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Does MMS texting count against data allotment?

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hi - I just signed my daughter up for the $25 plan, which includes 500 mb + 500 mb (prepaid plan), unlimited Canada calling and unlimited international texting.  She starting using her phone yesterday and I checked online to see that she has already used almost 500 mb of data in less than 12 hours.  She was on wifi, so I looked a bit further online.  I say that the had MMS texts that seem to have used data that counts against her allotment.  Should this be the case?  Do MMS texts count against the allotment of data?  Thanks for the help on this one.

33 REPLIES 33

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@hycm53 wrote:

You may install this app on your daughter's iPhone.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/my-data-manager-security/id477865384?mt=8


As a general rule, I advise iPhone users not to use data monitoring apps other than the native iOS cell data monitoring, if they're at all concerned about privacy.

 

Since iOS does not allow applications to "tap into" the plumbing to measure data usage, pretty much all data monitoring/tracking/visualization apps use a VPN to proxy data leaving/entering the iPhone.  Consequently, all your data not only becomes bottlenecked through their VPN, but they use it to mine/gather usage data, etc.  They claim to anonymize it and all that, but personally, I don't feel the benefit outweighs what you surrender.

 

For anyone using this or other iOS data monitoring tools, be warned... a VPN (no matter how reputable of a company, etc.) means most/all your data gets funneled through an intermediate server, and you may want to re-think using the tool, even if it "beautifies" the presentation of your usage data.  It's much safer to just use the ugly/bland iOS data tracker... but that's just my opinion.

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@krazykiwi 

@CalgaryBen 

@stonechucker 

@mikuck23 

@hycm53 

All - Thanks again for all your amazing help and suggestions today (and also giving me a chuckle).  I found the culprit.  It was indeed the WiFi Assistant!!  The WiFi gets a little spotty in parts of the house and my daughter was doing a bunch of things (nothing bad) thinking she was on WiFi.  Turns out the WiFi Assistant switched her to cellular data.  Needless to say....I have fired the WiFi Assistant and all is well now.

 

Thanks again!!


@CalgaryBen wrote:

@Scotty2 wrote:

This gives me something to dig into when she gets home from school and I can check her phone.  To be continued once I can see data useage on her phone.  


Having a data plan for kids is a dangerous thing! Smiley Tongue  PM is perfect though, since it minimizes surprises and sticker shock.  I've turned off iMessage on my son's phone, and disabled data for almost all apps, for the very reason to avoid the spikes in data usage that you're seeing.  Somehow they "mysteriously" turn back on, even when my son swears he didn't do it!  Uh huh.


If you disable it then he wont be able to say "he didn't do it". Smiley Very Happy

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@stonechucker wrote:

@CalgaryBen, I'm sure his buddy did 😉  Or his teacher ??


... maybe his buddy is the new daughter you didn't know you had? 😉

@CalgaryBen, I'm sure his buddy did 😉  Or his teacher ??

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Scotty2 wrote:

This gives me something to dig into when she gets home from school and I can check her phone.  To be continued once I can see data useage on her phone.  


Having a data plan for kids is a dangerous thing! Smiley Tongue  PM is perfect though, since it minimizes surprises and sticker shock.  I've turned off iMessage on my son's phone, and disabled data for almost all apps, for the very reason to avoid the spikes in data usage that you're seeing.  Somehow they "mysteriously" turn back on, even when my son swears he didn't do it!  Uh huh.

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@CalgaryBen 

@krazykiwi 

@mikuck23 

@hycm53 

@stonechucker 

 

Thanks!  This gives me something to dig into when she gets home from school and I can check her phone.  To be continued once I can see data useage on her phone.  


@Scotty2 wrote:

@CalgaryBen 

@stonechucker 

@jotsang 

@hycm53 

@duffer900 - I appreacite the info greatly.  It's so odd.  I had the same iPhone on my public mobile plan and this never happened to me.  The phone my daughter has is that exact phone, as a hand-me-down.  Something I read earlier gave me a lightbulb moment.  Are you saying that the "Amount Used" under "My Data and Add Ons" is real time and the details are not?  If that is a true statement, then perhaps there are some other "pure data" activites she was doing outside of wifi like snapchat etc. that show in the "Amount Used" total but are not in the details yet.  Please confirm if this makes sense and thanks again.  


It is very possible that she is using other apps that does not show accurately in the data usage.


@mikuck23 wrote:

MMS should not use up data allotment, its most likey the wifi asssist that taps in cellular data even though you are connected on Wifi.  or you can go to data settings and check which app is using how much data to narrow it down more


This could be possible which is why I always suggest turning WIFI Assist off if you are worried about data.

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Scotty2 wrote:

Something I read earlier gave me a lightbulb moment.  Are you saying that the "Amount Used" under "My Data and Add Ons" is real time and the details are not?  If that is a true statement, then perhaps there are some other "pure data" activites she was doing outside of wifi like snapchat etc. that show in the "Amount Used" total but are not in the details yet.  Please confirm if this makes sense  


That's correct.  The amount used in "My Data & Add-Ons" is a real-time gauge of what's been consumed and what remains, and I use it in conjunction with the Current Period Cellular Data under Settings --> Cellular on the iPhone.  I rarely use the "Usage History" page for reviewing data usage since the timestamps aren't all that accurate (and are quite delayed).


@CalgaryBen wrote:

@hycm53 wrote:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html

You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:

"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”


Sorry, I didn't look at the article, but the statement is completely incorrect.  Enabling SMS and MMS messaging in no way causes accidental cellular data usage!

 

Enabling iMessage uses data.  Disabling iMessage may not be feasible/practical for avid iPhone users (but since this plan has unlimited texting, it is an option to consider)... textual data consumes very little data, but videos/pictures through iMessage will consume a fair bit of data.


This is totally correct, I have used iPhones for years now. My guess is she is using the regular messaging app with iMessage enabled when she is not on wifi and like @CalgaryBen said this will use data. Unlike what as been mentioned, DO NOT turn off "send as SMS" nor "MMS messaging". The option like Ben mentioned is to turn off iMessage. The oem app will still work it just will never send text nor MMS using data, but with that being said it will not use wifi to send text or mms either. EDIT(If you have unlimited text, then this will not be noticeable)

mikuck23
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

MMS should not use up data allotment, its most likey the wifi asssist that taps in cellular data even though you are connected on Wifi.  or you can go to data settings and check which app is using how much data to narrow it down more

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@CalgaryBen 

@stonechucker 

@jotsang 

@hycm53 

@duffer900 - I appreacite the info greatly.  It's so odd.  I had the same iPhone on my public mobile plan and this never happened to me.  The phone my daughter has is that exact phone, as a hand-me-down.  Something I read earlier gave me a lightbulb moment.  Are you saying that the "Amount Used" under "My Data and Add Ons" is real time and the details are not?  If that is a true statement, then perhaps there are some other "pure data" activites she was doing outside of wifi like snapchat etc. that show in the "Amount Used" total but are not in the details yet.  Please confirm if this makes sense and thanks again.  

@stonechucker I'm very sorry!

@hycm53, not my daughter, but @Scotty2's!

 

I think CalgaryBen may have explained things above regarding this.

jotsang
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@hycm53 wrote:

@stonechucker I Google, and I think you may need to turn off your daughter's iPhone iMessage app.


If you daugther is using iMessage in iPhone's Messages app, SMS and MMS has blue background and will consume data. Standard SMS and MMS should have green background.

@stonechucker I Google, and I think you may need to turn off your daughter's iPhone iMessage app.

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@hycm53 wrote:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html

You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:

"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”


Sorry, I didn't look at the article, but the statement is completely incorrect.  Enabling SMS and MMS messaging in no way causes accidental cellular data usage!

 

Enabling iMessage uses data.  Disabling iMessage may not be feasible/practical for avid iPhone users (but since this plan has unlimited texting, it is an option to consider)... textual data consumes very little data, but videos/pictures through iMessage will consume a fair bit of data.

Unfortunately I'm not iPhone user. But this link may give you some ideas:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/Cannot-text-without-a-data-plan-iPhon...

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Scotty2 wrote:

If everyone is saying MMS data doesn't count towards that allotment, then I don't understand why it shows against the allotment on the public modible online account. 

 

When I click on "View My Usage", it displays the MMS messages as a data events, there is a "1" in the Data Usage column.  


@Scotty2 first, the MMS data line in your usage simply tells you that an MMS was sent/received.  It shows up nearly in real-time, and is useful just to see that it's occurring and working.  It doesn't use any of the data allotment.

 

True data (non MMS) doesn't show up under usage in real-time.  It is often greatly delayed (up to 12 hours) because the counter adds up the usage over a period of time and displays it as a single line, rather than having many individual lines showing usage.  So, that's not a reliable way to monitor data usage, unfortuantely.

 

If your daughter is mainly using messaging, and using iMessage with fellow iPhone users, then she's using data.  Pictures and videos sent through iMessage uses pure cellular data, and not MMS.  If she sends/receives pictures/videos to non-iMessage users, then that will truly be MMS.  Does that jive with what could be happening?


@hycm53 wrote:

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html

You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:

"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”


@hycm53, I've just looked at that article, and the way I read it, we actually want the iPhone to send by SMS and MMS (when not on WiFi), as the MMS Data usage *should not* be charged, as it's sent through the proxy.

 

Am I misreading the article?

@Scotty2, wow, this seems strange to me, but I'm not an iPhone user, so I'm struggling with all the extra stuff.  @CalgaryBen is one of the go-to guys for this, and he's already suggested something to monitor closely on the iPhone side.

 

I wonder if CalgaryBen has any more suggestions.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-use-data-text-people-69026.html

You need to change your daughter's iPhone setting:

"To prevent accidental cellular data usage on the iPhone, open the Settings app, scroll to the Messages section and turn off “Send as SMS” and “MMS Messaging.”

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@stonechucker

@hycm53 

@CalgaryBen 

@duffer900 

 

Thanks everyone for your assistance on this.  She has an iPhone 6.  She is simply using the message app that is already on the phone.  She isn't using a 3rd party app.  Just texting her friends.  

 

If everyone is saying MMS data doesn't count towards that allotment, then I don't understand why it shows against the allotment on the public modible online account. 

 

Under "My Data and Add Ons" is shows amount used "489.36/1024 MB".

 

When I click on "View My Usage", it displays the MMS messages as a data events, there is a "1" in the Data Usage column.  

 

If public mobile is counting these as MMS texts against the data allotment online, but it's not really counting, then how would I know where she is at for the month using the public mobile account details?  

 

Again, everyone, I appreciate your help.  I'm a smart guy, but can't seem to wrap my mind around this one.  LOL!!

hycm53
Mayor / Maire

You may install this app on your daughter's iPhone.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/my-data-manager-security/id477865384?mt=8

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Scotty2 wrote:

There are no other activites that showing on her account that used data.


@Scotty2 are you able to check your daughter's phone?  Settings --> Cellular, and then scroll down to the apps list.  If you haven't reset the counters (using "Reset Statistics" at the very bottom of this screen), the "Current Period" may show a high usage... I like to set a calendar reminder on plan renewal to reset this to 0, and ensure that it remains close to the counter on the self-serve portal (it's usually within reason).

 

Anyway, apps will be generally listed in the order of data usage, starting with the highest at the top.  This will give some clues as to what app is consuming all the cellular data.

 

Also, specifically, what chat app is she using?  Things like FB Messenger and WhatsApp also don't strictly send as SMS/MMS, depending on settings.

duffer900
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

Did a little more digging and found that The data used by MMS is filtered through a proxy and is not charged, however still may show up. Sorry for the vague response. Perhaps @stonechucker can shed some extra light on this 🙂

 

 

what phone is she using?  If you're seeing usage, it shouldn't be taking it from the data-bucket.

 

On the overview page, are you seeing a value of data out of her allowed amount, and it's in usage history also?

Scotty2
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@duffer900 , @stonechucker , thanks for the info.  So if it doesn't count towards the allotment, then why would it show on her account that she used close to 500 mb and the only data events listed are MMS texts?  There are no other activites that showing on her account that used data.  Pure MMS texts.  Thanks again.

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