Text messages are using my data?

[mobileguy]

Starting a new thread here as my previous one doesn't fit anymore.  So i've been trying to figure out where my data usage was coming from.  And now it looks like it comes from my text messages?  I don't think it does but after what I saw this morning, maybe it does?  My mobile data usage was zero yesterday according to the app “My Data Manager”.  After sending and receiving some MMS messages, I saw that my data usage started going up.  I checked immediately after messaging so I'm sure this was causing the data usage.  Then I went into my usage history on PM and checked.  The history showed each transaction as an MMS usage type with a 1 in the usage column.  I know that these type of transactions don't count towards data so I left it at that.  But this morning, I checked one more time, and the mobile data usage from last night got posted to my account.  I'm attaching two pics.  So again, I'm left scratching my head as to what's going on.  As always, your help is greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[mobileguy]

@Anonymous , I tried your steps.  My counter on my Overview page did not change.  However, the Web Event did not get posted yet.  It usually gets posted overnight and then my counter on my Overview page increases to reflect that Web Event.  That is what I tested a few days ago.  I sent myself 8mb of messages a few days ago.  The messages appeared right away as Data events.  Then the next morning, a Web Event transaction got posted for 8mb and my counter on the Overview page went up by that amount as well.

@darlicious , yes, when I send a MMS message with a picture, I can see that the system service "org.codeaurora.ims" is using the data.  I researched this file and not much was found.  I can't disable or delete it as it's a system service that is required by Android.

[darlicious]

@kb_mv 

The only thing that popped out at me is that it helps when switching from 4G to 3G for calling., So it's there to help with that transition in your calling app and I assume that would include voip and apps like WhatsApp or Text now.

[kb_mv]

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@darlicious wrote:

 Best to check with the tech savvy here about whether this is advisable......this is not my area of expertise.

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@darlicious I read up on this file as well and like you, am lost lol. I can't find any definitive answer as to what EXACTLY it does. Hopefully there is tech savvy person who can chime in.

[darlicious]

@mobileguy 

Your data usage is from org.codeaurora.ims you will have to remove it to prevent it from using data. Here's a response from Reddit to a user who had it use 500mb in one day! It was created by a Linux collopaborative project for some kind of analysis......

FWIW I had the exact same issue with another codeaurora system app, I think it was time sync related? I was also using the same data usage app though, so it could possibly be a bug in that? Can you tell how much your provider thinks your usage is? I never thought to double check with them.

My provider usage was high. I definitely think my phone has a rogue process using data -- but I believe that the app is incorrectly measuring where it is coming from.

Interesting. I removed these apps on suspicion of high data usage: com.quicinc.cne.CNEService and com.qualcomm.timeservice. If I recall correctly, the first is supposedly used to ensure a smooth handover of data consumption when switching between 3/4G and wifi, and the second is to do with time syncing. However, I have never noticed any issue from having these apps removed.

Regarding your other comment about some other app 'taking them over' - it doesn't even need to be that complex. These apps could just be badly coded and you've somehow found one of their bugs. It happened to me when I went abroad. Annoyingly, the one time when data and battery were both at a real premium, these apps started sucking them both! As I said I removed them completely. You will need to be rooted to do that.

 Best to check with the tech savvy here about whether this is advisable......this is not my area of expertise.

[Anonymous]

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@mobileguy wrote:

@darlicious @Anonymous , yes, the usage counter is reflecting the actual Data Events in my usage history.  I added everything up a few days ago and the actual usage (Data Events) versus my usage counter are the same.  That's why I would like to get a clarification as to why this is happening.  Thanks.

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But then the net amounts after the buffer clears are so small that they could simply be the mere act of connecting to the network and doing some back and forth of sync'ing and checking. If you're sending hi-res pics then do those amounts coincide with the counter? If the byte-size of the pic is reflected in the usage then you might have something.

I just think this is way too much of a rabbit hole (squirrel hole? 🙂 ) to bother with.

Any device connecting to a network is going to use a little data doing so.

Edit:

turn off cell data

turn on airplane mode

refresh overview page

note data counter

turn off airplane mode

send a pic of a known byte-size via text (MMS) (it won't send yet)

turn on cell data (maybe bump the MMS to go... not sure) hopefully off it goes

turn off cell data

turn on airplane mode

refresh overview page

What does the number show now in relation to what you actually did?

[darlicious]

@mobileguy 

Then it's moderator time!

[mobileguy]

@darlicious @Anonymous , yes, the usage counter is reflecting the actual Data Events in my usage history.  I added everything up a few days ago and the actual usage (Data Events) versus my usage counter are the same.  That's why I would like to get a clarification as to why this is happening.  Thanks.

[darlicious]

@mobileguy 

Yes....and @Anonymous said it before I could its not what your phone says its what the data counter says in your account that's important. Is it reflected there? If it isn't its not worth fretting over. I'm curious what's causing it.......but not enough to ask the question. I thought it was worthwhile to show you that I have the same thing happening as you.....

[Anonymous]

 @mobileguy 

But does the overview page counter increment? Not your phone. Not usage details. The self-serve overview landing page.

[mobileguy]

@Jb456 @darlicious , Regardless of whether I have RCS turned on or off, when I send a MMS message with or without a pic, it automatically gets recorded as a Data Event transaction.  However, for those messages with pics, I see my mobile data counter going up on my phone.  And the next day, whatever is shown on my mobile data counter gets logged as a Web Event transaction on my PM usage history.

Bottom line is this.  Aren't text messages supposed to be unlimited.  Meaning that they shouldn't use data no matter how you're sending text messages (with or without pics).

Forgot to mention @Jb456 , when I'm in a group chat with 2 other people, if I send an MMS message, 3 transactions appear in my usage history.  All 3 originating by me.  And Destination would be myself, and the other 2 people.  When I receive a message from someone, I get 1 transaction posted with Originating and Destination showing as me.

[darlicious]

@Jb456 

I had taken these screenshots of my bf's account after he had run out of data trying to figure out what the usage is from ( it's obvious in these shots its not MMS) so what would it be? I haven't been worried about it since its not reflected in the usage in my account nor in the bf's because he had run out if data at this point. Sorry i dont have dates but this is over a week or so.....in time.This is the last day he had any plan data left.

[darlicious]

@Jb456 

Remember this is a flip phone and there is no data usage reflected in the counter in my account. This also would occur in the bf's account when he would have no plan or add on data on his account. Just mobile data turned on.

[Jb456]

@darlicious  looking at your screenshot something else used that data and it is not due to the MMS pictures.

The MMS pictures all display correctly as a Data Event.

The first bottom "web" has a date of October 6th the two data events below and the two above are from the 7th.  So looks like a delay in that usage showing in your history from something that connected to actual data on the 6th and used 0.133Mb of data. The top one is also out of place (the time) and used 0.053 mb of data for something but not an MMS.

That's 53 kilobytes and 133 kilobytes. Even a simple screenshot takes more kilobytes then that so definitely not an MMS picture.

[darlicious]

@mobileguy 

I have the same thing occurring in my $10 account. Normally this account I rarely used but the bf has been using it since he lost phone (yes again #5/1 yr). So I suspended his account and let him use my number in my back up flip phone. While possible to use google he never has so the data is turned on for MMS. As you can see there are regular WEB data usage updates (as there was in his account when he would run out of data) but it is not recorded in the data usage counter in my account. It's just there.....and shows up whether you have data on your account or not.

[Jb456]

@mobileguy  I did another RCS test last night and got the "web" today. That seems to be working as it should considering RCS uses wifi/data and nothing to do with the traditional text system. I was also charged the data used accordingly.

It also does not display anywhere in my account that I sent a picture to someone nor a phone number of who I contacted. Again working as it should as it does not use the text system.

I think for yourself what might be causing some confusion is your group chat when you had (or still have RCS turned on). Not everyone has RCS, even know of RCS or have RCS turned on. It's not on iPhones either. I have over 100 contacts in my phone and maybe 8 to 10 people have RCS. So when you have been group chatting it's likely that both the RCS and traditional text system are being used at the same time. Whoever has RCS on gets them through RCS which uses wifi or data and would show "web" if data was used on not wifi and whoever does not have RCS gets it through the traditional texting system which shows as a "data event".

As for your originating# / destination # showing the same (your number) that may simply be how it displays in a group chat because there are multiple numbers in the group chat ( I don't have any groups chats to test that part)...so your group chat some are getting it as RCS (causing data to be consumed and showing web) and the others are getting it through traditional text system showing a data event and one number for originating/destination cause it's a group chat. 

If you have RCS turned off and send a friend ( one single person ) a MMS picture or just a text SMS it would show data event with your number as originating and their number as destination.

This is like iPhones with iMessage. If a group chat was going on and in the group people had Androids the iPhone users would get the message through iMessage using wifi or data and the Android users would get a traditional message through the standard text system.

The other way to have both your number showing on orginating/destination is if you text yourself.

So turn OFF rcs and leave it off. I send quite alot off picture texts and never charged data for them and they all show as a data event/MMS. Never use RCS actually forgot about it until this topic came up.

I don't think PM mods can help you in anyway with these data amount charges if you been using RCS. Since RCS uses wifi/data. Also if wifi assist is turned on (may be called network switching or adaptive wi-fi) where if wifi network is slow or having issues the phone automatically connects to mobile data on its own you should turn that setting off.

What you want to do is completely turn off RCS. You may also want to consider having a live chat with Samsung support to go through your phone settings to ensure everything is set up properly that you don't consume data for no reason.

Link below for Samsung live chat.

https://chatbot.samsungcs-canada.com/chatbot?source=dotcom

On another note incase you were not aware. If you use WhatsApp or similar apps where you can  text, pics, call, group chats with your number. Those use wifi/data also.

[mobileguy]

@Jb456 , thanks for the follow up.  So are you saying that if you have RCS turned on then when sending MMS with pics will show up on your usage history as a Web Event and thus counts toward your data usage?  And if you do the same with RCS turned off, then nothing shows up anywhere.  I've had RCS turned off for the last 2 days and the MMS I'm sending with pics are still showing up as a Web Event on my usage history.

[Jb456]

@mobileguy  so I did another RCS test last night. Got the "Web" this morning. As it should be working since RCS uses wifi/data.

Due note sending RCS does not show anywhere that I even sent a picture message or to who. Nothing.

edit- Sent in error wasn't complete.

[mobileguy]

@Jb456 , thanks for getting back on this.  I sent 8mb of messages with pictures yesterday and they all showed up as one Web Event this morning.  I did notice that all my MMS transactions show my number as both the Originating and Destination even for those MMS messages that were sent from someone else.  But I doubt if that has anything to do with this.  Wondering if I need to get a Moderator involved?  You didn't see any Web Event from yesterday?  Mine doesn't replace the original Data Event.  It gets created as a separate transaction.

[Jb456]

@mobileguy  no change. The 2 pics and video I sent to myself still show as "data event"

 

As for the  2 RCS pictures nothing displaying for them. I ended up using data after that so can't confirm where the missing 1.5ish MB went. Likely combined with the other data I used.

[Jb456]

@mobileguy my two picture texts and 1 video how I normally send (RCS OFF) all display in my account as it should as a data event.

I then sent two pictures via RCS one on wifi one with data. My data went up 1.5ish mb and these events be it data event or web are no where to be found as of yet

Will let u know tomorrow

[mobileguy]

@Jb456 , thanks for the update.  Yes, the same thing is happening to me.  I am going under the assumption that the text message you sent with a pic was sent as MMS?  If yes, then that transaction would show up almost immediately as a Data Event.  However, for me the Web Event transaction only shows up the next day.  And even funnier, it shows up as the time I originally sent the message.  So when you check your usage history tomorrow, please make sure you go back to today's date.  Let me know if you see a Web Event.

I'll turn off my RCS for the next few days and see what happens.  But I did run that test earlier today with RCS on and off and under both options, sending an MMS text with pic consumed some data.

[Jb456]

@Anonymous  it took 11 minutes for overview page to update my data usage. So it's not always "Immediate" as you said. 

Overview page shows usage and that still does not show in my usage history. Weird.

@mobileguy 

Just to go back on what I've done.

RCS off 

• Sent myself 2 pictures
• Sent myself a 34mb video

No change in data and all 6 (3 outgoing/3 received) listed as a "data event /MMS"

RCS on with wifi

• Sent a friend who has RCS a picture.

Nothing anywhere in usage showing I sent them a picture. 

RCS on with wifi turned off using only data.

• Sent a friend who has RCS a picture.

Nothing anywhere in usage showing I sent them a picture.

One thing I noticed is my data did jump up after using RCS. As mentioned to z10user it took around 11 minutes for my overview page to update but it did indeed jump up 1.5MB ish.

When I said I am still waiting for PM site to update for me. I was waiting for it to show in my usage history of where that 1.5ish MB went. It still has not updated usage history so I have no idea at this moment where it went.

The weird thing is that the amount of data used and is unaccounted for. Is very close to the size of the picture I sent my friend through RCS. I'm missing 1.591 MB of data and the pic I sent was 1.57mb.

So as you said I will check tomorrow if that new "web" data event displays in my usage history. As of 2:20pm it still does not displayed.

If it does end up displaying (which I kind of believe it will now that I have data unaccounted for) then I would have to say that it's your RCS feature being on that is using data.

Can you keep RCS completely off for the next few days? To see if there is any change?

[mobileguy]

@Anonymous , yes, i did that too.  I checked my plan just to make sure that text messages also included pictures and it does.  So somehow, somewhere, sending texts with pics is getting added as a web event.  

[Anonymous]

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@mobileguy wrote:

@Anonymous , I went through all my Web Events this month and added them up and they match the total for my usage on my "Overview" page.

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It's that the overview counter is about immediate...not delayed like the usage details. Toggling airplane mode resets the counter for your testing.

[mobileguy]

@Anonymous , I went through all my Web Events this month and added them up and they match the total for my usage on my "Overview" page.

[Anonymous]

All this web event and data event talk and delays in the reporting thereof...all that matters is whether the front page overview data counter is being incremented. As soon as data is turned on, the system grabs a buffer. Then apps in your phone sync up to whatever they want to sync up to while connected. This can happen on wifi too. Then overnight or if you toggle airplane mode on/off the buffer resets your counter back down to what was actually consumed of that buffer at that moment.

Cell data needs to be on to send/receive MMS. Groups use MMS. If you want to continue testing to observe the counter then use airplane mode. The reporting in usage details is delayed.

[mobileguy]

This is an example of what I see everyday.  I'm in a group chat with a couple of relatives and we usually send each other pics of our dinners.  As you can see, the MMS texts appear as Data Events, but then the next day, the Web Event transaction appears.  So there is definitely something on my phone that is actually using data when sending MMS texts with pics.

[mobileguy]

@Jb456 , yes, looking back at my usage history, I now see that whenever I send a MMS message with a pic, it gets counted as a Web event.  It usually takes the next day for this to show.  But the Data event transaction gets posted immediately.

@will13am , I always have Mobile Data on my phone off.  Although, the option to send MMS messages when Mobile Data is off is set to ON.  If this option is off, then I am unable to send MMS messages.

I really don't know or maybe I just don't understand.  All I know right now, is that when I send an MMS message without a pic, I don't get charged a Web event.  But if I send an MMS message with a pic, I do get charged a Web event...even though it takes the next day for it to show in my usage history.

[Jb456]

@mobileguy that's odd. Is it possible for next few days to simply leave RCS completely turned off? And see if anything changes.

PM site still has not updated my tests. Will check later but I did look at MMS in Sept and the still show as Data Event / MMS. They don't change to web.

[will13am]

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@mobileguy wrote:

@Jb456 , I checked my usage history and there is something that is definitely triggering data usage when I send MMS messages with a pic.  The immediate transaction shows as a Data Event.  But the next morning, the data usage appears as a web event.  This has been going on for the last 2 months.  It is the org.codeaurora.ims that is using the data.  I located the org.codeaurora.ims and it is tied to my "Phone" app and also to my "simtoolkit" app.

@will13am , if I change the group setting to SMS, then I will get individual replies which is not what I would expect.  I am not sure if that would stop the data usage as I believe all pics I send out is sent as MMS regardless.  

It is only when MMS texts contains pics that my data usage goes up.

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The app is designed as described in the settings which is why MMS is the default for group messaging.  As I said before, all MMS is routed through the MMS proxy server which exempts the data usage from being counted.  When mobile data is kept on to support MMS, it may allow other apps to consume mobile data.  Once again, if you are on WiFi, mobile data is disabled and all usage is routed through WiFi (with the exception of MMS which always go through the MMS proxy server).