Samsung Galaxy S Series

[big_chris]

Hi

I have had a Galaxy S2 approx 6 months. I upgraded to ICS as soon as the official Vodafone firkmware was available. Since that time my data usage has increased massively.

I checked on settings>data usage and it shows that my email app , linked to my work email (not the gmail one) is the culprit. Vodafone text me last week to say I have breached my data limit of 750MB , and today I have breached 1 GB. According to my phone the email app has used 826MB of data, the next highest item is google maps with 22MB.

I called VF and they basically didnt understan.d I have already worked out the issue was email and said they can do NOTHING until my next bill is produced (7 more days). and seem to think it is a faulty phone?

I have checked my email within outlook for the period and their are no serious attachments, and my email is set to synch every hour, as it has been since i had the phone.

Any one else seen this issue?

[picadillyjim]

has it downloaded every single mail for the last three years or something?

There is a setting of how many days to sync - I think I have set it to 3 days worth. Maybe worth checking that to ensure it is a reasonable limit?

[big_chris]

Hi I took a look into the settings and this doesnt seem to be an option. In the last week i have had over 250MB of data used by the email app . Your suggestion may account for a initial lump of data

Cheers

[null123524]

Do you have the Email App set to download images as well or when you open an email do you have to click on a button to "show pictures"? That can increase the size of the email...!

[picadillyjim]

You do have a point - it would account only for the initial download of data not on an ongoing basis. Just to know the scale I checked my usage and my totakl email including exchange and the other 4 email accounts I have set up account for something like 5 MB since 1st of May.

Anyway, just for information the period to syn email is shown in the screenshot - I was mistaken I have set it up to sync 2 weeks of data.

[big_chris]

Hi

Thanks for the replies. I am using POP3 not exchange. Within the settings for POP3 I cannot find the how many days to synch option (it is not there ? )

I tried to do a screenshot pressing home and lock together but for some reason that doesnt want to work

I am running the offical VF ICS 4.03 ROM

[swarren]

@big_chris

Just a thought, try downloading (I know more usage) a third party Email app (K9 Mail is very good) and set it up and disable your accounts in the stock app, this will tell you whether it is the app that is causing the problem, try to do the initial set-up over Wifi to avoid any big lump of data being used.

My phone is connected to Wifi most of the day but to give you some idea, I have two imap accounts set to sync every hour and a Gmail account with "Push" messages set and I've used about 6Mb of Wifi data since 1st May.

Let us know how you get on.

Steve

[big_chris]

Hi Again

I wont be able to try K9 etc until tonight. However my phone tells me that the email app is the culprit. Interested to know if others had same issue

Cheers

[picadillyjim]

To capture a screenshot, press power and volume buttons together.

[picadillyjim]

And you are right, it does not seem to have a setting for limiting the downloads in the stock email app for the POP3/IMAP mails.

But for me, it only downloads 25 at a time. Maybe there is some setting somewhere if I can only fnid it.

certainly your problem seems most unusual. I have not seen this problem reported in this forums. I myself have not faced this kind of issue.

[big_chris]

Hi

See below for screenshot. It is home and lock/power  button... working now lol

As I said before the email is using the data........

[thesoupdragon]

@big_chris

Did you Factory reset after the ICS Firmware Update...?

If not this could be the reason why your email App is polling continually rather than every hour as you have set it.

I am a heavy internet user and on 3g only I struggle to get up to 500Mb in a Month!

The Google Maps usage is probably due to gps scanning alot as well?

I would certainly suggest a Reset and format the internal Storage at the same time. Then at least you know the Phone is set correctly.

Backup your phone

in the dialer type: *2767*3855#   This will Wipe, Reset and Format the phone properly.

[big_chris]

Hi SoupDragon

I took your advice and reset my phone to factory settings using the code you provided. It does not seem to have made much difference. I did the "reinstall" using a wifi connection and it updated my email list for approx last 7 dats via wifi

I am showing 137MB of email usage for 3 days 14-17 may for out and about data usage. My next highest app is drop box showing 1,34MB so this email app is a significant data user,,, yet when i check my email on my PC I have only approx 12 emails with no attachments so i am at a loss.

VF say If I call after the 18th of the month they can look at my bill (this is a ridiculous statment IMHO... they must be able to look back over the last few weeks, I am not going to hold them to the data level they say)

So... any more ideas? VF suggesting my phone is faulty but it was fine before ICS upgrade so sounds like a software issue to me

[swarren]

@big_chris

Did you have any luck trying a third party Email app to see if the problem still occured ?

Steve

[big_chris]

Hi swarren, thanks for the reply

I have not tried it.

To be honest if samsung / google and VF cannot write and test  a simple email app between them, then I will be Apples next customer. I dont see why i should have to mess about wading through apps to find out which is 'a workable solution'. Never had issues when on BB (Yes I know I had blackberry services add on) or when on previous GS2 firmware (Gingerbread ?)

I will be on the phone tomorrow to VF to see what they going to do for me.................. I am not holding my breath based on my last convo where the rep didnt understand what i was saying

[swarren]

@big_chris

I don't understand what the problem might be, as I posted earlier although I have my phone on Wifi at work during the day and at home in the evening my data usage on the ICS monitor is really small for the Email app, the only thing that appears to be different is I believe you are using POP3 and my accounts all use IMAP.

Sorry I couldn't be any more help

Steve

[big_chris]

Hi s warren

no need to be sorry. Yes it is pop3. I work across the UK (95%) and europe (5%) so wifi is not really an option during the day. My irish employer set up pop3 for my emails. I may simply remove email from my phone but as you can appreciate this is important to be in touch for work purposes etc

I will speak to VF tomorrow ....

Cheers

[ChrisWeston]

Hi, thanks for your input on my email probs. I have followed your link to this page as I too have had massive data useage since upgrading to ICS, over a Gig in just over a week.I just came out of a 'data test drive' invited by VF, so was a little confused as to why it was I was having now to pay for all this data suddenly.

Having called 191 I was advised to up my data ceiling which I did and was informed that picture attachments are data heavy and should be avoided. Other than that it was suggested I get WIFi installed at home since I use the phone a lot in the house.

So, if it is a software problem who's responsible, when will it be sorted and who pays for all the unecessary data allowance I wonder?

It's high time Samsung/Android got it's ######  together as the Americans say, they've had time enough.

More of this and my S2 will be taking a test drive out the car window!

On a lighter note I think it's great that the forum community helps resolve a lot of probs.

[thesoupdragon]

There could be so many reasons for this...

Some things to check;

Turn off - "Download pictures in emails". No need to waste data on spam!

Set attachments to download via WiFi only.

Only use imap based email services on a mobile phone. (unless you are able to configure pop3 properly)

If you use an email program on your PC, consider using Webmail via your Browser. Email Software can have many conflicting variables that interfere with the phone!

Check the email App for options like - only sync IN BOX.

[big_chris]

Hi Soupdragon

I have reviewed my email settings for the default email client  and plenty of the items you say are not in the options for selecting on or off.

As I said earlier I was using this email service and the same settings totally fine since Nov 2011 on my GS2 and overy 3 yrs before that on blackberrys with no issues.

It is only ICS that seems to be the thing that has changed. My hand are tied  to pop3 access... I work for a foreign company and my email server is set up by them, abroad.

I would take my fone to the VF store but I would expect to queue 30 mins and the adviisor to be clueless.. after all, they are 'sales' not 'tech'

Are we saying that the default client is not fit for purpose now? And that I need to use K9 or similar?

My personal gmail which is generally 'busy' with email only had 500KB in the same period