topic Re: Mobile Data working while turned off in Get Support

Mobile Data working while turned off

joelmackenzie — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 14:42:10 GMT

Hey there,

I think this may be a bug with my phone (Pixel 3a, Android 10), but maybe it has something to do with Public Moblie.

I'm on the $15 plan with only 250MB of data, so I keep data turned off most of the time so as to not use it up unintentially. But from time to time, while Mobile Data is turned off and I'm out of range of any wifi, I'll start getting notifications from messaging apps and email. I am able to send messages as well while Mobile data is turned off. I tried turning it on and then back off again, but was still able to send and recieve messages through apps like facebook and Google Hangouts. Airplane mode seemed to be the only thing that would stop it. After rebooting the problem seems to go away for a while, but, for some unknown reason, it'll happen again later.

I was also able to confirm that it was indeed mobile data being used as the meter in Android went up and I see roughly the same amount of usage on the Public Mobile website.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to make sure that absolutly no mobile data is used while it is turned off?

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

kselmak — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:35:59 GMT

Nope never

Check your WiFi assist

Maybe if you allow it it will override everything when your WiFi drops.

Airplane mode would be ok as it would a shot off WiFi a least initially

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:35:59 GMT

@joelmackenzie

Your phone will have a setting to failover to cell data if weak or no wifi. Turn it off.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

gblackma — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:42:47 GMT

@joelmackenzie check to see if you have developer options on your phone. And if you do, see if the option for mobile data is always active is on. If you aren't a developer, I would recommend turning this option off. Once that is done, it disappears. Settings - system - advanced - developer options - mobile data always active - turn it off.

@joelmackenzie wrote:
Hey there,

I think this may be a bug with my phone (Pixel 3a, Android 10), but maybe it has something to do with Public Moblie.

I'm on the $15 plan with only 250MB of data, so I keep data turned off most of the time so as to not use it up unintentially. But from time to time, while Mobile Data is turned off and I'm out of range of any wifi, I'll start getting notifications from messaging apps and email. I am able to send messages as well while Mobile data is turned off. I tried turning it on and then back off again, but was still able to send and recieve messages through apps like facebook and Google Hangouts. Airplane mode seemed to be the only thing that would stop it. After rebooting the problem seems to go away for a while, but, for some unknown reason, it'll happen again later.

I was also able to confirm that it was indeed mobile data being used as the meter in Android went up and I see roughly the same amount of usage on the Public Mobile website.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to make sure that absolutly no mobile data is used while it is turned off?

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Nezgar — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:41:04 GMT

Try changing the setting "Mobile data always active" in the developer options. I agree though, with data disabled, this setting should not make a difference...

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Nezgar — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:46:32 GMT

And check the "Allow use of cellular data when Wi-Fi is connected" setting too, which really shouldn't apply in your case:

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

computergeek541 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:45:30 GMT

@joelmackenzie

This isn't a Public Mobile issue. Public Mobile can't make your phone override the settings. If the phone is not following the instructions that you have given it, this is all about the settings and the software (and a possible software bug) of the phone device.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

joelmackenzie — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 12:30:19 GMT

That's what I thought too. The only reason I asked is because I saw a post on another forum that suggested that bad APN settings could cause that to happen. I don't know much about it, so thought I'd ask.

Is there somewhere I can see what my settings should be? I found some here

But they are different than what I have.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

computergeek541 — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 14:39:33 GMT

@joelmackenzie wrote:
That's what I thought too. The only reason I asked is because I saw a post on another forum that suggested that bad APN settings could cause that to happen. I don't know much about it, so thought I'd ask.

Is there somewhere I can see what my settings should be? I found some here
But they are different than what I have.

Bad APN settings could only make data not work. They can't make it so that your phone uses data when it is disabled.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

caneng — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:23:54 GMT

I have a similar problem on my iPhone7. I have mobile data turned off, all my apps have mobile data turned off and WIFI assist is also off. I only have the 250MB data so I don't use it unless I have to.

I also noticed that when my 30 day cycle was up today, my usage in mins was reset to 0 but my 250 MB data still says that I used 5 MB of data... that does not seem correct?

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

JK8 — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:27:00 GMT

@caneng wrote:
I have a similar problem on my iPhone7. I have mobile data turned off, all my apps have mobile data turned off and WIFI assist is also off. I only have the 250MB data so I don't use it unless I have to.

I also noticed that when my 30 day cycle was up today, my usage in mins was reset to 0 but my 250 MB data still says that I used 5 MB of data... that does not seem correct?

That data is a buffer that happens every time you turn your phone on/off or toggle mobile data. It does not count towards your data allotment.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

caneng — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:29:05 GMT

UPDATE: my data usage has been reset to 0 so that is not an issue. Still confused why I am using mobile data when it is set off on my phone.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Nezgar — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:47:33 GMT

@caneng wrote:
UPDATE: my data usage has been reset to 0 so that is not an issue. Still confused why I am using mobile data when it is set off on my phone.

I've found that "disabling data" on android doesn't actually truly disconnect the data connection at the network level as far as the self-serve overview page is concerned. Putting the phone in airplane mode however truly disconnects it, and makes that 5MB buffer subtract on what self-serve reports. Turn off airplane mode, and you see +5MB.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:45:37 GMT

My experience and observation of the buffer is that it gets taken when cell data gets turned on. Turn off cell data, flip in/out of airplane mode...no buffer.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

joelmackenzie — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 14:29:43 GMT

This issue is still happening for me on two phones connected to Public Mobile: Pixel 3a and Pixel 4a.

I've been emailing with Pixel support for a while now. (27 emails). They say they've never heard of this happening before and have no idea what's going on.

It seems like a problem on the phone, but I'm trying to explore every possibility. Public Mobile's APN settings are here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/nb/get-help/articles/set-up-data-on-an-android-phone, but the settings both my phones are different than that, but the same as each other.

Are these set from the SIM card?

Why would mine be different?

Everything seems to be working fine, except turning off mobile data sometimes has no effect. I'd like to understand more about the APN settings. Should I change mine to match that web page?

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

softech — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 14:38:53 GMT

@joelmackenzie wrote:
but the settings both my phones are different than that, but the same as each other.

How different are the 2 APN settings? can you post screenshots on both?

APN will assure mobile data works but it should have no effect to control Mobile Data on or off.

It does sound to me a device issue more than a carrier issue.

Is the phone up to date in terms of OS?

Did you try to factory reset? Maybe try on one phone, start fresh and see how it goes. If you are going with factory reset, I suggest NOT to install thing back from the backup on Google. Try to install the app fresh. I suspect it might be some app or setting issue so I wouldn't use the backup set to setup the phone after the factory reset

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 14:49:16 GMT

@joelmackenzie : Did you turn the failover option to off in Developer options? It's called "Mobile data always active" on my phone.

If your data is working then don't worry about the APN's. That part's done.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

joelmackenzie — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:28:21 GMT

The settings are the same on both phones, but differ from the Public Mobile web page (https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/nb/get-help/articles/set-up-data-on-an-android-phone)

APN Setting differences:

Setting	On my phones	On Public Mobile page
Name	Mobile Internet	Public Mobile
APN	sp.mb.com	sp.mb.com
Proxy	Not set
Port	Not set
Username	Not set
Password	Not set
Server	Not set
MMSC proxy*		74.49.0.18
MMSC	http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mb/mmsc	http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mb/mmsc
MMS proxy	mmscproxy.mobility.ca
MMS port	8799	80
MCC	302	302
MNC	220	220
Authentication type	Not set
APN type	default,mms,supl,hipri,fota,ia
APN protocol	IPv4
APN roaming protocol	IPv4
APN enable/disable	APN enabled
Bearer	Unspecified
MVNO type	GID
MVNO value	4D4F

*Not listed on my phones

Both phones are up to date (android 11)

I did try a factory reset without restoring from a backup. Pixel support suggested that as well, but were unable to list specific settings that could cause this issue.

I did turn the "Mobile data always active" setting off.

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

darlicious — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 16:05:06 GMT

@joelmackenzie

Do you get usage in your OS app of 130mb? Do you have MMS being counted in your phone's data tracker that far exceeds normal MMS data usage amounts (this does not count against your actual mobile data).

Your APN settings should not make any difference as long as they work. My moto g7+ and Samsung A3 have different APN settings. There's no sim card in my pixel 3 at the moment but will be next week...

Edit:

Neither of these phones even have the MMSC proxy line in their APN settings?!!

Re: Mobile Data working while turned off

softech — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 16:14:02 GMT

@joelmackenzie do you have such option? "send & receive MMS messages when data is off"

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/40311i767FA7E8116A16ED/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999

and check if you have this in the developer option:

"mobile data always active".