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Help HTC One X: Data sucking, can't figure it out...

M

mrangryface

Newbie
Hey guys, new here and all that. I was searching for an answer to this last month, and ran into the problem again this week. Can't find my specific problem (or solution) anywhere.

The problem is that my phone (both the phone's usage statistics *and* the My Data Manager app) say I'm using little data, which is true. However, the carriers are saying I'm burning through data like the world is ending.

I've found plenty of people who have the problem of their phone hogging data, but in every thread I've seen, the user can clearly see this in his/her usage statistics.

Example 1: Over the course of a week in Germany, the phone's usage statistics said I used about 20mb of data. That sounded about right, as I was mostly using translate or quick web browsing. However, O2 said I used over 2gb of data.

Example 2: This week, I'm in Montenegro. Both the phone's usage statistics *and* My Data Manager show that I've used about 9mb in data. This would be correct, as I've used it for the Google Translate app and maybe for the Google Maps app once or twice, along with some light web browsing. However, the local pre-paid T-Mobile card says I burned through 2gb of data in five days.

I've checked all the apps and statistics, and nothing shows anywhere close to this much data suckage. Considering I don't use video, music streaming, or anything else, it makes sense to me that what the phone's usage statistics and My Data Manager say would be correct, or close to that. But that is not the case.

I cannot figure out what the hell is causing this, and I'm not too keen on re-upping my data if I can't figure out what the problem is. I can't exactly afford to be dropping 20 euro every week on data, especially when I don't even use very much.

Has anyone ever run into this problem, or seen it? It's driving me crazy.

Thanks!
 
I'd call O2 and try to get them to see what's been sucking up the data. If you've had multiple apps say you've only used a couple of MB, something is obviously amiss.

Have you factory reset at all? The initial sync your phone does with the gmail servers after a reset or ROM flash takes a fair whack and isn't recorded. (I'm not sure it would use as much data as you appear to have used though).
 
Yeah, HTC was no help either. I hate to say it, but it's probably not even worth a call to O2. I'm not with them anymore, and "customer service" and "Germany" don't really fare well together in the same sentence.

I have not done a factory reset at all. I've only had this phone since mid-July as well. Not sure if it helps, but I have the international version that I ordered from Amazon.de.

Regarding other apps, I have these installed. Of course, none of them are showing as using insane amounts of data as that's my issue.

Adobe Flash Player
Croatian (pro)
dict.cc
Dropbox (auto-sync is turned off)
Eng-Cro Dictionary (pro)
Google Play Books (disabling it, don't remember updating it)
Google Maps
My Data Manager
Panorama
Qype
Retro Camera
Skype
Street View
textPlus
Translate
WhatsApp
YouTube
 
Do you actually see data being sent...? like the arrows (next to your 3G icon) lighting up all day?

What you need is wireshark for android to know what data is going out your phone...

I shall have a look around...
 
jimbobcook said:
Do you actually see data being sent...? like the arrows (next to your 3G icon) lighting up all day?

What you need is wireshark for android to know what data is going out your phone...

I shall have a look around...
Click to expand...

Not particularly, but I don't pay *that* much attention to it either. I need to find out what the hell is going on haha, otherwise I'm going to end up with nothing but a very expensive cameraphone after I get done disabling everything.

Thanks!
 
Appreciated anyway. I took a few screenshots just now - as you can see, everything says my data usage is very low. I haven't even talked on the phone but for a few minutes. Argh!

usage1.jpg


usage2.jpg


usage3.jpg


mydata1.jpg


mydata2.jpg


mydata3.jpg
 
jimbobcook said:
I think you should ask for a drill down of your data bill asking what used what...
Click to expand...

I won't even try with O2 in Germany. I'm no longer with them, no longer in Germany, and they (along with every other German company) have a terrible reputation for shoddy customer service.

As for the latest problem with T-Mobile CG...I'm going to their office today; I have to reup because I'm waiting on important calls and no longer have credit. I will definitely ask them about it. We have a bit of a language barrier as I've just started learning the language here and most people don't speak English (or German or French or Spanish - so much for my previous arsenal), but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

I called support yesterday and they had an English option, but every time I pressed the button for it, it didn't register. Grrrr.
 
But at least they gave you an English option lol...

That is rather annoying... take the Google translate app incase you get issues :-/

Hope you get some answers today it would annoy the hell out of me getting random bills... Hopefully its just a cock up on their end!

Cheers
 
jimbobcook said:
But at least they gave you an English option lol...

That is rather annoying... take the Google translate app incase you get issues :-/

Hope you get some answers today it would annoy the hell out of me getting random bills... Hopefully its just a cock up on their end!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Can't use the Google Translate app without data. Unless I'm wrong...it never works unless I'm connected. So, I'll get my credit, bust out the app, and then be out of credit by the time we understand each other hahaha.

Bills would be better...at least I'd have something to compare it to and maybe get an answer. Here, I just have pre-paid and nothing from them telling me anything except that I have no more credit. Argh!

And thanks...hopefully we can figure something out today.
 
FWIW, I'm on AT&T in the states and I have the exact same issue... I use WiFi almost all the time and my phone says I've only used a small amount of data, but AT&T keeps sending me text messages warning me that I'm about to go over 2GB... Very strange...:confused:
 
Download Onavo, it'll tell you if something is hogging your data, I'd say it's pretty impossible to use 2gb of data in a few days on your data connection unless you were streaming movies.

As El said though I'd ask O2 and see what they say is hogging your data and then match it to what your phone says, I think they're getting false readings.
 
Thanks for all your replies...

gibbs1984: Would My Data Manager not tell me as well? It says everything is proper and matches what the phone's data usage says.

Jdub333: I had that problem back in the U.S. on T-Mobile. Their system was sending me warnings for my *total* data for a while, including wifi. It didn't affect my bill or anything, but it was annoying when I got the notifications for a short time. Not sure if that's what's happening to you, or if they're just screwing you like most carriers do.

Update...

I went to the T-Mobile CG store here today. The employee didn't speak much English, but someone she knew waiting in line did, so we had a translator (yay!). Before that even happened, I showed her what I bought (€20 / 2gb), and told her I was already out of data. I then showed her my usage statistics. She *instantly* nodded and pulled out some paperwork.

Apparently, this is a common problem here with prepaid mobile. She filled it all out and said the main office would call me tomorrow. She also said not to buy any more data or minutes until they work it out. Annoying as I won't be able to do anything except use wifi and receive calls (which is what I need most this week), but at least she was kind enough to tell me not to buy anything.

Hopefully, they will call tomorrow and I'll be able to find out if it was a system error or something on my phone. I will keep it updated here. Thanks again to everyone, hopefully we can track down what the hell is going on.
 
Okay...I have an update and forgot to let you guys know about it.

We finally caught the manager at the store and she invited us back to her office for a chat. We had a nice time communicating in poor Mother Tongue (Serbian et. al.) and poor English, playing charades and using Google Translate on her computer. We all had a good time and she broke out the chocolates and all that haha.

Anyway, she seems to think that my phone was connecting to T-Mobile HR (Croatia), because we're near the border an their network is much stronger. I actually don't believe that's the case, though, because I've never seen HR on my phone, and it wasn't on the list of registered networks.

Regardless, we switched the phone to manual and only registered it on T-Mobile CG. I also turned off all roaming for both voice and data.

She sent an inquiry to the corporate office about it, and is supposed to email me with an answer. I haven't gotten one and I presume that she won't ever email. I bought another €5 credit for Internet - which gets me 1gb for 15 days, gotta love that - to test it out. Of course, I forget to leave data on since I rarely use it and there is wifi most places. I'm turning it on now to see how fast it disappears.

Hopefully, this was a fluke and it was a T-Mobile HR issue, even though it never showed up on my phone. I told her I'd rather know what the problem is, even if it's with my phone, but I don't see how it can be since all my data is showing very low use.

She also thinks it was T-Mobile HR because my original €5 of voice credit was gone in under 5 minutes of talking. At 4c/minute here, that's way off.

I will keep you guys posted, and cross my fingers that it was T-Mobile HR connecting to my phone.

Thanks again for all the responses!
 
Very strange. It might explain being charged a lot, but it still wouldn't explain the ridiculously high data usage.

Keep us in the loop though, it does sound like you're getting somewhere. :)
 
Yeah, it sounds like bullsh*t to me. I feel like it has more to do with their system than anything else; although I wish it was a problem with the phone (or an app) or something more specific so I could fix it.
 
Okay so I turned my data back on like I should have. It is now out of credit. Fantastic! Of course, my phone shows that I've used 2mb of data and spent 5 minutes talking (both of which are correct with what I've actually used).

I'll be going back to the T-Mobile CG office this week to try to find out what the hell is going on. Worst case scenario, I'll just switch to Telenor. I sure would like to know what the problem is...it's so amazingly aggravating.
 
I've had autosync turned off since before I even started using T-Mobile CG. I turned it off at some point during the O2 debacle. =\
 
Okay, I have an update but not much progress.

Thursday: Went back to the T-Mobile CG office. The boss wasn't in, but one of the ladies from a previous encounter was there. I told her that I was still having the problem. The only update she had was a bullsh*t reply from the head office telling me to turn off auto-sync, data roaming, GPS, etc. Basically a bunch of stuff I already tried and shouldn't have to do, anyway. She said the boss would be in the next day.

Friday: Went back to meet with the boss. Waited over an hour, and got in there and told her I still had the problem. She pulled up an email from corporate that was the same one as above. I told her this was pointless as we'd already done and talked about all of this in our last meeting. I also got a little cheeky with her about never emailing me after she'd received that info, since I just wasted a week and another two trips over to the office.

I told her that none of the above was the problem, and that the only way I would know what the problem is, is if corporate can give me a list of what's using all the data. She emailed them back, and had me fill out a written request as well in case they came back asking for it.

She said she'd know by Monday. I've decided to go back in there on Monday morning and see if she has an answer. If not, I'm going to Telenor. I told her that I can't keep wasting money for what amounts to almost no service at all (I've spent a total of €35 and used less than 10 minutes talk, and less than 15mb data).

One thing the other employee mentioned, which I should have brought up again, was that - maybe - there's a problem with the SIM card. Getting a new SIM card could possibly fix that and would at least let me do a test.

The employee's idea seems to make a bit of sense to me, because not only am I losing all of my data credit, but I'm losing all of my talk credit. I've spent €10 total on talk time and used less than 10 minutes. All local calls. And I have no more credit. Calls cost 4c/minute here, so something is clearly wrong with everything, overall.

The only reason I didn't just go to Telenor on Friday after our meeting is because I'd walked 30 minutes to get there, spent two hours in the office, and was so frustrated with it all that I just wanted to go home after it was all said and done.

So. Many. Headaches. I really wish I could just find out what the hell is going on.
 
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