Unlimited Picture Messaging Using Up Data?

[GG8]

Hello,

I noticed that everytime I send a picture message, it's counting towards my data usage. If my plan has unlimited picture messaging, why is it using up my data?

From what I understand from reading other posts, it just shows up as data used, but it's not being counted towards my acutal data usage?? If this is the case, then how will I know how much data I actually have left, if the data usage includes the amount used in picture messaging?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Korth]

SMS/MMS attachments follow generic technical standards... they require a Data connection but do not consume any of the billable Data allocation. 

Self-Serve will record the Data events but won't charge you for them. This is what really matters. 

Your phone OS or apps might or might not include these attachments in counted Data usage. These numbers do not really matter. 

iMessage supports "nonstandard" extensions which Public Mobile (Telus) hardware won't recognize as standard traffic. So you'll be charged for them (as Data).

iMessage will default to standard formats whenever possible (based on content type, etc). But if you don't want your iMessaging to consume your Data then avoid using it outside of WiFi connections. 

[Anonymous]

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@GG8 wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I did have my wifi and data on, but I figured out what was happening. In my account, under the "overview" page, the data usage counter goes up every time I send a picure message, but when I look under the "data usage" page, it shows 0 data usage, so it seemed like I was being charged for the pictures messages.

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This is confusing. If the phone is using data in iMessage to send an MMS then it would make sense that it increments the overview counter...which is the number that matters. But then you say under the detailed logs that it doesn't show data consumed.

If the phone is sending an MMS normally then it would make sense that no counter gets incremented and the detailed log shows the MMS hit.

Colour me confused.

[GG8]

Thanks for the reply. I did have my wifi and data on, but I figured out what was happening. In my account, under the "overview" page, the data usage counter goes up every time I send a picure message, but when I look under the "data usage" page, it shows 0 data usage, so it seemed like I was being charged for the pictures messages.

[GG8]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I understand it now. In my account, under the overview page, the data usage counter goes up every time I send a picure message, but when I look under the "data usage" page, it shows 0 data usage, so it's all good!

[Haiggy]

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@GG8 wrote:

Hello,

I noticed that everytime I send a picture message, it's counting towards my data usage. If my plan has unlimited picture messaging, why is it using up my data?

From what I understand from reading other posts, it just shows up as data used, but it's not being counted towards my acutal data usage?? If this is the case, then how will I know how much data I actually have left, if the data usage includes the amount used in picture messaging?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

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Are you using an iPhone by chance? iMessage (blue bubbles) is a service that uses data, whereas SMS and MMS do not (green bubbles). If you would like to continue using iMessage and reduce your data consumption, turn on 'Low Quality Image Mode' in your Settings --> Messages.

[ShawnC13 · Accepted solution]

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@GG8 wrote:

Hello,

I noticed that everytime I send a picture message, it's counting towards my data usage. If my plan has unlimited picture messaging, why is it using up my data?

From what I understand from reading other posts, it just shows up as data used, but it's not being counted towards my acutal data usage?? If this is the case, then how will I know how much data I actually have left, if the data usage includes the amount used in picture messaging?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

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Can you get a picture of your data usage page?  On mine as attached below you see MMS are listed as data event but not data amount listed whereas Web entries have a data amount associated with it.  What does yours look like in your self serve 

[Anonymous]

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@GG8 wrote:

Hello,

I noticed that everytime I send a picture message, it's counting towards my data usage. If my plan has unlimited picture messaging, why is it using up my data?

From what I understand from reading other posts, it just shows up as data used, but it's not being counted towards my acutal data usage?? If this is the case, then how will I know how much data I actually have left, if the data usage includes the amount used in picture messaging?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

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All activity in and out of the phone will be recorded in the usage logs. The overview page counters are the numbers that matter.

Are you saying that the overview counter goes up when you send an MMS?

Edit: can you figure out exactly how much data allegedly gets used? When you turn on data from a restart or airplane mode, the system opens a 5.293mb buffer of data. Maybe you're seeing that.

[sunflowershine]

@GG8 You need to have your wifi or data on in order to send Picture messaging. See you can have wifi instead of using data to send MMS. 

If you need to know your usage of data, you can go to "My Account" and under the overview page once you sign in. There is a summary of how much you have left for data or minutes if you have limited usage under your plan.