Data Maxed Out

[allofandrew]

For the first time in 4 years, my data usage maxed out within 10 days of my plan starting and that has never happened before. I can't view my usage because it's reached it's limit, and I can't get any data unless I am at home on WiFi. Any solutions to figure out why it went over so quickly?

[darlicious]

@Korth 

Ignorance is bliss.......until it's not!

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Yummy]

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@Korth

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This is Good read. And it is easier to post question then search through Help articles.

[Korth]

@darlicious 

Many people here are outraged when their AutoPay ultimately fails - because, after years of successful automation and inattention, it's suddenly halted by a looming credit card expiry date.

Many people here are unable to login to Self-Serve. Because it's been so very, very long since their last login (probably years ago, on the day they activated) that they cannot find and cannot remember their passwords. (Indeed, these might be lost forever, stored on some old phone or old computer which is long gone.)

Or they cannot remember their PIN. They don't have their IMEI, their SIMID, their account number, their email address, maybe they don't even know their own phone number. They never turned on things like "Find My iPhone", never backed up any of their data, never activated or used their phone's security features, etc. It all somehow just worked before, now they're angry that it's stopped working (which must obviously be Public Mobile's fault!). It never occurs to these people how bad they'll be screwed when, eventually, they experience problems which need to be fixed (and which, incidentally, are not Public Mobile's fault).

Somehow I think advice which involves careful, persistent, consistent attention day after day won't be followed for long, if at all.

Some people might dig through their phone logs and Self-Serve records every day, methodically scrutinizing and comparing and searching for any patterns or anomalies they can find. They already obsess whether they'd told to do so or not.

But other people do not do anything like that, they would hardly even know how to do it if they had to, and their glazed-eyed disinterest will ignorantly dance over any recommendations about how they can figure it out.

[darlicious]

@Yummy 

To investigate why it happens? Lol....but for the OP counting the daily usage page 's data reportage is usually enough. As I advise.....a screenshot before and after renewal of your overview page or even just checking your account after renewal to catch anomalies is best practice.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Yummy]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Yummy 

Personally no....but it has happened to enough users for it to be worth investigating for the OP.

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Can we do anything? I guess that will be PM job to do but are they willing to investigate?

[Korth]

@allofandrew 

Disable all background data, syncs, and updates. You may have to dig through layers of settings and disable permissions on a per-app basis.

My quick easy sleazy lazy approach is to just blindly disable everything from top to bottom. Later, when I actually run an app which needs to use data, it'll prompt me to change the permission setting, yes or no, after a while everything ends up being configured. While anything I end up never using is useless to me and therefore should never need (and never get) to use any of my data.

I'm also in the habit of simply keeping all cellular data OFF most of the time. I only enable it when I'm actually using it, I disable it again at the end of every session. Any "important" updates or messages or notifications which are carried across data will be waiting for me the next time my device goes online, there's no need to let them slowly and quietly leech my data until I'm interested in paying some attention to them.

If you have an iPhone then iMessage will consume your data by default - it uses (data-consuming) extended iMsg protocols across Apple's cloud instead of (your plan's unlimited) standard SMS/MMS protocols across Telus SMSC network machinery. It has a setting to change this.

Apple's FaceTime chat also goes through Apple's cloudware before it can be compressed and optimized by the Telus/OpenWave network machinery. Meaning that it'll use a lot of data.

Speedtests are also notorious for burning data alarmingly fast. Just one or two speedtests and your whole monthly allocation could be gone. This is problematic for new customers, new activations, new accounts - they naturally want to run some speedtests to check out what they can expect from their new service - but the "3G Speed" 3000kbps upper performance cap built into their Public Mobile plan doesn't kick in for up to 72 hours.

You can check your device's data usage monitor/measuring/tracking app - whatever it's called - to see how much data has been consumed by specific apps. Remember that your device-side data tracking is not as accurate as network-side data tracking (as reported and billed in Self-Serve usage). And remember to manually reset the data counter whenever your Public Mobile plan renews - since "monthly" and "30-days" are not the same thing more often than not, your plan might renew on any day of the month and on a different day next month, and most logging apps have no way of knowing or dealing with this automatically.

Public Mobile *611 will automatically send you text notifications when you reach 75% and 95% consumption of your current billing cycle's data provision. (Though these messages seem broken or have unreliable math if you have any data add-on provisions to draw from.)

You're evidently logged into the community. You can login Self-Serve and check usage while you're here.

[Nezgar]

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@allofandrew wrote:

For the first time in 4 years, my data usage maxed out within 10 days of my plan starting and that has never happened before. I can't view my usage because it's reached it's limit, and I can't get any data unless I am at home on WiFi. Any solutions to figure out why it went over so quickly?

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Since you are able to logon to this forum from another Internet connection, you can use that same internet connection to logon to the self-serve portal: https://selfserve.publicmobile.ca/

From there you can try to look through the daily usage history - but it is very clumsy to go through. At a minimum you can also compare what your actual 30-day renewal date is and make sure it's aligned with the date set in your phone. (Many phones, especially android, automatically use the same day-of-month, not 30 day periods, so it can be offset about 6 days every year.)

[darlicious]

@Yummy 

Personally no....but it has happened to enough users for it to be worth investigating for the OP.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[esjliv]

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@allofandrew wrote:

For the first time in 4 years, my data usage maxed out within 10 days of my plan starting and that has never happened before. I can't view my usage because it's reached it's limit, and I can't get any data unless I am at home on WiFi. Any solutions to figure out why it went over so quickly?

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@allofandrew  - have you changed phones recently?

There are many settings that can be set up in a device to prevent unwanted data usage. 

Go through the settings for each app and check these data settings.

You can view your history of data usage in your self serve.

Note, that you will not see Live Usage in the DETAILS history. It take about 6-12 hours to be populated.

So, try looking at this tomorrow morning it may reveal something for you.

Install an app to track your ‘live’ usage so you can keep track. Public Mobile are 30 day plans (not monthly).

If you are android, try this one:

Data Witness app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iwik.datawitnesspm&hl=en_CA&gl=US

I use this one myself and it gives me what I need from it.

You could also check out Data counter widget: https://play.google.com/store/apps/detailsid=com.roysolberg.android.datacounter&hl=en_CA&gl=US

If you are an Apple user, I am sure there is a 30-day app that is available as well.

Managing Your Data Usage:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/managing-your-data-usage

[Yummy]

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@darlicious wrote:

It sounds like your data counter did not reset upon renewal.

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This is really strange thing happening in PM. Did YOU ever experienced data counter not reset on renewal? I did not! All my counters (minutes/data) do reset every time.

As for excessive usage I would check self-service account first, then phone for background apps sucking data. Over 'past 4 years' apps are becoming 'Internet hungry' as everybody wants to push something on you: spy what you buy, where you spend, what apps do you use, etc.

[darlicious]

@allofandrew 

It sounds like your data counter did not reset upon renewal. Go to your daily usage pages and add up the two 12 hour blocks of data usage reported daily back to your renewal date. If they don't add up to your plan data allotment then contact customer support to reset your data counter.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[MarkcZuck]

First that all you have to check your cellphone settings, keep in mind that carriers will not decrease your data just because, that's a big NO! Knowing this the data must be consumed by your cellphone, check the settings, the apps that are using your data, etc...

[softech]

@allofandrew 

Are you on android or iPhone?

if you are on Android, there is the Mobile Data page that you can confirm your Data usage, but you will need to properly change the cycle start date to match the PM cycle start date.

[computergeek541]

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@allofandrew wrote:

For the first time in 4 years, my data usage maxed out within 10 days of my plan starting and that has never happened before. I can't view my usage because it's reached it's limit, and I can't get any data unless I am at home on WiFi. Any solutions to figure out why it went over so quickly?

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It's possible that the data counter didn't get reset properly during the last renewal.  It's also a possibility that your phone used data in the background, especially if you've installed a new app recently. The first thing I would do is compare your phone's reported data usage to what's reported in Self Serve.  Remember to check that the counter on your phone has an appropriate start date for when your plan last renewed as your phone will often have an incorrect date as Public Mobile's plans aren't exactly a month long.