OK, so I got a new smartphone in January, a Samsung Acclaim, through US Cellular. First smartphone, so I’m still learning the ins and outs. I’m not a heavy user, but I like being able to check e-mail away from home, go online to look up stuff, etc. without having to hunt down wi-fi. I pretty much only use the phone when I’m out and about, which is maybe one or two days a week, and even then maybe an hour total TOPS on a “heavy use” day.
My first regular bill after the initial one with the setup charges was about what I expected, $76 and change. Okey-dokey.
Went online to get the amount for this month and it was something like $294!! Whoa, whoa, whoa!!
I seldom make calls, so that’s not it. I have a 5GB monthly data limit, and I can’t imagine ever coming close. Last time I checked my usage at home – where I’m online pretty much all day, every day, uploading/downloading files, surfing, watching the occasional YouTube video, etc., no streaming movies/music/radio – I was at 4.4 GB. So I cannot imagine how I topped 5GB on my frigging PHONE.
I hunt around the Web site and can’t find current usage. So I call the 800 number and talk to a nice rep. He agreed that based on my described usage, there must be a glitch, and he submitted a ticket. They’ll investigate and someone will call me back.
Meanwhile I’m trying to think how this could have legitimately happened. I asked him whether there are apps that suck data even when I’m not using the phone, like GPS or something. He said no, that when I “close” an app and go back to the home screen, data flow stops.
But an online friend said that GPS can suck data if it’s constantly “pinging” or whatever, and she knew someone whose phone was constantly checking e-mail and racked up overages that way.
I do have some GPS-using apps, and for now I’ve disabled (I hope) the GPS, intending to enable it when I need it (say, for my track-your-run app, or Find a Starbucks ), but that seems like a kludge. Kind of defeats the purpose of having the thing, if it can’t recognize when you don’t need it.
Occasionally the e-mail app will appear to be stuck, trying to get a connection, and I’ve always just closed it, thinking (as the guy said) that that would “kill” the connection. But maybe not. I just poked around in the app and I don’t see a way to tell it to stop trying to connect.
Any thoughts from the more phone-savvy Dopers?