Just added 200mb add on data and it used 5.293mb of data

[orangelegobrick]

I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data?  What gives?  I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page.  My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data.  Most of the time I am within wifi range.  Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

[RobertQc]

@powerg21  Speed tests will do that, the faster the connection the more data they use. Glad to hear you have sorted it and are handling your data usage

[Anonymous]

 @powerg21 

So there you go. Another challenge shot down in flames.

To all and sundry...keep on keeping any service provider honest. Always.

[powerg21]

I have been on Telus for 15+ years and I regularly check my data usage. As you suggested, I checked into why my data usage (after switching to PM) seems to be so high so quickly. The reason was all the SpeedTests I was doing when O got the new account. I forgot it takes up so much data doing these test. In my case, 325MB according to my *gargage* system app.

My phone is already optimized to use as little data as possible. And when I am at home, it automatically switches over to wi-fi so i shouild never experience high data usage. The only time I ever nearly drained my data is when I got a new phone and for unknown reasons it downloaded all my APPS in my new phone at the store. Typically the setting to download APPS is set to wi-fi only and the Telus agent said that was the case. Luckliy Telus gave me 1Gb of data to help me through the rest of the month (my plan only had 2.5Gb) at the time.   

[RobertQc]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 and I use the standard functions that came with the phone.  

To change my data range cycle I go to:

Settings - Connections - Data Usage - click on the cog beside by date range cycle - start billing cycle on.   This is where I can set the start date.   Woops there is no end date.   It automarically sets the end date to 1 day less than the start date (eg. Feb 12-Mar 11).

---

@powerg21  Exactly, thats the stock app, thats garbage like I said. It's on a monthly cycle not a 30/90 day cycle.

[RobertQc]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

For some reason I go through data a lot faster than I was on Telus. It;s only been a few days in my cycle and the system says I've used up 700MB.  When I was on Telus, my monthly averages would be 2-3Gigs. The max I hit was 7.08Gigs       

---

@powerg21"For some reason"? Your fancy app should tell you? What does it say? What apps used what? You are still on the telus network. Netflix uses 1gb per hour and if you put it in HD it uses 1gb in 20 minutes. 1 game update can use up your entire data plan. In terms of “content” 1GB is almost 0 these days. Where my internet is unlimited, I typically use between 1000gb and 4500gb monthly.

Just because "you" are sleeping, doesn't mean your phone is. Maybe your map was updating. Maybe facebook was doing something, maybe the app store was installing the new version of samsung pay or uber, maybe your pictures were being backed up to the cloud, calender sync, contact backup, etc or some other app (even if you don't use it, or even know that its installed). Maybe it was a malicious app stealing your identity. Maybe a sync went into a loop.

I don’t mean this to be rude but take responsibility for your phone and look into each individual app and see where the data has been used or accept that it will do anything it wants without you giving it permission while you are sleeping. Maybe one day it will use 1000mb the next day it will use 0. Many things that use data on the phone are not regularly scheduled. Get a firewall. Disable background data for apps that you don't want to access. Uninstall apps that you don't use. Root your phone, Install a custom operating system. Disable auto-updates, etc

[powerg21]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 and I use the standard functions that came with the phone.  

To change my data range cycle I go to:

Settings - Connections - Data Usage - click on the cog beside by date range cycle - start billing cycle on.   This is where I can set the start date.   Woops there is no end date.   It automarically sets the end date to 1 day less than the start date (eg. Feb 12-Mar 11).

[powerg21]

For some reason I go through data a lot faster than I was on Telus. It;s only been a few days in my cycle and the system says I've used up 700MB.  When I was on Telus, my monthly averages would be 2-3Gigs. The max I hit was 7.08Gigs       

[RobertQc]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

I can specify the start and end dates for my data usage range. If there is a delay in reporting, then why does PM's system report a higher usage than my phone.  Also the diffenece between the two gotten bigger over 2 days. 

---

@powerg21  So this must be a 3rd party app then. What app are you using? Do you use privacy guard,app ops or anything similar? Did you allow this 3rd party data program FULL access to everything? Most of the 3rd party aps don't record all of the data, especially when we start talking about the kernel, they are designed to only monitor a select list of apps and not the shell

Unless they have access at a sim card level, its going to be inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

I can specify the start and end dates for my data usage range. If there is a delay in reporting, then why does PM's system report a higher usage than my phone.  Also the diffenece between the two gotten bigger over 2 days. 

---

Many a challenger have come and gone challenging the counters here. All very good to keep an eye on a system of course.

But each time, something else seems to be the cause of the discrepancy.

[powerg21]

I can specify the start and end dates for my data usage range. If there is a delay in reporting, then why does PM's system report a higher usage than my phone.  Also the diffenece between the two gotten bigger over 2 days. 

[Anonymous]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

My phone is a Samsung and I can specify the start and end dates of the cycle range.    

---

Sure. Useful for a plan with data. But this thread is about add-ons.

[powerg21]

My phone is a Samsung and I can specify the start and end dates of the cycle range.    

[Anonymous]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

My Andtroid phone also keeps track of my data. I know they are not synced with PM's network so the numbers are different. Yesterday the difference was 20MB.  Today the difference is more than 100MB!  It's ether a glitch in their system or PM's data tracking is a lot different than my phone's tracking.    

---

Remember that your usual phone data tracking is likely based on a month. The add-ons of this thread stay until used up so there's no real time frame.

Also, there's a delay in reporting data usage. If you flip in and out of airplane mode I think you can trigger the settling of the score.

[RobertQc]

---

@powerg21 wrote:

My Andtroid phone also keeps track of my data. I know they are not synced with PM's network so the numbers are different. Yesterday the difference was 20MB.  Today the difference is more than 100MB!  It's ether a glitch in their system or PM's data tracking is a lot different than my phone's tracking.    

---

@powerg21  Are you using the stock andriod software? It's difficult to do without using software designed for a 30/90 day plan because PM is 30 days, not a month, so the built in andriod tracker messes up the amounts as the amount of days in a calender month change vs each renewal period. Look up software called "PM Data witness"

[powerg21]

My Andtroid phone also keeps track of my data. I know they are not synced with PM's network so the numbers are different. Yesterday the difference was 20MB.  Today the difference is more than 100MB!  It's ether a glitch in their system or PM's data tracking is a lot different than my phone's tracking.    

[Anonymous]

---

@Doonerz wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞

🙂

---

@Anonymous I read every post - probably my downfall - over-information! Sorry if I didn't make the proper quote - I'm new to this community thing - I'll get the hang of it!

---

Oh I was just having a stupid little whine. Not to worry. I'll get over it. 🙂

[Doonerz]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞

🙂

---

@Anonymous I read every post - probably my downfall - over-information! Sorry if I didn't make the proper quote - I'm new to this community thing - I'll get the hang of it!

[Anonymous]

Apparently what I wrote was tl;dr 😞

🙂

[Doonerz]

---

@CalgaryBen wrote:

---

@youbme wrote:

simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

---

Great little test!  Thanks!  It (somewhat) explains why I've never seen 0 consumption in the counter after a new billing cycle begins, or when a data add-on is applied on a dataless plan.  It's always been 5+ MB.  It also might explain why I once hit my data allowance (according to the counter), but was able to "squeeze" a bit more out at the end before completely depleting it!

Okay, one mystery solved.  Another mystery is the 0 MB data data usage occurring in the Usage History daily (as long as the phone is turned on) at the same time each day.  I thought it might be the phone "checking in", but now I think it's PM registering that the device was on during the day and acquired an IP address... anyone else know?  Does this happen for you Android users out there as well?  One of my kids has the $10 plan with no data, and I use the 0 MB data usage in the history to see if his phone's been charged and turned on (not in real-time, but I'll easily see that his phone has been off for days at a time).

---

Great mystery solved! I noticed the 5.xxx data use for my first month of use as well. Was curious as to how the data could be used (even looked through data usage on self serve). I am on the $10 plan and have an iPhone as well.

Love this community for answering even the most obscure questions!

[CalgaryBen]

---

@youbme wrote:

simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

---

Great little test!  Thanks!  It (somewhat) explains why I've never seen 0 consumption in the counter after a new billing cycle begins, or when a data add-on is applied on a dataless plan.  It's always been 5+ MB.  It also might explain why I once hit my data allowance (according to the counter), but was able to "squeeze" a bit more out at the end before completely depleting it!

Okay, one mystery solved.  Another mystery is the 0 MB data data usage occurring in the Usage History daily (as long as the phone is turned on) at the same time each day.  I thought it might be the phone "checking in", but now I think it's PM registering that the device was on during the day and acquired an IP address... anyone else know?  Does this happen for you Android users out there as well?  One of my kids has the $10 plan with no data, and I use the 0 MB data usage in the history to see if his phone's been charged and turned on (not in real-time, but I'll easily see that his phone has been off for days at a time).

[youbme]

For those who may be skeptical about 'ghost data', simply login to your self serve account, look at how much data it says you've used with your phone fully connected to the network. Then put your phone on airplane mode and reload your self-serve page. I just checked and my data usage dropped by exactly 5.293 mb. After turning off airplane mode and reloading the page, the data returned!

So, while I agree that we should be vigilant, as corporations have a history of cooking numbers to squeeze out more profit - I really don't think this is one of those cases, at least from what I have observed.

[RobertQc]

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/privacy-legal

"All data usage is rounded up each session to the nearest kilobyte."

If a data session closed each time data was used, then there would be 1000's and 1000's of rounding operations per day since our phone is using data all day long even extremely small amounts. Syncing, check for updates, location data to google, usage history, weather, etc etc

In my findings. Once the data session is opened ~5mb gets added. We can refer to it as "ghost data". Once the data session is closed (hours, overnight, 12 hours,etc) the 5mb data usage will be removed and it will be updated accurately.

Please read through this thread when I started keeping track since it was something I had noticed daily.

[computergeek541]

---

@slash407 wrote:

i seen this to much....alot of the oracles will insist its ur apps or u got auto updates over data etc and mayb they are right but big companies are also known to tamper in the companies side.............gas stations are known for doing this, car wash spots, cable companies and im sure telcomm companies arent any different.......again dont know ur details and dont care, all im saying is that big companies are known for cooking the books...so even if u go overboard abit, they'll push it even more, time in and time out 

---

Slash407, I'm not saying that you're necessarily wrong, but how can you say this is happening at Public Mobile without providing some type of proof?   I will admit that consumers have long been suspicious of such billing activities.

You say Oracles will say it's the apps that are consuming the extra data because of badly programmed software.  That's because that usually is the case.  I'm not sure why would single the Oracle team out when we are customers just like you.  We don't know own shares in the company (at least I don't), so I have no incentive for encouraging Public Mobile to overcharge on payments or make customer use up add-ons any faster.

When I think about it, right at the onset of the activation of this data add-on, that would be a rather strange time for "cooking the books" as you say.  Why wouldn't they just gradually exxagerate  the usage, instead of right at the beggining if they were going to do something deliberate?

[Zy]

Ya it’s weird happens to me also, my plan just got renewed I’m on the 2016 120/12g plan, I still had 700mb left after it renewed it some reason consumed 5.xxx mb of data also.  But after I checked the data usage it says it was “ on hold “ 

[Psygineer]

---

@ShawnC13 wrote:

---

@Psygineer wrote:

---

@orangelegobrick wrote:

I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data?  What gives?  I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page.  My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data.  Most of the time I am within wifi range.  Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

---

It was probably your phone itself doing it. You likely have system apps (or apps you installed) that bypass data disables. I know I have used over 2MB this month and have not had data turned on since November. If you have not had data before or recently, it's likely you had a few things your phone felt needed done over data right away. Maybe like an MMS text sent to you previously? Those require data to view, check any old messages you couldn't see before and see if they are displaying now.

---

@Psygineer, you just need data turned on and you would be able to send and receive MMS even if you have no data in your plan.  It won't use any data out of a data plan

---

That's good to know. That means I have some trouble shooting for my mother's phone. She can't open my MMS texts her data is turned on but doesn't have a data plan.

[Anonymous]

 @orangelegobrick

I'm liking @youbme's findings. I have a data add-on. When I turn it on it will automatically

check 3 email boxes. Of which I cleared of new messages before trying. I suppose there could be other things in the background but I usually turn those things off.

I had a number to start and a number after.

The difference was 5.293 precisely.
The "Web" Call Type isn't even showing up in the details but it did immediately show that change in the overview.

I seem to recall wondering about this. Then I think I didn't really care as it's inconsequential.

To the OP...have a look now since it's been a while. It may have dropped back down. I also seem to recall it dropping. Perhaps after it figures out the actual consumption rather than a buffered amount.

I just did this quick test now but I haven't looked at it in a while to remember that it dropped. I just think I remember that it did 🙂

Edit: Yup. I wondered if it was going to figure it out at midnight ET but a couple minutes in and it didn't. So I went into Airplane mode and back and lo and behold it dropped back down to have used 0.083mb on that quick test.

Still not showing in details though as of this edit.

A quick google and someone on the Koodo forum asked the same question and someone answered saying something about "data reservation". So apparently it's a thing.

[cavemantoronto]

---

@orangelegobrick wrote:

I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data?  What gives?  I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page.  My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data.  Most of the time I am within wifi range.  Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

---

Could there be a glitch in the self service system causing it to the count to not start from 0?   This shouldn't happen, but it wouldn't surprise be from what I've read about glitches.

[ShawnC13]

---

@Psygineer wrote:

---

@orangelegobrick wrote:

I just added 200mb of add on Data to my talk and text plan, and immediately it used up 5.293mb of data?  What gives?  I saw this right away when it went back to my overview page.  My phone even has its data turned off, and I only turn it on when I need to use data.  Most of the time I am within wifi range.  Public mobile you owe me 5.3mb of data!

---

It was probably your phone itself doing it. You likely have system apps (or apps you installed) that bypass data disables. I know I have used over 2MB this month and have not had data turned on since November. If you have not had data before or recently, it's likely you had a few things your phone felt needed done over data right away. Maybe like an MMS text sent to you previously? Those require data to view, check any old messages you couldn't see before and see if they are displaying now.

---

@Psygineer, you just need data turned on and you would be able to send and receive MMS even if you have no data in your plan.  It won't use any data out of a data plan

[youbme]

I was curious and did a search on the forums here for 5.293, turns out that you aren't the only one who has noticed this. I do remember numerous discussions a couple years back about this topic as well. Two broad conclusions were made; 1) there may be a buffer used by PM when counting data, the counter has this buffer when you have data turned on; 2) as mentioned already, there may be processes in the background that override your disabling of data to 'check-in' with the network.

All in all, you should notice the numbers align more accurately with your phone's counter. I've found that usually my counter is higher than Public Mobile's by the end of the month.

Here is one of the threads from three years ago:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/I-started-off-with-5-293-4096...

[will13am]

@orangelegobrick, some phones like iPhones have WiFi assist features that consume mobile data even when WiFi is turned on.  In any event, Public Mobile does not owe the customer anything.  They did not do anything wrong.  Providing data to a customer's phone when requested is their obligation.