Excessive Data Usage with SpeedTest

[tqtrinh]

Hello there folks!

I just activated my sim card and data.

Did a SpeedTest with Data, it just ate 300MB after two attempts after stopping when the download was over.

Is that normal?
When I do a SpeedTest on Wifi, it doesn't go over 20-30MB Download and Upload combined.

I only 500MB per 30 days and now I only have 200MB left! Did a second test because I thought the first one was a fluke because of the activation.

Also, I checked the speed and it was around 100mbps despite the plan saying it is on 3G.

What happens when you guys try? I can't wrap my head around the fact that it does it only on Data and not Wifi.

[darlicious]

@bunnykin 

Public mobile does note that it takes up to 48 hours to throttle the 4G LTE data speed to 3mbps in hour self serve acvount and the terms and conditions on the plans page. It's up to the customer to read them when agreeing to the ToS.

[softech]

@bunnykin   I don't think they try to make it deceptive on purpose.  From what I see, they have a scheduled job to limit the speed and only run that once a day.  

Also, it is possible they need to make sure the account is properly setup before they can limit the speed.  

But again, that is just my guess  🙂

[bunnykin]

Is it kind of deceptive to have faster speeds for the first 48 hours?  I have to wait 48 hrs to find out the real speed?  I also did a speed test and it consumed 480mb of my data limit in vain now, if the real speed after 48hrs is not reflected.

[darlicious]

@computergeek541 

I would beg to differ that running speedtests is a nonfactor. Anyone on the $15 plan should avoid this at all costs as even at throttled to 3mbps a speed test of download speed only is 8mb and with upload about 15mb. But these can add up....customers should be careful regardless of their data plan and only perform these tests at the end of their 30 day cycle if they have data leftover before renewal.

[computergeek541]

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@Roystoys wrote:

Your not wrong. I recently got a 5 g prepaid SIM card ( Vodafone) for my ZenFone 7 and had some problems so I ran quite a few speed tests from various suburbs on both 5&4 g and used more than 7 GB of my 150 GB.

A definite trap for young players. Also correct the faster the download the more data it uses eg a few speed tests from 5 g towers gave me a result just under 300 MBS but cost me almost 1 GB for one test

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Public Mobile no longer allows customers to sign up to and change to any plans that offer really fast data speeds. This is a really old message thread, and changes to the price plans make the amount of data used by Speedtest.net to be almost a non-factor for many customers (especially newer ones).  Of note is how brand new Public Mobile customers still do get full LTE speeds for the first 48 hours which can affect the amount of data used by this speed testing app.

[Roystoys]

Your not wrong. I recently got a 5 g prepaid SIM card ( Vodafone) for my ZenFone 7 and had some problems so I ran quite a few speed tests from various suburbs on both 5&4 g and used more than 7 GB of my 150 GB.

A definite trap for young players. Also correct the faster the download the more data it uses eg a few speed tests from 5 g towers gave me a result just under 300 MBS but cost me almost 1 GB for one test

[Zia_219]

This is normal, don't be alarmed. At the start of a plan, your data speed is greatly increased for reasons I am not too sure of. While doing a speed test with speeds that high, the process will use up a lot of data. If you were to do a speed test on lets say 2mb/s of data, you would use up a lot less data. 

[tqtrinh]

And yes my WiFi speed is much slower, only 25mbps/5mbps download and upload. Speedtest on Data were around 100mbps. I wish I could these data back lool. Gotta spread 200MB for the whole remaining month. 😰

[tqtrinh]

Yeah I thought about it and it definitely made sense to me afterwards, the goal of a speedtest is to test the maximum download rate, if the speed is really high, it would counter intuitive to throttle it for the sake of data saving.

[Jonavin]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

With speeds of about 100 to 120Mbps, I find that speedtest.net's app uses about 100 to 200MB per test.  Intstead of just using a fixed file size for each test, speedtest.net actually uses more data the faster your connection is.  I could not even imagine how much data would be used if the speeds got up to 300Mbps or so. Maybe 500MB, maybe 1GB?  Part of me wants to start a conspiracy theory about this. LOL.

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I was surprised when I was testing a 1GB connection it was using over 300MB of data. So it does vary with your speed. If you run speed test with Google (literally ust search “speed test” and click the button from the first result), it uses less data.

But in order to tets your speed they need to transfer data. The faster it is the more data they need to push to get a more accurate sustained rate.

[will13am]

@tqtrinh, definitely hard lesson learned.  Personally, I only do speed tests when data is bunged up.  The speed test is a troubleshooting thing.  Given the situation under which I would be doing the speed test, data consumption is likely to be very light if at all. 

Doing speed tests for cheap thrills is a thorough waste of money.  If the numbers come out to be great, the carriers would love you for gloating about the results in social media.  However, they are not going to pay you anything for the free advertisement. 

[Effort · Accepted solution]

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@tqtrinh wrote:

Indeed and why would the app behave differently on Data vs WiFi.

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For speedtest.net, their setup is an unlimited data pool and a fixed download and upload timeframe. If your data speed is incredibly fast, it will continue draining your data until the test ends. Same with your wifi which I assume was much slower than the speeds you were getting on data.

[computergeek541]

With speeds of about 100 to 120Mbps, I find that speedtest.net's app uses about 100 to 200MB per test.  Intstead of just using a fixed file size for each test, speedtest.net actually uses more data the faster your connection is.  I could not even imagine how much data would be used if the speeds got up to 300Mbps or so. Maybe 500MB, maybe 1GB?  Part of me wants to start a conspiracy theory about this. LOL.

[JL9]

Yeah it can chew up a lot. Mine was showing readings much lower than the wifi, to be expected I guess. I was getting near the 3.0 mbps, but could have just been a one off.

[tqtrinh]

Indeed and why would the app behave differently on Data vs WiFi.

[stonechucker]

@Dunkman: are you sure about that?  Slower speed data just takes longer to download.  300 MB is always 300 MB.

[Dunkman]

Yes, unfortunately, unthrottled speed will use up way more data.  If you were throttled, your data usage would be much less.  Lesson learned....

[tqtrinh]

Yeah I saw that on the forum but the data amount was nowhere near what I have. Tops 50-90MB? 

Lesson learned obviously, but is the high data consumption related to the unthrottled data?

Thanks

[Dunkman]

When you first activate, your data is not throttled.  You get full LTE speed.  It will be throttled after a few days.  

Yes, testing your data speed will use up a lot of your data allotment.  It has happened before to other members.  Lesson learned... don't test your data speed....