Data Usage Not Accurate

[ekhekh]

My most recent months plan started on Aug 30th, and then three days later I received a text informing me that I had used 75% of my data. I hadn’t changed anything about how I used my phone (no new apps, minimal streaming, used mostly wifi, etc) and so it’s basically impossible for me to have jumped my usage so suddenly. I rarely go over my data at the end of my plan period. I’m a week into my plan and now I’m being told that I’ve used 95% of my data. This seems incredibly inaccurate - help? 

[darlicious]

@Dave86 

Is that typical data usage? Indeed using the filter for data usage details is useless. Download your usage details for accuracy as suggested above.If you are viewing a lot of video content or HD images your data will be used up quickly.

[esjliv]

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@Dave86 wrote:

You might wanna check on that, I got a message saying I've used 15 GB of data in less than 2 weeks, checked my usage on my account, it says I indeed used 15 GB of data in less than 2 weeks, however when I check the details of my usage on the website for the past 90 days it says I used 0.9 GB of data in 90 days... The website (and thus the company) is broken... Significantly

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@Dave86  - the 'snapshot' listed under the detail usage area is not accurate in the new My Account upgrades. They gotta fix that! Best to download the data and more information should be there. Note, though, data usage in details do take about 6-12 hours to appear in this area. 

[Dave86]

You might wanna check on that, I got a message saying I've used 15 GB of data in less than 2 weeks, checked my usage on my account, it says I indeed used 15 GB of data in less than 2 weeks, however when I check the details of my usage on the website for the past 90 days it says I used 0.9 GB of data in 90 days... The website (and thus the company) is broken... Significantly

[darlicious]

@ekhekh 

Have you run out of data yet? As already suggested have you :

1. Checked your data counter in your self serve account?
2. Added up the two 12 hour blocks of data reported each day in your daily usage pages from your renewal date to present and compared it to the data recorded in your data counter?
3. Compared your phone's data tracker to your accounts data counter?
4. Added up your apps data usage in your phone and/or noted any high usage by an app?

If you don't think your data reset upon renewal you can ask for it to be reset. If the texts were not errant ones then this is possible if for example you have 1gb of plan data and regularily use around 75% - 80% of it (750 - 800mb/1024mb). After renewal without  data resetting you could have been just below 75% and triggered the 75% usage text within a few days or a week even if you were mostly on WiFi. Up to another week could pass using your usual amount about 200mb that would trigger the 95% usage text.

Less likely is a sudden high usage of data within a few hours when on WiFi or not using your phone that is on the pm side caused by some kind of glitch. Reporting this quickly to pm customer support is imperative to getting your data reset and proving that this is unusual to your normal usage pattern. Usually a CSA will be aware that this glitch could affect some customers and they reset the data without question but this is not common just not impossible either.

You have been given the methods of contacting customer support. I myself prefer private message. I don't like that Simple--Simon character....lol!😎

[hTideGnow]

@ekhekh   if you want to open ticket with the Chatbot, which PM might reply quicker, do this

at chatbot, type: Data usage not acurate

then click  "I have enough data, but it's not working"

then click  " still not working"

then click "android"

then click " Still not working"

then click "Click here to submit a ticket"

you will then direct to another page to open the  ticket.

[Anonymous]

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@ekhekh wrote:

Do you know how to contact a customer service agent? I've tried the chatbot but it's useless. And I can't find contact information anywhere. 

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@ekhekh 

Explain your issue to Contact Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent ,
they can solve your issue, they are nice Service Team they will help you 100%.

Here’s How To Contact Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent,

• you can send a private message to Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, by Click Here link,
• You’ll need to be logged in to your Community account for the link to work.

• please include in your message,
  
• your account number, 
  
• your phone number,
• your account 4 digit pin,
• your Email address,

• Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, will Response to your inbox by private message 
  Check your private message inbox (click on the envelope top right of your screen)

         Good Luck....

[hTideGnow]

@ekhekh 

Direct message to PM is the easiest.    https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

After ticket successfully opened, keep checking your Community inbox (envelope icon on top right)  CS Agent will communicate with you there

But tell us what you need PM to help you with and maybe we can advise and maybe you don't really need to open ticket with PM

[ekhekh]

Do you know how to contact a customer service agent? I've tried the chatbot but it's useless. And I can't find contact information anywhere. 

[ekhekh]

Thanks for your reply. There's definitely an issue. I haven't changed anything about my data (same apps available, same usage, no hotspot, no wifi assist, etc.) or about my activities (still going into work the same way, mostly using wifi, etc.), but somehow I used the same amount of data in under 7 days than I would in 28. 

[BlueB]

@ekhekh 

Just to confirm, your current "month" starting Aug 30 was from Public Mobile's system, correct?  If you're relying on your phone for your "month" it can be off because Public Mobile renews every 30 days and not a month.

Also on your S7, you'll be able to check the data consumption for each app.  I'm not sure if this helps or not, but Public Mobile's data counter is generally trusted as being accurate.

[Meow]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Meow 

Thank you! You just gave me an answer for another member! What kind of phone do you have?

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Samsung S7

[esjliv]

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@ekhekh wrote:

My most recent months plan started on Aug 30th, and then three days later I received a text informing me that I had used 75% of my data. I hadn’t changed anything about how I used my phone (no new apps, minimal streaming, used mostly wifi, etc) and so it’s basically impossible for me to have jumped my usage so suddenly. I rarely go over my data at the end of my plan period. I’m a week into my plan and now I’m being told that I’ve used 95% of my data. This seems incredibly inaccurate - help? 

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@ekhekh 

If your Data Line on your overview page does not reflect this usage, and these texts were from Public Mobile, you can ignore these messages.

But if these messages are from your own device itself then check out the data limiter settings you have on your device. Your phone can be set up to send you data limit warnings.

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/details?id=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.

[Anonymous]

@ekhekh 

for more information about Managing Your Data Usage visit  Here link to save your data....

[softech]

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@Meow wrote:

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@softech wrote:

Also,    do you have an app on your phone to track the usage for comparison.  If you are on Android, it's already built in , you just need to go to the Mobile Data page and change the cycle start date to Aug 30 and you will be able to see how much you used since Aug 30 and which app used the most

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Even though Android has built in data usage tracker there is significant difference between numbers reported vs. PM's counter.

For example, I did some MMS test sending few pictures based on discussion with @darlicious and few other members; Android reported 2.5MB used vs. 0.283MB as per PM.

This I would not really trust neither Android nor 3rd party trackers.

If you want to know how much data you used during your billing cycle - log in into your PM account and look there.

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@Meow   Yes, you are right.. this is possible.  the MMS data could affect the result.  But I guess in this case, your phone counter would possible bigger than PM real counter.   If even your phone counter reported you are using less than your monthly limit, your PM counter should not report a higher limit.

Another thing to note, the phone counter , as well as many 3rd party app, will also show you how much data each app used.  So, take the monthly data and subtract the data used by your messaging app, it should be very close to the PM counter.  

[darlicious]

@Meow 

Thank you! You just gave me an answer for another member! What kind of phone do you have?

[Meow]

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@softech wrote:

Also,    do you have an app on your phone to track the usage for comparison.  If you are on Android, it's already built in , you just need to go to the Mobile Data page and change the cycle start date to Aug 30 and you will be able to see how much you used since Aug 30 and which app used the most

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Even though Android has built in data usage tracker there is significant difference between numbers reported vs. PM's counter.

For example, I did some MMS test sending few pictures based on discussion with @darlicious and few other members; Android reported 2.5MB used vs. 0.283MB as per PM.

This I would not really trust neither Android nor 3rd party trackers.

If you want to know how much data you used during your billing cycle - log in into your PM account and look there.

[softech]

@ekhekh 

did you logon to My Account and confirm the usage from Overview Tab -> My Data&Add-Ons?  there is a line about data and does it show you used 95% there?  You can ignore the text if the data usage showing there is different.  The data counter there is more accurate.

Also,    do you have an app on your phone to track the usage for comparison.  If you are on Android, it's already built in , you just need to go to the Mobile Data page and change the cycle start date to Aug 30 and you will be able to see how much you used since Aug 30 and which app used the most

[Dunkman]

@ekhekh 

How much data do you have each month?  

The PM data tracker is usually fairly accurate.  You can check the usage history from your PM self service account to see whether something unexpectantly happened.  Sometimes something in the background in your phone uses up data.  ie. update on an app.  Or sometimes Wifi cuts off and your phone uses data automatically.  

Rarely, the data tracker does not reset with plan renewal.  

If after checking usage history, you believe that there was an error.  Then you can contact customer service agent (CSA) to check.  

[t_p]

There seems to be many complaints about inaccurate data usage lately.

You could ask Customer Service for assistance via Chatbot Or Private Messaging if you're sure that the issue is not at your end.

Private Messages - Community (publicmobile.ca)