Data usage

[mazb00]

Hello, I am looking for some advice. I have received my bill from vodaphone this month which was a total shock since I have exceeded my data usage by miles and have a hefty bill to pay. My dispute about this is that on all occasions dated (over a period of a month) and the times the data was used, i was at home, or work using a wifi connection (or so I thought! ). I was told by vodaphone that Data will overide a wifi connection if it is turned on. Despite the fact I didn't know my data was even turned on, im finding this hard to believe. Can anyone confirm this is true?
After a good few lengthy phone calls to Vodaphone they eventually agreed to pay 60% of my bill, since my complaint was also about not being sent a text notification warning me of my data usage (as i have previously received ). and snce I was exaughsted arguing with them about it all, I accepted this discount. However, after talking to some people about this I am being led to believe wifi should always overide data, so my question is, Is this a problem on my phone or with vodaphone? I have a Samsung, Galaxy I think, im not sure of exact model sorry. I'd appreciate any advice that can be offered. Thank you.

[jeffkinn]

Wifi will take precedence if it's available. Whoever told you that the opposite is true doesn't know what he's talking about. But if wifi drops even for an instant and mobile data kicks in it'll stay in control until whatever you were doing is finished. Whenever you are in a wifi area for a long period it's always best to turn mobile data off to ensure that you force the phone to use wifi.

You can't use the dates and times on the bill as an accurate reflection of the time the data was actually used as the data is rolled up and charged in large lumps so you've done well to get any discount at all frankly.

[drey_p]

Hi there

The dates / Times shown on your bill aren't necessarily the times that the data was actually used.  The usage from throughout the data is combined and put on your bill in one go - it won't show you every single time the phone accessed data as your bill would be hundreds if not thousands of lines long if they did.

If you WiFi drops for even a split second, then yes, your phone will connect to mobile data and continue to use this in the background without you being aware of it. So it is entirely possible that you were using data despite thinking you were connected to WiFi.

Text notifications are a nice to have but aren't guaranteed.  You should be keeping an eye on your usage through the Vodafone App or online.

WiFi does not always override data, as explained above.  If you want to guarantee that your phone isn't using mobile data, turn data off and then conenct to WiFi.

Depending on which Galaxy model you have, you may be able to set up data warning limits so that this doesn't happen again.

[mazb00]

Thank you both for your replies. So its possible that my wifi had some problems, and that's why it happened, but its strange since its never happened before. I dont use the internet a lot when im not at home so its still likely i was on a wifi connection. Well i will definitely be keeping a close eye on it from now on and ensure data is turned off!! Thank again, I appreciate the advice.

[drey_p]

You're welcome.

Also look at setting up warnings and limits on your handset (if you can) so that you reduce the risk of going over your allowance.  If that functionality isn't available on your handset, you can download free apps from the Google Play Store that will do the same thing.

[mazb00]

I will do, I don't want to risk this happening again! Many thanks.

[hrym]

If you look at Mobile Data on the main Settings menu, you should find a usage monitor.   This will show you which apps have been using the connection and you can narrow the parameters to give you an exact time.   There should also be an option to cut data off at a limit you preset.   This won't stop rogue usage, but it will protect you from bill shock.

There are also 3rd party data monitoring apps.  I use My Data Manager which has alarms you can set and also a notification screen widget which means you can see very quickly where you are in any given billing period.