Data when on wifi

[laurakated2907]

Ive gone over my data allowance whilst asleep and not using my phone. It was also connected to wifi all night. How can this be so when on wifi and not in use? i have a message at 2am saying data usage limit near, and then another 20mins later saying its all been used, and a 3rd 90 mins later saying you have used 200MB for £6.50. I didnt wake up until 6am so Ive no idea how much else it has used since then. I thought it would only use wifi at home and nothing when the phone isnt in use? No applications were running.

Any help please. Thanks

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

Can you double check in your online myvodafone and myvodafone app to check your allowance.

Also check in the phone to see if any internal Data Monitor is showing what app has used how much data. If you don't have one then for future use perhaps look in your App Store to download one. 

A phone can switch from Wifi back to network data if the wifi signal drops / dips and can in some cases also switch if it deems the wifi signal is too weak. 

When im at home I turn Off Mobile Data in my phones settings so that forces the phone to remain on wifi. 

Vodafone Customer service can advise you how much data has been used but not what it's been used on. 

Phones update in the background such as apps, location services and apps such as weather / stocks as examples update its data. 

Some apps can also have there settings tweaked to control how / when they connect to either wifi or mobile data. 

Phones can also regularly check for emails from your server. I have mine set to fetch every 15 minutes instead of push. 

When ive finished using my apps I also force close them because even though they are supposed to be in a suspended state it's been shown that some still use data in the background. Facebook is one culprit. 

So just to recap Turn Off Mobile Data while at home. 

If you still feel there is an error then please do speak with customer service via 191 or Live Chat. 

Hope all goes ok. 

[kids]

@laurakated2907 What phone do you have?

In the case of an iPhone and I assume others work much the same way once the phone goes into sleep mode wifi is disconnected a few seconds later and only re-establishes a connection when woken up.

Any apps that update themselves in the background will switch to Mobile Data if wifi is off and you would not be aware that they have updated themselves.

In the case of an iPhone it will only stay connected to wifi if it is also connected a a power source.

[laurakated2907]

Thanks. Its a samsung s5 and was charging over night. Does it automatically go into sleep mode? Ive just locked the screen and woke up to charges on my account. Wifi was on all night. Ive had it nearly a year and never had this before.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

Typically when the screen times out that makes the phone go into what's referred to as sleep mode.

It's all kind of geared to battery saving as some believe wifi connection uses more battery than being connected to the networks data. I'm not personally convinced. 

Have you downloaded any recent apps perhaps that's changed your usage pattern ?

You could as a last resort create a back up to preserve your data such as contacts, pictures etc in the phones storage memory and then factory reset. 

[kids]

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@laurakated2907 wrote:
Thanks. Its a samsung s5 and was charging over night. Does it automatically go into sleep mode? Ive just locked the screen and woke up to charges on my account. Wifi was on all night. Ive had it nearly a year and never had this before.

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Maybe the Samsung's work in a different way to iPhones and drops wifi when in sleep mode. Have you checked the user guide to see if this is mentioned?

You could try this:
Menu Button, Settings, tap the word Wi-Fi, Menu button, Advanced, Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep (Always).

[kids]

@laurakated2907

http://forums.androidcentral.com/android-4-1-4-2-4-3-jelly-bean/315879-wifi-goes-off-when-phone-slee...

[laurakated2907]

Thank you. I have used over 0.5GB overnight when asleep and I only ever use 1GB in a whole month. Im trying to work out what is actually using the data. No apps were open. Nothing updated overnight. No new emails/whatsapp/snapchat/facebook messages. Nothing else on my phone other than 3 texts from vodafone saying i am using data. Ive spoken to vodafone who say they cant see that Ive gone over my limit, but on settings and data usage the graph shows i have used a ridiculous amount during the night.

I will make sure wifi is on during sleep. Thanks

[kids]

@laurakated2907 Do you log out of Facebook overnight or leave yourself signed in?

Facebook is notorius for updating itself in the background and if wifi is not connected it will use Mobile Data.

I found that out to my cost a few years ago when in Thailand, I left the phone on all night  but forgot to sign out of Facebook on my phone ( I never do so at home) one night and the phone dropped wifi and six hours later I had eaten through £12 of data using a local sim. Other than a couple of small emails all of the data used was down to Facebbok

Does you phone show the amount of data used by each app? This may be a way of finding the culprit app.

[laurakated2907]

On checking my phone its says "keep wifi on during sleep" and "always" under it already so that wouldnt explain why its not been connected or used so much without me using my phone.