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Massive data usage spike one day after disabling cellular data?

I bought a 5g router yesterday to use wifi at home, and so I disabled cellular on my phone. Prior to disabling, my usage was roughly 10%, today - after data has been disabled for almost 24 hours, my data usage is at 41%. I made sure all the apps are disabled from using data, too.

I'm upset because I changed my plan for the next billing period to 500mb/month vs my current 2gb/month to save some money. Now I'm extremely worried about being charged for nonexistent data usage.

What can I do?

Comments

Verizon_Support

Hi Jean

Let's look into this together! Data reporting can be delayed and can take up to 48 hours prior to showing. Has there been any usage since? Have you turned off auto Video on Facebook?

Here's how to check the app usage

• From the home screen, tap Settings.

• Tap Cellular.

• View the overall cellular data usage.

• Current Period

• Current Period Roaming

• View the individual apps cellular data usage.

The app cellular data usage is displayed beneath the name of the app (e.g. App Store 32.7 MB).

JoeL_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Miller3150

Can someone please help me from Verizon?

Verizon_Support

Miller3150,

Help is here! Please share any unresolved concerns so I may further assist. Thank you.

TominqueBo_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Miller3150

Hello,

Thank you for responding.

My husband and I have been with Verizion for Internet (Jet Pack) for the past 5 months. Our total monthly data has been around 20GB for all lines.

This month we are going over 50GB!

We have spoken to numerous Verizion reps via phone, chat and read community threads.

We do not stream anything: no movies, no music; nor do we have any devices connected to the jet pack in the background. We do not leave a comuter on at night or ever. The Jet Pack has a password that only my husband and me know.

We are desperate for assistance.

Kim and Paul

stef7

When you say password only you and your husband know, are you referring to a configuration password or one associated with the hotspot / SSID? Still if the latter, depending on device, there might be an "open" SSID for guests. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Jetpack devices but WiFi routers have the ability to support guests, unless you disable that.

So... is it possible you live in close proximity to someone else that is consuming your bandwidth that you may be making available without knowing it? Is there an open SSID? You could download something like WiFi Analyzer (Android) to determine if there is an "open" hotspot for others to connect to. If you have an Apple device, there must be a free app from the market that lets you survey surrounding WiFi hotspots.

Good luck.

Miller3150

The Jet Pack WiFi Password.

centabos

I too have been going thru this issue. Didn't have a problem in the first few months with Verizon service in fact I was quite pleased with the service as I had a prior problem when my screen started popping out and they replaced my phone without hassle or expense. Then it started....I paid for 2 months of overages believing, as I was told by customer service, that it was my daughter using it. Although I couldn't fathom after 8 years with a different service we had never gone over with 2g between 3 of us how we could go through 5 between 2 of us? And we use our home WiFi and she's always connected at school on WiFi so how could she even be using the data? But after completely going thru both our galaxy S4's and several argumentative discussions with my daughter. I was positive it wasn't our phones so it must have been her usage. Although she argued otherwise. So then on the third month of this I started getting overage alerts stating we had reached our limit and to avoid overage charges I could get 2 more g's for only $10 more a month. By replying"Yes". Considering $10 vs overage charge I txt back "Yes" and we didn't go over. Then on the following month here we go again. Was receiving alert mssg from Verizon I could get 10g's to avoid overage charges. Again I agreed and replied "Yes" and again we did not go over. On the following month I started receiving the alert txt and this time I could purchase the "Family Base" in which I could monitor usage and set limits on amount of data usage. Since this time we have not had any overages as I set my daughter up with 3 of the 10 g's and used the other 2 as incentive to help around the house and to show me she could be more responsible with her usage. I wish I could rewind time now because in the last 3 months her phone has gotten worse as it hits 3g's in less than 2 days. The problem im having with that is 2 of the last three months I have had her phone with the battery completely removed. Prior to our month end and haven't put it back in until I receive the alert that she has reached her usage limit. So can someone explain this to me? I have a problem with the fact that I doubted my daughter and the time and money I've spent to have expert people look at it even going to different towns to have it looked at. Not to mention the money in overages and the monthly increases I'm still paying. It's not her phone, her apps, or her usage. There is something happening somewhere and it's not being addressed properly. I do not know anything about how it all works and if it's possible that somehow the signal or something gets stuck bounces repeatedly into the tower racking up usage charges when in fact it was just the one signal that got stuck and couldn't or didn't move on properly? I'm reaching here but there has to be an answer with it happening to so many people. I'm not trying to blame anyone for this as I've done that enough to my daughter I would just like to get it straightened out so I can get the service I am paying for and because my daughter needs her full service when she's not around WiFi. Is there someone somewhere in the FCC or Verizon company that can do something about this? Investigate it at least? Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion and my concern and if anyone finds the solution or even a reasonable answer (hopefully better than mine lol) them please let me know via community post since email addresses aren't allowed.

Tonja1986

OMG!! Ive been having the same problem!!! I just got the new iPhone 6 and thought maybe I was doing something wrong!! I've never been anywhere close to using my 2G of data in the past 4 years I had my 4s. Now in the past few months I've had to up my data to 5Gs. I've completly turned off my cellular data, and it's still being used. In one day I had the message saying I was about to go over and to add another G reply yes. So I did and within less then 5 minutes I got another message saying I had used all of that gig and needed more to not reach overage charges!!

What is going on?!?!

notfondofverizon

When I switched to the s5, I also switched to a 2gb plan from an unlimited data plan. My usage went from 1gb/mo to 3gb the 1st month. When I complained and wasted 6 hrs of my time to prove what was obvious after 17 years with Verizon/airtouch, they sent me a refurbished phone which promptly took 5gb in 4 days to restore content via Google. Nothing changed. I still have Verizon WiFi at home and WiFi at school 4 miles away. Verizon claims nothing changed on their end but something is either wrong with the phone or wrong with the service. I now use 10gb/mo and Verizon cloud is the only new thing I have. It is the most user unfriendly storage product I've used. I can't delete items which is why I joined this forum and still am unable to delete content. Maybe the newer phones use more data? Maybe the switch between networks feature, ironically named "smart network switch", is the dumbest idea ever? I don't know what the problem is but there is definitely a problem when someone goes from 1gb/mo for 3 years to 10gb/mo at the exact time they are forced to switch from an unlimited data plan to a crappy more expensive plan with limited data.

Snn5

I have noticed many posts in relation to the Verizon Cloud. There are a lot of products on many smartphones that try to back up all manner of data to their respective cloud service in the background and at all times of the day. I have seen huge usage when setting up a phone from scratch when wifi wasn't used and mobile data wasn't turned off first. The app restore process will kill your data allotment. Also, Verizon's Cloud, Microsoft's Skydrive/Onedrive, Google +, Google Drive, Dropbox, and whatever else are always trying to instantly backup all manner of photos, videos, music, contacts, documents, etc... Nowdays you have to go to each app and specifically set it up because otherwise they try to default to instant backup. I have also witnessed a phone reboot or power back on and see the wifi but connect to mobile data because of a communication issue between the phone and router. I myself always leave data off unless I need to send/receive an MMS or am away from WiFi.

notfondofverizon

Snn5, you are correct about everything you said. That is exactly what happened to me. My issue is that if the nenetwork SMART switch was really that smart and it had a choice between costing me and or doing a task for free, it would choose free. Maybe it's only smart to the comany it works for? Also 4 days is a ridiculous amount of time for a phone to upload information. I only use verizon cloud because onedrives fatal flaw was that it displayed inappropriate pics when I signed in and I used it at school. For me, Google's major problem was that with one accidental tap, private photos or videos could be posted to google+ for the whole world to see and since I don't use google+, researching how to delete the post would be a time consuming issue while private material sits online. The smart switch also gets hung up all the time when it switches. It does not go back and forth seamlessly as I receive WiFi while driving. It seems on short drives I always lose my connection and it dosent regain it when Im at my destination. Verizon support told me it was only good in major cities. When I said I lived in Los Angeles they had the nerve to tell me San Diego was the best for reception as though LA wasn't a big enough city. The real problem is the amount of people that call in when there isn't a problem. It makes it impossible for call centers to determine what issues to take seriously when they receive calls about how to open a browser. The only solution would be more invasion of privacy by monitoring our usage to assess the customers knowledge of the phone before asking them to attempt a hard reset everytime. It's a tricky business with a broad range of customers. Verizon handles it better than the other carriers and they sure aren't afraid to charge for it. My issue with the cloud is that after I confirm deletions of files they are still there and I have no free space. I will continue my quest to find the answer to that question. Thank you for your help.

Snn5

It's certainly no secret that Data is as hot a commodity as oil, gas, gold, and (according to China's strip-mining of the Moon) Helium 3. Since calls and texts are unlimited (except international) the only other allotment is data. Finding a way to increase data usage and have customers buy into more cloud space and buy more data allotments is truly what "Rules the Air" nowadays. Carriers would also remind you that you agreed to terms and conditions regarding 3rd party apps and anything else that happens on your phone. It's a great way for them to say...."We don't control the phone, the data, the apps, or you." That's true, but I bet they are hoping you don't realize these things and wind up buying and using more data.

notfondofverizon

"Darnit!" says the guy who went from paying for 1gb/mo to 10gb/mo.

Kate327

I too have had this problem. I have been with Verizon for almost a year and have had no problems with the service. However, recently I began going through data like crazy and receiving a message of data overage about every hour, even though all app under cellular were turned OFF. The representative that I spoke too looked through my data usage and noted that I barely used any data the week after receiving a notification of 75% of data being used. Then all of a sudden, I was using a gig of data every hour. When I first called, they told me that I had been streaming "HD videos" on my phone, which was not the case. They told me that they could identify the cause of the data usage and give me a call back three days later. The call never came so I called back in. Then, the representative tried to tell me that it wasn't movies, but that I was downloading massive amounts from the App Store, which my Apple ID shows no record of for those days. They told me that they couldn't do anything and that he phone had to have asked for that data. After looking into the problem, I realize that my story is not uncommon and that the company faced a huge lawsuit last year for the same kind of overcharging. I am very unhappy with the customer service I received when I spent almost two hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue.

Verizon_Support

Kate327,

This is definitely not the experience we want you to have. Everyone deserves exceptional service. Are you still coming across the higher data on your device? We now have a toll called: Data Utilization. You are able to access it on your My Verizon page. It will give you a general breakdown of your data usage so you can get a better idea where your data amount is coming from. This is a link that will explain how it works: http://vz.to/1bjfmZO

Hope this helps!

ChristinaM_VZW
Follow us on TWITTER @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

Kate327

I have checked on my usage distribution and checked on it immediately after receiving multiple messages informing me that I had gone over, and again after speaking to multiple representatives. It shows that the majority of data was used in the marketplace, however my Apple ID shows no activity, no downloads or updates were made, and data was TURNED OFF for all apps. I have had no problems and never complained before. However, my account shows none of the activities, let alone at that volume.

Brittenelle

I too came with the same issue!! I for the last months have seen such a drastic spike in data usage. I took a look at the charts that Verizon provides for usage for 1-10gb and I am not sending thousands of emails or streaming thousands of videos. I am in the office all day on wifi. I have been putting my phone in airplane mode, and at night at my house I have wifi and doing the same. On weekends when I am out and about, I use data. How on EARTH have I eaten up 10gb of data? I refuse to pay it this month after 3 months of calling in and complaining. My contract is up in a month or two, and if this doesn't get handled I am switching carriers. I am very happy with the Verizon service, but clearly there is no interest in finding out what's going on. If I used that much data I would certainly use it, but something very fishy is going on. I am not happy with Verizon in the least.

pittgrad

I just started my service and had the same problem within few weeks . In my case, I had a surveillance camera connected to my home network using the manufacturer's app and when I was fiddling with the settings, I somehow disconnected from my network. The Verizon network took over and gobbled up almost a GB of data before the phone alerted me to what was going on. Is there some way to block this from happening or at least, requiring Verizon to getting your permission before switching over. Now I'm afraid to have any wireless device running on my network for fear of using up a lot of data if my network goes south.. I have set limits just above my current level to at least minimize the damage but that isn't a very satisfactory solution. Any other solutions would be appreciated.

Weth

You can turn off certain apps from using cellular data.

pittgrad

I already deleted the app that I think caused the use of cellular data and I disabled the use of all cellular data so presumably I'm safe. But then the usefulness of this so-called "smart" phone is compromised. Verizon should have a better fix!

Momma23dogs

pittgrad

i also have an IR camera with an app on my phone. No need to delete it from your phone, but make sure you close it properly after use. Learn how to close apps on your smartphone. Your phone may have a setting for battery saver, which also restricts background data to some extent.

Thisisgreat

I'm so done - I received notifications that I used 4 Gig in about two hours. Completely impossible. Bye Bye VZW. If I had more time in my life, I'd be filing a lawsuit for fraudulent billing.

Jjekmtz6737

We are having the same problem. I swear verizon is scamming us out of money. We've never had a problem going over. So far this month they are saying we've used 14gb of data!!!! And we still have 4 days left in our billing cycle. I wish someone could look into this. It is so frustrating.

Weth

Did you check what app on the phone is using data? It's not scamming, but an app using data, intentionally or unintentionally.

Momma23dogs

Jjekmtz6737

the information to "look into" the problem is in your hand. The only accurate information on data use is in the settings on your phones, under data usage.

LOok at which phone and what applications on that phone are using large amounts of data.

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