Why is my data being consumed much faster now

[donna28]

So I renewed my $120/6gb plan back in mid sept, and I got text from PM in like late oct I've reached 75%, which doesn't make sense since I've never used that much data 1/3 into my cycle. I haven't done anything out of the ordinary with my phone data wise so doesn't make sense. Also I topped up 1gb today for $30 since I maxed out 2 weeks ago and just with some iMessage and a bit of instagram I'm already at 100mb in a day. Anyone else experience lots of data usage with minimal phone usage? I feel ever since 3G was being offered LTE is being consumed more. Wasn't like this before. If I'm going to be paying $30 to top up 1gb data when my total monthly plan is $40, not worth it to stay with PM tbh. 

[Michael77]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@acmethod wrote:

It's scary sometimes, you really never know what these things are doing behind the scenes. I'll have a look at wifi assist.

Coming from Bell, and thinking more about it,  picture and video was included in my unlimited texting, is that the case with PM? Or would pictures in texts consume data?

That could possibly be the culprit. 

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@acmethod

MMS are included in the messaging part of your plan - they don't influence your data usage (if you go into your self serve account and look at the usage history it'll say "data event" and "0MB").

If you are sending / receiving pictures through iMessage or an app like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc it will be over a data connection and counts as regular data.

As mentioned by @stonechucker, make sure that WiFi assist is off.

I personally also went through all my app settings and turned background data off wherever it's possible and makes sense. Any updates are only allowed over WiFi and I have the sync function for e-mail etc set to every 30 minutes or more (obviously depends on your needs)

This Knowledge Base article has more information about data management: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Managing-your-data-usage/ta-p/152760/j...

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@wetcoaster , this is very useful information. Thanks.

[wetcoaster]

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@acmethod wrote:

It's scary sometimes, you really never know what these things are doing behind the scenes. I'll have a look at wifi assist.

Coming from Bell, and thinking more about it,  picture and video was included in my unlimited texting, is that the case with PM? Or would pictures in texts consume data?

That could possibly be the culprit. 

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@acmethod

MMS are included in the messaging part of your plan - they don't influence your data usage (if you go into your self serve account and look at the usage history it'll say "data event" and "0MB").

If you are sending / receiving pictures through iMessage or an app like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc it will be over a data connection and counts as regular data.

As mentioned by @stonechucker, make sure that WiFi assist is off.

I personally also went through all my app settings and turned background data off wherever it's possible and makes sense. Any updates are only allowed over WiFi and I have the sync function for e-mail etc set to every 30 minutes or more (obviously depends on your needs)

This Knowledge Base article has more information about data management: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Managing-your-data-usage/ta-p/152760/j...

[acmethod]

It's scary sometimes, you really never know what these things are doing behind the scenes. I'll have a look at wifi assist.

Coming from Bell, and thinking more about it,  picture and video was included in my unlimited texting, is that the case with PM? Or would pictures in texts consume data?

That could possibly be the culprit. 

[Acekiller]

stop the video from automatically loading on apps like Reddit, Facebook.  Sometimes the setting gets resetted after you update the app.

[stonechucker]

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, so I'm going to suggest you make sure 'WiFi Assist' is disabled on your iPhone.

Unfortunately, it's a feature that works well on unlimited (throttled) data plans, but eats everything up on capped data.  It's name is wrong, as it's actually using your cellular data to assist a weak WiFi connection.  It's a setting that was originally on by default from Apple... not sure if that's the case anymore.

[acmethod]

I think i'll just monitor the data usage for a week or so, maybe this is a function of switching providers

[acmethod]

I'm having the same issue. I just joined PM last night and reset my statistics in the iphone settings app.

My statistics and the PM website don't match, ( phone is lower ). It really seems like im using data much faster, or the website is inaccurate.

I'm on a 3G plan, but i left my phone with the old setting ( LTE enabled, roaming off ), would that have any impacts?

[Michael77]

Wifi on your phone could be off and you could be using your PM data while at home.

[will13am]

@donna28, do you have a full LTE speed data plan?  The 3G speed plans seem to have data counter reset issues.  I am not totally familiar with all the faults as I don't have this type of plan.  This may be a possible explanation for the high data usage.  That said, purchasing add-on data is not cost effective. Best way forward is to get a plan with enough data.

[koimr1]

Like @Shutdown said check your phone settings as it should tell you what apps are using data and how much.

I use "My Data Manager" (I have an Android but it's available too for IOS) and it does a good job of tracking my usage and which apps are using my data.

[Shutdown]

Check your data usage in settings. It could be that your iOS started using more background data now.