cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
1

Ask

2

Reply

3

Solution

Strange excessive data use on mobile broadband

jeffdawson78
4: Newbie

Hi,

I've very recently - 9 days ago - signed up to Vodafone mobile broadband 50GB plan using there mifi mobile router for use at home on my boat with our laptops.

 

As I have not used this before I have been keen to see how the speeds compare to my old Plusnet broadband and keep an eye on data usage.

I was therefore very surprised to see my account saying I had used 13GB of data over 2 nights! I checked the usage breakdown and saw a number of very strange readings of the same amount at small intervals:

 

16 Jan 2107
18:34  990.03 MB
19:33 990.03 MB
21:07 967.97 MB
21:25 990.03 MB
21:41 967.97 MB
21:57 765.02 MB
22:10 967.97 MB
22:30 199.16 MB

17 Jan 2017
07:09 11.49 MB
20.21 990.03 MB
20:35 967.97 MB
20:49 990.03 MB
21:05 967.97 MB
21:21 495.01 MB
21;28 967.97 MB
21:47 990.03 MB

22:05 234.86 MB 

 

On the 16 I did download a couple of shows from iplayer (approx 1.5GB) but nothing to use anywhere near that much data. 

I called the supprot line this morning but whilst courteous weren't able to do anything other than suggest visiting a store.

Has anyone experienced similar issues and how did you resolve it?

Thanks for any advice!

349 REPLIES 349

What an outfit! After all the hassles, and having paid the £500 while we wait to lodge a complaint, I called them yesterday having been on hold on "chat" for 30 min, to check all was okay. I wanted to be sure when it reset overnight last night that we would be back to our 50Gb allowance and not the rip-off rates. I was assured that it was and all would be fine today.

Well here is a shocker for everyone - IT IS DISCONNECTED! Aparently due to exceeding our data allowance - classic!

Currently back on hold with 1 of my many new South African friends who keeps telling to that is it sorted and to restart it. You'll guess the outcome of that.

Update - Got it going after 20 min.

All fair enough if I hadn't been assured yesterday that this would not be the case!

Just a wee update to add - just been told that it is not possible to put a cap on usage with data contracts. She "will pass on my feedback" that this is not acceptable.

My theory is that it is making too much profit for Vodafone so why kill the goose that is laying such amazing golden eggs!

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@TomW500 

 

I had understood from your earlier posts that your contract had started quite recently? The information given here about the data caps includes "A data cap is one of the tools available in Vodafone Data Manager, and is included in all Pay monthly phone and SIM only bundles bought after 5 May 2016, and Mobile Broadband and tablet bundles bought after 28 September 2016."

 

Situations like yours are of no value to Vodafone. The damage done by a few threads like this far outweighs any short-term benefit from excess data charges. But they sometimes seem to struggle with identifying where the problem actually lies when an issue strikes a very limited number of accounts.

Hi Annie

 

Yes, 13th December, so the whole mess arose just a few days after the 30 day escape clause had ended.

jeffdawson78 @elaines35 

Hiya, I'm new to the forum. Just wanted to let you know that this happened to me in Feb-Mar last year. Got the MiFi as a stop gap (Plusnet previously actually so same as you Jeffdawson). It wouldn't work and we couldn't use the internet for anything other than checking emails and perhaps 3 youtube videos and 1 film download and I just assumed it wasn't working. 

Took the device back to the shop and was told I was out of notice period. Rang them up asking for a refund for the faulty device. The advisor told me that there was a fault in the area and monies would be refunded. I cancelled the account.

Unbeknownst to me they had recorded mega use on the device, which they told me 1 month later (mid-April by now). They claimed we had used 80GB of data in 3 weeks! 

Anyway to cut a long story short, they recorded non-payment on my credit check, my mortgage application fell through as my impeccable credit score plummeted, and they messed me around from department to department before I finally went to the Ombudsman in July. However, the Ombudsman wanted me to provide evidence and although I had requested transcripts of calls I had made to Vodafone (they refused to use email/letters) especially 2 calls where they admitted there may have been technical issues or data leakages, they had not provided me with them. And by the time I realised I could make a formal Subject Access Request, the call recordings have conveniently gone past their storage date.

So here we are and I am about to appeal the Ombudsman's decision again.

Good luck everyone- my advice is make a SAR request for all the the data and communications they hold on you in case you want to go down a complaint route in the future.

Thanks,

Kythie

Nabs
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Wow! This is unbelievable! I can't understand how something so simple can be going so horribly wrong!
I feel for you guys are are stuck dealing with this! It really should have been resolved ages ago now!

Come on Vodafone... it can't be that difficult can it! 

7 years as a Vodafone customer spending circa £80-£100 per month fairly consistently.  Then I moved home and was told I couldn't get broadband so asked Vodafone if they could recommend a solution.  They recommended a mobile dongle on a 50GB contract at a cost of £30/ month.   6 weeks later my first bill rolls in - £1650!   They claim I used 105GB.  No phone calls or text messages from Vodafone to warn me... just slam!  Warning to everyone out there, this is clearly a massive scam for Vodafone.  Be warned. 

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@Paraglider69 You'll have seen from this thread that some of the customers affected had experienced peaks of usage that fell somewhere in the range from unlikely to impossible, sometimes at times when their equipment was almost certainly off. Looking at either your online account or the "dashboard" for your dongle, are you seeing anything of this sort?

Tash
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@Paraglider69 So we can take a closer look into this, I've sent you a private message with details to contact our team directly. Once we receive your details, we'll be able to investigate further.

Interesting reading here   http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2017/07/victory-debt-write-off-for-vodafone-customer-wh...

 

Why isn`t the data cap turned on by default ?