down to the apps list. If you haven't reset the counters (using "Reset Statistics" at the very bottom of this screen), the "Current Period" may show a high usage... I like to set a calendar reminder on plan renewal to reset this to 0, and ensure that it remains close to the counter on the self-serve portal (it's usually within reason).

Anyway, apps will be generally listed in the order of data usage, starting with the highest at the top. This will give some clues as to what app is consuming all the cellular data.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

hycm53 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:40:30 GMT

You may install this app on your daughter's iPhone.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/my-data-manager-security/id477865384?mt=8

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

Scotty2 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:53:58 GMT

Thanks everyone for your assistance on this. She has an iPhone 6. She is simply using the message app that is already on the phone. She isn't using a 3rd party app. Just texting her friends.

If everyone is saying MMS data doesn't count towards that allotment, then I don't understand why it shows against the allotment on the public modible online account.

Under "My Data and Add Ons" is shows amount used "489.36/1024 MB".

When I click on "View My Usage", it displays the MMS messages as a data events, there is a "1" in the Data Usage column.

If public mobile is counting these as MMS texts against the data allotment online, but it's not really counting, then how would I know where she is at for the month using the public mobile account details?

Again, everyone, I appreciate your help. I'm a smart guy, but can't seem to wrap my mind around this one. LOL!!

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

hycm53 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:05:09 GMT

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html

You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:

"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:07:33 GMT

@Scotty2, wow, this seems strange to me, but I'm not an iPhone user, so I'm struggling with all the extra stuff. @CalgaryBen is one of the go-to guys for this, and he's already suggested something to monitor closely on the iPhone side.

I wonder if CalgaryBen has any more suggestions.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:13:26 GMT

@hycm53 wrote:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html
You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:
"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”

@hycm53, I've just looked at that article, and the way I read it, we actually want the iPhone to send by SMS and MMS (when not on WiFi), as the MMS Data usage *should not* be charged, as it's sent through the proxy.

Am I misreading the article?

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

CalgaryBen — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:19:32 GMT

@Scotty2 wrote:
If everyone is saying MMS data doesn't count towards that allotment, then I don't understand why it shows against the allotment on the public modible online account.

When I click on "View My Usage", it displays the MMS messages as a data events, there is a "1" in the Data Usage column.

@Scotty2 first, the MMS data line in your usage simply tells you that an MMS was sent/received. It shows up nearly in real-time, and is useful just to see that it's occurring and working. It doesn't use any of the data allotment.

True data (non MMS) doesn't show up under usage in real-time. It is often greatly delayed (up to 12 hours) because the counter adds up the usage over a period of time and displays it as a single line, rather than having many individual lines showing usage. So, that's not a reliable way to monitor data usage, unfortuantely.

If your daughter is mainly using messaging, and using iMessage with fellow iPhone users, then she's using data. Pictures and videos sent through iMessage uses pure cellular data, and not MMS. If she sends/receives pictures/videos to non-iMessage users, then that will truly be MMS. Does that jive with what could be happening?

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

hycm53 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:21:31 GMT

Unfortunately I'm not iPhone user. But this link may give you some ideas:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/Cannot-text-without-a-data-plan-iPhone/td-p/192461

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

CalgaryBen — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:25:27 GMT

@hycm53 wrote:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html
You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:
"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”

Sorry, I didn't look at the article, but the statement is completely incorrect. Enabling SMS and MMS messaging in no way causes accidental cellular data usage!

Enabling iMessage uses data. Disabling iMessage may not be feasible/practical for avid iPhone users (but since this plan has unlimited texting, it is an option to consider)... textual data consumes very little data, but videos/pictures through iMessage will consume a fair bit of data.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

hycm53 — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:26:05 GMT

@stonechucker I Google, and I think you may need to turn off your daughter's iPhone iMessage app.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

jotsang — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:32:17 GMT

@hycm53 wrote:
@stonechucker I Google, and I think you may need to turn off your daughter's iPhone iMessage app.

If you daugther is using iMessage in iPhone's Messages app, SMS and MMS has blue background and will consume data. Standard SMS and MMS should have green background.

Re: Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

stonechucker — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 16:36:10 GMT

@hycm53, not my daughter, but @Scotty2's!

I think CalgaryBen may have explained things above regarding this.