strange data usage?

[dystatic]

hi. this past month i have had a huge amount of my data been used.  my plan just renewed on april 15th, it's for 90 days, 12GB and and within less than a month already almost half of it was gone.  currently, i only have 4GB left!  I usually dont come close to using it all up.  

I looked at the usage stats and specifically there are three days in a row that are really high

May 23 - 2044.465MB

May 24- 1841.941MB

May 25- 1432.856MB

it seems kinda screwy to me.

the only sorta thing i do is an email or two and regular internet stuff.

i have the data shut off on all my apps, except a select few that i know of and should not be causing a problem.  

if i look at the data usage stats on my phone it says that that for last month there was 7.97GB used and of that 6.14 was used up by chrome???

i just dont think i could have possibly used up this data?  there's also a bunch of other days with 500ish MB used up..   i know that a couple a months ago i used the mobile hotspot to do a 30min video conference call thing (which is the only time i've done that) and i was curious as to how much data that used up and that was not even that much. 

i guess i am wondering if this sounds messed up and also if there is anything i can do about it?  cause at this rate i'm gonna run out of data before my plan renews, which kinda sucks.

thanks!~

[dude65]

If your on the verge of using up your data limit, you can always buy a data add-on. PM has a sale on it right now $15 for 1GB.  Reg price is $30. The data add-on will never expire until you use it. Alway good to have a reserve for times you may need a little bit extra.

[dystatic]

oh.. i guess i dont know how to respond to individual people?

so i'll do a general post...

those #s of MB were what i found in my self serve, and i did mean april not may.

i havent used my mobile hotspot since march, and yes it's shut off.

i dont stream music or videos & i have auto updates for my apps disabled.

i have never watched movies on my phone.

i do not know what chorme cast is?  i am assuming it is to watch tv shows?  i have never done that, so i dont think that's the issue.   the only videos i have watched on my phone are maybe a few quick instructional videos, like 5-10min long?  and i usually do this when connected to wifi.

i tend to prefer to do this on a larger screen, not connected to my phone.

i do remember doing an update, but i think that was back in march, and i know i did it at my parents place where i was connected to wifi. 

the info about chrome being a bad browser as far as data goes is interesting.  i will have to look into that, so thanks!  but i dont think it really accounts for this discrepancy because i've always had chrome and this seems like a random jump??? 

[benfatto]

@dystatic  If you have an iPhone be sure WiFi Assist is off, otherwise your phone may use cellular data even if connected to wifi. 

[Naepalm]

@dystatic do you have your phone hooked up to chrome cast? We had a tv running on chrome cast and it used up a ridiculous amount of data every day. We stopped using it. If you are hot-spotting your phone to chrome cast I would suggest you stop doing that as it can cause an irregular amount of data to be used.

One thing to note, if you are using an exceptional amount of data, this is not a Public Mobile glitch, it is usually and almost undoubtedly the device that is the culprit. Public Mobile provides the user access to the data and their system will track what you use. The use comes from your device. So if you are finding that you are using an extremely high amount of data by just browsing email, that's a problem. If you are watching youtube videos or any videos of any kind your data will get used up very quickly.

We run our entire house on data through Fibe internet, that's the TV and other video providers included and we are using more than 1.5 terabytes a month. Video streaming in high quality will destroy any data you have.

So to recap:

1. Chrome cast - turn it off don't hotspot

2. Your device is the culprit

3. Try not to watch too much high-quality video whilst on data. 

Have a great day. 

[gpixel]

@dystatic 

May 23 - 2044.465MB

May 24- 1841.941MB

May 25- 1432.856MB

is this what it says in your self serve? did you mean April? do you remember doing an android system update around that time? it could of been an update re-downloading itself until it was applied. if you don't remember using your hotspot or streaming anything on those days it could be an error on the pm side.

[geopublic]

@dystatic  You must of been doing something to cause the Chrome numbers to be that high.

Maybe downloading photos from the cloud?  Maybe watching/downloading movies etc. There is no way that you used up that amount of data in those 3 days without doing something out of the normal.

[Triguy]

Are you streaming music or videos ?  Make sure you disable auto updates for apps.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/managing-your-data-usage

[BearFBI]

@dystatic I use either the lite mode in Chrome or Chrome Go. It's a lighter version of Chrome meant for mobile data networks. It loads a lot less data and it even tells you how much it saved. Ive saved 403MB Since April 4th. You could also try opera mini. I heard it uses 90% less data. I might end up switching to that. Its kinda extreme but it saves me a lot of data.

[darlicious]

@dystatic 

   Interesting that you say it's chrome....unless I'm listening to music on YouTube the one thing that uses a ton of data is chrome. When you use it ....chrome basically keeps all your apps open that you visit. That's even with the background data restricted so if you left it open its just chewing up data. If you don't need it you could disable it or uninstall it then reinstall if you wish but don't use it. Choose a different browser.

[gblackma]

@dystatic did you turn off mobile hotspot? Thanks.