topic Re: Billing for data I didn't use in Get Support

Billing for data I didn't use

TazzFlynn — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 10:40:35 GMT

I have been having a problem with public mobile these past few billing cycles. I keep running out of data that I haven't used. I looked today at the usage history and it looks like every day between noon and 1pm, I have a massive amount of data usage. This is impossible since I work at a hospital and I am on rounds at that time. Not using my phone. AND we have fantastic wifi at work, so if I'm using anything, it's wifi, not data. Furthermore, it looks like around 8am one day, I used a bunch of data. This is impossible since I was out of the country that day and did not have roaming turned on and absolutely was not using my phone at that time. I've gone through to see if I have anything set up to automatically run a process (upload/download) between noon and 1, and there is absolutely nothing, and again, the one where I wasn't in the country just doesn't make sense any way I try to rationalize it.

In the last few billing cycles, I've had to purchase additional data because I keep running out. But I'm not using this data...

Is there a way you can see what exactly is happening and why I'm being billed for data I'm not using?

Thanks so much

Re: Billing for data I didn't use

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 22:04:11 GMT

@TazzFlynn, Applications on your phone will use data as they see fit (unless you disable them). Depending on your phone, there are some settings that will use cell data to supplement WiFi if the Wifi is weak(WiFi assist on IOS) . Can easilly happen in a hospital. Can't explain what could possibly happen when you are out of town. Also, there should be an app available on your phone to tell you which apps used how much data (I know it exists on Android).

You could ask the moderator team to give investigate if you really feel there is something wrong.

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Re: Billing for data I didn't use

wetcoaster — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 22:40:36 GMT

To add to the information provided above: Data use is posted to the usage history twice a day, roughly 12 hours apart. No Canadian provider, at least the ones I've used for data services far, reports data usage in real time. So the numbers you see in your usage history include any time you are using data throughout the day.

If you are running out of data on a regular basis (that's what it sounds like) you might want to take advantage of the promos that are going on right now. You can either do an immediate plan change if you run out of data before your plan renewal date. Since there are no refunds for unused portions of your plan you might prefer a future dated plan change instead.

Re: Billing for data I didn't use

KMG — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 23:04:31 GMT

Another weird thing is the time stamps that Public Mobile uses. As far as I can tell, it uses a 12-hour clock, but doesn't tell you AM or PM. So the usage you mentioned between noon and 1pm might actually have been 12am to 1am.

Re: Billing for data I didn't use

srlawren — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 23:36:10 GMT

@TazzFlynn the 3 previous replies (from @Anonymous, @wetcoaster, and @KMG) combined explain what you are seeing: the big data usage you're seeing around noon/mignight is the sum of all the data you used in the previous 12 hours (give or take a few mins). This explains the odd usage you're seeing. Now, if you think your phone is using more data overall than it should (now that you understand the weird way it reports every ~12 hours), then you need to look into what apps and services are using data. Look here if you use an iPhone, and here if you use an Android phone.

Re: Billing for data I didn't use

Tob1onone — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 23:41:12 GMT

maybe too many notification are on ,on your phone . Shut them off and you will save data

Re: Billing for data I didn't use

srlawren — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 17:09:02 GMT

@Tob1onone wrote:
maybe too many notification are on ,on your phone . Shut them off and you will save data

@Tob1onone nice of you to try to help, but this thread was last active 25 months ago. I'm pretty sure the original poster has resolved their issue or moved on.