NBR: Are you using more Cell Phone Data than usual?

[snshne322]

Sorry I know we're a book page, but I'm assuming most of us are regular cell phone users.

A few months ago, I started getting text messages that I was reaching my data limits. At first I had 10% left with 3 days left in the cycle, then 4, now today 11. After last month both H and I turned the cellular off on any apps that we don't frequently use or don't need to use data on. We thought perhaps it was us downloading podcasts and audiobooks, we switched them to WiFi only. We asked two of our friends randomly if they were experiencing the same thing and after looking at their usage, they found the same. Including now getting the text messages.



H called Verizon today and they claim that it's not Verizon specific, but that many apps are now using data in the background. I have WiFi at work and at home and she specifically called out my line as using a lot of social media apps that are drawing data. Of the 6GB plan that H and I have, I use 1/3 of our data and he 2/3. What gives? Sure, I could upgrade to 8GB for another $8 a month, but we've used this plans for years, including heavy podcast and audiobook usage.
  In the past years, we've averaged 3-4GB a month. This is a huge jump for us.


Google isn't really giving me anything that's current. I'm suspicious that some law was passed/repealed (would Net Neutrality affect this? I'm not super well versed) and I would like to ready up on it, but mostly how do I get it to stop? I'll take their suggestion and close all my apps after I use them, but I really don't want to have to add $40 to my cell phone bill to get unlimited data.



Is anyone else experiencing this? If so, how are you managing it?

[expectantsteelerfan]

I'm no help really, but I will contribute that we have Verizon, and my husband and I are the only ones on the plan, and we've had the 4gb plan forever, and we usually get close to/go over on data 1 or 2 months a year, but we were close to going over 2 months in a row and then did go over the 3rd month, and we ended up switching to an 8gb plan because we're adding my son's gizmo this month to our data too. But my husband did have an excuse for going over the 3rd month (he started a new job and it took a few days to get on their network so was using his phone all day at work without having wifi for several days). But I thought it was weird we were so close to going over so many months in a row. But as I said, I have no idea why and don't have the energy to put the effort into finding out if Verizon is screwing us over right now unfortunately.

[Gato]

I went over once last year, but I knew why (lots of GPS usage). I don't have a lot of apps, though. If this happened to me, I would get rid of as many apps as possible. And also turn off as many tracking features as possible (get rid of Facebook Messenger, for example). Good luck!

[Nonny]

Jul 23, 2019 12:50:20 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

(would Net Neutrality affect this? I'm not super well versed) 

Is anyone else experiencing this? If so, how are you managing it?

No, Net Neutrality has to do with the speeds at which ISPs deliver up data (like if they are throttling access to competitor websites to make them slow), and how they prioritize data on their networks (say giving better access to Amazon over Hulu or Netflix so streaming is nicer on some platforms than others).  It doesn't really have to do with the size of the data being served, and shouldn't increase how much data you are using.

We have Cricket (on the AT&T network) and I haven't noticed any changes to our usage, but we have about twice as much data as we ever use in a given month (they keep upping our cap) so I don't really pay much attention.

Sometimes things can sneakily eat your data without you realizing though, just because of accidental settings changes (I'm looking at you apps who update and reset settings). 

Do you upload a lot of photos/videos to any backups or social media?  Make sure it's only doing that on WiFi for things like Facebook, Instagram, iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon backup, etc....
Same with downloading music, podcasts, or books, or steaming anything - only do that on WiFi.

Turn off location services for as much as possible, so that it can only access that data if 1) it needs to, and 2) while you are using the app. GPS info can burn through a lot of data.  Waze only needs to know where you are when you are actively using the app, not all the time.  Games never need this info. And I don't need/want personalized recommendations most of the time when doing searches, so I shut that off too (some apps let you set a permanent location city, but I find that it will often keep prompting to turn on location anyway, and it can get annoying, just as a heads up).

Since it's social media that's being a big draw on your account, make sure things like auto-play videos are turned off in the app settings. Also turn on any ad-blockers available in your browser.

[snshne322]

Jul 26, 2019 14:27:35 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Jul 23, 2019 12:50:20 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

(would Net Neutrality affect this? I'm not super well versed) 

Is anyone else experiencing this? If so, how are you managing it?

No, Net Neutrality has to do with the speeds at which ISPs deliver up data (like if they are throttling access to competitor websites to make them slow), and how they prioritize data on their networks (say giving better access to Amazon over Hulu or Netflix so streaming is nicer on some platforms than others).  It doesn't really have to do with the size of the data being served, and shouldn't increase how much data you are using.

We have Cricket (on the AT&T network) and I haven't noticed any changes to our usage, but we have about twice as much data as we ever use in a given month (they keep upping our cap) so I don't really pay much attention.

Sometimes things can sneakily eat your data without you realizing though, just because of accidental settings changes (I'm looking at you apps who update and reset settings). 

Do you upload a lot of photos/videos to any backups or social media?  Make sure it's only doing that on WiFi for things like Facebook, Instagram, iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon backup, etc....
Same with downloading music, podcasts, or books, or steaming anything - only do that on WiFi.

Turn off location services for as much as possible, so that it can only access that data if 1) it needs to, and 2) while you are using the app. GPS info can burn through a lot of data.  Waze only needs to know where you are when you are actively using the app, not all the time.  Games never need this info. And I don't need/want personalized recommendations most of the time when doing searches, so I shut that off too (some apps let you set a permanent location city, but I find that it will often keep prompting to turn on location anyway, and it can get annoying, just as a heads up).

Since it's social media that's being a big draw on your account, make sure things like auto-play videos are turned off in the app settings. Also turn on any ad-blockers available in your browser.

Thanks for the explanation of net neutrality Nonny!  

Thanks for the tips as well.  One thing that it could it be my google photos.  It automatically syncs.  I didn't think to check that app!  I do have all my streaming apps to only use WiFi so I was confused how I was using so much data.  I'm not a habitual facebook user, but instagram I am and the video auto play.  I'll check that.

[aurora]

If you go into Settings, Network and Internet, Data Usage you should be able to tell which apos are using lots of data.

To answer your specific question, we've been on the 6GB shared plan with Verizon for years (several phones for each of us) and haven't noticed an uptick.

ETA tagging snshne322 since I'm late to the thread.

[snshne322]

Jul 29, 2019 22:09:36 GMT -5 aurora said:

If you go into Settings, Network and Internet, Data Usage you should be able to tell which apos are using lots of data.

To answer your specific question, we've been on the 6GB shared plan with Verizon for years (several phones for each of us) and haven't noticed an uptick.

ETA tagging snshne322 since I'm late to the thread.

Thanks aurora!

The top users are overdrive (my audiobooks) Facebook and Instagram.  I shut off my cellular on overdrive over a month ago now so I think the real users must be the social media feeds as they suggested.  I just never would have realized since I'm rarely using my phone while not on wifi, it must be using it in the background.  I've checked all my settings and it seems to be on the most reserved settings possible without turning off cellular.

We did end up upgrading to the 8GB.  It's not a financial hardship or anything, I'm just frustrated that I didn't visibly change anything and it's getting worse!