Where is the Palm Treo 700wx data usage coming from?
April 26, 2007 7:38 AM Subscribe
Where is the mysterious data usage on my Palm Treo 700wx coming from?
I got a horrendous (>$500) data usage bill for my first month after the free period had ended. It said I was using almost 2MB/day and I have a 10MB/month plan for data usage. Despite not having used IE more than a few times to access cbc.ca's mobile site (which is very small) and check my gmail, the main suspect is the send/receive in Outlook. Other options are that they have mis-billed me, or that IE has been hovering in the background and refreshing pages. I have been told by my service provider that neither of these alternative options are possible and that the data usage is coming from my phone. I am not ready to believe them.
I set the phone to merely download headers, but after checking again remembered that it's doing it every 15 minutes. I get about 5-10 email headers a day, given that it's a school account and a fairly inactive one at that. Might this be my problem? That's about 100 checks a day. I figured the send/receive would be using less than 1kb if there was no mail. I didn't worry about email usage because I was told that the average use should not bust my plan and I'm a very light user (or so I thought). The 15min send/receive was a default setting, as far as I can remember.
PS - They are being rather nice about bumping me to a higher plan instead of charging me, so I don't need outs.
Thanks in advance...
I got a horrendous (>$500) data usage bill for my first month after the free period had ended. It said I was using almost 2MB/day and I have a 10MB/month plan for data usage. Despite not having used IE more than a few times to access cbc.ca's mobile site (which is very small) and check my gmail, the main suspect is the send/receive in Outlook. Other options are that they have mis-billed me, or that IE has been hovering in the background and refreshing pages. I have been told by my service provider that neither of these alternative options are possible and that the data usage is coming from my phone. I am not ready to believe them.
I set the phone to merely download headers, but after checking again remembered that it's doing it every 15 minutes. I get about 5-10 email headers a day, given that it's a school account and a fairly inactive one at that. Might this be my problem? That's about 100 checks a day. I figured the send/receive would be using less than 1kb if there was no mail. I didn't worry about email usage because I was told that the average use should not bust my plan and I'm a very light user (or so I thought). The 15min send/receive was a default setting, as far as I can remember.
PS - They are being rather nice about bumping me to a higher plan instead of charging me, so I don't need outs.
Thanks in advance...
Response by poster: Bluetooth has been disabled since day 1. I don't have any compatible devices so I shut it down.
posted by jimmythefish at 8:08 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jimmythefish at 8:08 AM on April 26, 2007
As far as I understand it, at least with Verizon, you get charged for all incoming packets, whether you ask for them or not. Packet sniffers or other spambots that just scan a range of IPs (and have no idea that your IP is a phone) are going to be dropping bits on your plan here and there. (Even if your phone just replies politely "no, that port is unavailable")
For that reason, I always disable the net on my Treo when I'm not actively using it.
posted by jozxyqk at 8:14 AM on April 26, 2007
For that reason, I always disable the net on my Treo when I'm not actively using it.
posted by jozxyqk at 8:14 AM on April 26, 2007
Even allowing a generous 5k per session for overhead etc, that's still only 14Mb a month. What software have you installed on the device? Anything at all?
posted by Leon at 8:15 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by Leon at 8:15 AM on April 26, 2007
Response by poster: No web-related software at all. I took another, more detailed look at my bill and it said that there were 67330 'events' from the phone. Not sure what they mean by 'events' but they're awfully small and very, very frequent.
posted by jimmythefish at 9:35 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jimmythefish at 9:35 AM on April 26, 2007
I've got a Treo 650 with Verizon; it includes a "Wireless Sync" app that was going on its own, although I think only once a day.
67,330 'events' in a month comes out to one every 45 seconds or so. Something is very strange. AIM / MSN Messenger enabled? (I'm not sure what comes on the Windows smartphones, being a Palm guy.)
posted by fogster at 9:47 AM on April 26, 2007
67,330 'events' in a month comes out to one every 45 seconds or so. Something is very strange. AIM / MSN Messenger enabled? (I'm not sure what comes on the Windows smartphones, being a Palm guy.)
posted by fogster at 9:47 AM on April 26, 2007
Are you using Outlook connected to a corporate Exchange server? ActiveSync can be a big hog - one thing to do is go into the settings and set a schedule (M-F, 9-5pm).
Do you roam? That can dramatically increase data usage costs.
I just got hit with a $300 increase for 4 days I was in Dallas - thankfully it was all legit business-related and I can claim it - but still I'm pretty sure there is some carrier error - one of the days I was buried in a bunker-like server-room with no service, yet it shows me making/recieving calls...
posted by jkaczor at 9:59 AM on April 26, 2007
Do you roam? That can dramatically increase data usage costs.
I just got hit with a $300 increase for 4 days I was in Dallas - thankfully it was all legit business-related and I can claim it - but still I'm pretty sure there is some carrier error - one of the days I was buried in a bunker-like server-room with no service, yet it shows me making/recieving calls...
posted by jkaczor at 9:59 AM on April 26, 2007
Response by poster: I have never set up a messenger service on it. I just wonder what 'event' is referring to - whether it's one session or whether it's packets within a session, or just referring to kilobytes. I'll bring this up the next time I talk to them. After hearing the 0.01 cents recording at Verizon (even though I'm using Telus) I don't trust anything they say. Ever.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:02 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jimmythefish at 10:02 AM on April 26, 2007
Response by poster: jkaczor, I'm using my school's email server. No Exchange server. I ActiveSync manually on my laptop. No roaming that month. Increased service charges would still not explain the event #.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:07 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jimmythefish at 10:07 AM on April 26, 2007
Hmm - so you are in Calgary? I could take alook at it, perhaps tomorrow. I don't use a Treo myself - but I have a PocketPC phone and, while I am not a Windows Mobile expert, I am a support engineer for *cough* Microsoft.
posted by jkaczor at 11:03 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jkaczor at 11:03 AM on April 26, 2007
You might try doing a hard-reset. If that doesn't work - download the most recent OEM (Telus) firmware and flash it with that.
posted by jkaczor at 11:14 AM on April 26, 2007
posted by jkaczor at 11:14 AM on April 26, 2007
Response by poster: Wow, thanks jkaczor...I think I'm gonna end up taking it into a Telus place anyways, on account that it's the condition of the re-rate. But, thank you for the offer. I'll try the hard re-flash, can't hurt.
posted by jimmythefish at 4:09 PM on April 26, 2007
posted by jimmythefish at 4:09 PM on April 26, 2007
Did you figure this out? I am also in Calgary (but on Bell) with similar usage problems! I have "used" 15000 kb of data in the last 6 days and have received only 5 email headers. Similar package volumes. I'm scared to do anything with the darn thing!
posted by JamesS at 7:32 AM on June 6, 2007
posted by JamesS at 7:32 AM on June 6, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
Are you sure it's download? Bluetooth connections can also be used to turn your Treo into a spammer.
posted by three blind mice at 8:04 AM on April 26, 2007