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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

Mark
Community Manager
Community Manager

As we'll need access to your account to look into these charges @spicef0x, please get in touch by following the link in this private message.


@Wendylen wrote:

I also find it frustrating that the staff are unable to interrogate the usage to see exactly where it has been used.



I strongly doubt this to be the case, and there is information somewhere in the system that this can be looked into.

roorabbit
1: Seeker

Hi I am experiencing very similar problems. I signed up to a 40GB contract with EE for data on my MiFi. The sim arrived on Friday and by Saturday evening all 40GB had gone. I phoned EE and asked if they could tell me how. They can’t apparently. They gave me another 10gb which I tracked. That was at 9:30am in Sunday. We went out at 2pm and still had 9.6GB. I made sure everything was disconnected from the router. When we came back at 5pm all 9.6GB had gone. I know this is an EE problem but I can’t find any info anywhere as to why this is the case. And I am a vodaphone customer on my mobile. My mobile is never connected to my home MiFi and I have 4gb per month and it lasts most of the month. Please can you help. Did you solve your mystery? What did you do. I am not technically minded. 

Adam
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@ServicePlease Rest assured the method in which we request you to contact us is absolutely secure. This is the reason we do it this way. 

 

It's a shame to see you that you're looking at cancelling with us in the near future also. Is there anything we can do to get you to stay? 

I think you'd get everyone  to stay - me included - if VF absolutely sorted this problem - this has gone on forever - It can't help you moderators as it makes you look silly too. To keep putting sticking plasters on individual cases is wrong. 

BTW - if you have Windows 10, there is a data usage tracker in built.  Do Windows button+I > Network & Internet > Data usage.  it shows your usage for the last 30 days.  What you can do then is disconnect all other devices, then compare your start and end points, with the start and end points on your mi-fi device (if you log into the mifi device directly there is a Total volume counter under the mobile broadband connections.).  This should prove for you whether your device is over counting....

hello, yes this is extremely accurate. Did you know that you can reset the counter to zero using the (free) program ResetDu_x64 ?

When you compare this with the stats from Glasswire (also free), they are almost exactly the same.

Compared with the Vodafone stats these readings are much lower.

On  my last month, the discrepancy was 10.4 GB !

And the reply from Vodafone?  My stats must be wrong.

You will not get them to admit that there is a major problem here.

Good luck.

I for one am not going to waste any more time on this. Just can't wait til the contract runs out.

 

 

Vodafone won`t even accept that there might be a problem and have obviously told the support staff to toe the party line.

ToniCa
13: Advanced Member

I’ve been pondering this since this thread began in January 2017. I’ve had assorted theories along the way, but some recent posts have given me a few new aspects for further theory development.

Particular aspects:

  • Continuing reports of large usage while all equipment is switched off;
  • Vodafone’s IT staff apparently diagnosing some devices as leaking data;
  • Other networks apparently suffering similar problems (this may be more worrisome in Vodafone’s case, as I believe most networks have “hard” data caps, which prevent the eye-watering bills quoted above);
  • All the devices coming from the same manufacturer.

There seem to be few reports of it these days, but there used to be a problem with phones failing to disconnect calls cleanly, and therefore the charges continuing to mount up. Could this now be affecting wi-fi devices? The device sometimes doesn’t disconnect cleanly when the home system is shut down, so the Vodafone system thinks everything is still linked up, and it continues to attempt to send whatever it was sending. When it doesn’t succeed, it goes on and on trying, the data apparently leaving the server continues to mount up, and there is zilch record of it at the receiving end.

Those with more technical knowledge may be able to pour cold water on this, but something along those lines could account for what we are seeing.

In the short term there may be no alternative but to apply sticking plasters to individual cases, but it has been going on long enough for Vodafone and other networks to have identified what is happening. Continuing to deny that there is a problem just makes the individuals concerned look foolish. If they would come clean on the nature of the problem, it might enable customers to avoid it, e.g. going through a few extra hoops when shutting down. Inevitably, openness might lead to a few customers trying to take advantage, but the present uncertainty leaves other routes open to those customers, and leads to a wider perception that Vodafone is deliberately ripping off its customers.

mangojck
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

I have just been charged for extra data used (3.3GB) on my mobile broadband i.e. £6.50 for each 250MB so £58.50 on top of £25 plan. All part of original contract & therefore that is fair.

I use the service mainly for browsing the internet, emailing & occasionally for downloading from BBC iPlayer. I checked the bill & found that I had used 3.6GB on Tuesday 15 May. If I had not used 3.6GB that day then I would not have gone over the 30GB limit & therefore no excessive charges!

If that amount was shown on the Monday or Wednesday then I would not have queried the bill. However, on that day, I left the house at 7am & did not return until the following day (16/5) at 3pm. I used the phone prior to leaving to check the weather & the Guardian so hardly excessive usage.

I therefore downloaded the bill details & found the following entries:-

DATA National

1021952.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

1024000.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

1026134.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

145236.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

358400.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

436429.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

58843.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

77626.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

88990.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

999159.00MB

13-May-18

DATA National

106951.00MB

14-May-18

DATA National

3266.00MB

14-May-18

DATA National

336980.00MB

14-May-18

DATA National

80183.00MB

14-May-18

DATA National

1024000.00MB

15-May-18

DATA National

1024000.00MB

15-May-18

DATA National

1024890.00MB

15-May-18

DATA National

126762.00MB

15-May-18

DATA National

492925.00MB

15-May-18

 

I cannot understand why there are so many entries for 1024000 MB & especially for 2 on 15/5 i.e. the day that the service was not being used.

I have queried with Vodafone who say their systems are correct & I must pay for the usage. But, they were willing to take 50% of the bill due to goodwill.

My faith in Vodafone to show the correct usage & charges is now non-existent. What is to stop this from happening next month or to other users?