Data used even without any apps used?

[belisch]

Hey guys,

I'm new with PM and got the $30 plan with 500Mb of data. I'm down from a 4Gb data plan and I'm now a bean counter! I deactivated all apps on my phone to use data (unless on the wifi), but looks like it still use data according to self-serve. Any idea why? About 5 Mb/day.

[Anonymous]

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@withashout wrote:

If you turn off data, then you won't receive cellphone calls nor text messages, right?

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Incorrect. Data is for internet and picture texting. You will otherwise get phone calls and texts (non-picture and assuming of course that you have a talk and text plan).

[withashout]

If you turn off data, then you won't receive cellphone calls nor text messages, right?

[srlawren]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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But to answer this one: Your data connection needs to be on to send and receive MMS. However, sending and receiving MMS doesn't count towards your data allotment.

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@wetcoaster I think the concern is around incidental data usage while having mobile data enabled for MMS.

@belisch have you considered using something other than MMS for sending pictures or group chatting with friends and family?  Something like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger (or Skype, or Signal, or Slack, or Hangouts, or BBM, or WeChat, or Line, or probably like dozens more I'm forgetting) can be used 100% over WiFi without needing to turn on mobile data and will also give you better experience (less compressed multimedia sharing, if that's what you're doing, and/or way better group chats if that's what you're using MMS for).

[JL9]

Lol I second that ☝️🤔

[wetcoaster]

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@belisch wrote:

Will I be able to send MMS (pictures) even without the data enabled?

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Why is this marked as the solution to the initial question? I don't get it...

But to answer this one: Your data connection needs to be on to send and receive MMS. However, sending and receiving MMS doesn't count towards your data allotment.

[teachingedumom]

My husband's android phone seems to do the same thing every so often. What I am finding is that once any updates have taken plance (on wifi), I have to go back into his android settings and do two things: 1. for each individual app disable "background" data use. 2. Disable general updates and data use. 

When doing this, I even found that although I had disabled every single app, it still showed that one app had permission to use data. It took a bit of sleuthing to find out which one it was that did not show up in the regular app list, and I removed. 

[popping]

No.  You need data to send photo MMS.

But I found out that I can still receive photo with my data disabled. I ended up paying data overage charge for that photo.  But that was on Rogers network.  I am not sure that it will work with PM.

[belisch · Accepted solution]

Will I be able to send MMS (pictures) even without the data enabled?

[popping]

The OS comes with app too.  You disable mobile data and enable it when you need to use data because the OS will use some data even you are not using any data.  It is safer to disable mobile data until you need it.