Child Item

Site Totals

61416 Questions Answered 270 Categories

Data Usage Problem?

When I first got my Galaxy Nexus, I was one of the Verizon customers that was still "grandfathered" into unlimited data for $30/mo. I kept the Galaxy Nexus way past its shelf life because I knew if I upgraded to a new phone, per Verizon's new policy, I would have to upgrade my data to their tiered data plan or pay full price for the phone. The $30/mo option being just 2GB.

Finally in August 2014, months after my contract and upgrade eligibility has passed, my Nexus was beyond frustrating to use. I knew the phone I wanted was the Galaxy S5. I reviewed my data usage from August 2013 through July 2014 and saw that it would range from 1-1.4GB per month. I reluctantly decided to upgrade the phone and therefore had to select a new tiered data plan. Base on my data usage and not wanting my bill to increase, I selected the $30/mo 2GB data option.

From August-December 2014, my data was ranging from 2.1-2.7GB per month. Therefore Verizon was hitting me with a $10/mo overage fee. My daily usage had not increased. Like when I had my Nexus, I would always ensure I was on WiFi when at work and at home. I also ensured that I checked the option in settings that would keep WiFi on during sleep mode. I was baffled by my significant increase in data usage. I reviewed billing statements and was further confused on how I could have data usage during my workday and while I knew I was at home.

After months of research, I was able to identify that the Galaxy Nexus, when I was connected to WiFi, would completely disconnect from the mobile network. The Galaxy S5 and many newer phones do NOT do this. You will notice that the WiFi notification will be on WITH the 4G/3G notification. This was done in some lame excuse to "improve data speed " for the user and unbeknownst to the users. I know I certainly do not need "improved data speed" when using my blazing fast FiOS home broadband network or the like. Seemed like a clever way for Verizon (mind you AT&T does this too) to pull a fast one on its customers.

The only way to prevent this is to go to your settings and manually disconnect the mobile data EVERY time you are using WiFi. I have been doing this and now my data usage on my bill shows that there are no mobile data being used during my workday or while I'm at home. My best suggestion for making this easy is to include the mobile data on/off option as one of your quick setting buttons at the top of the notification panel.

I've heard if you contact your Verizon (or AT&T) rep, that they may credit your account for some data overages if you weren't aware of this practice. I've talked to at least two reps though and they are either lying or misinformed that this practice even exists.

Verizon coverage is superior to all other companies, especially for those not in big cities. However, I live in a major metro area. After over a dozen years as a Verizon wireless customer, I am considering going to T-Mobile, especially with their new Data Stash. Although for those in more rural areas that might be more difficult to leave Verizon, I would HIGHLY recommend using my solution. At a minimum, I hope this information will help you going forward.

Comments

nontracau

Thank you for information. As a newbie verizon user i was not aware that verizon used both mobile and wifi data at the same time. I always had wifi on and thought that the phone defaulted to it whenever i was using my phone at home. This worked for the first month. In the second month, I received a text from verizon stating that I had used 75% of my data plan in the first week of my billing cycle. I called verizon and was informed that because I had left my mobile data set to "on", that i was being billed for mobile data.

After reading your comment above, i called verizon back and explained what had happened. The customer service representative (Nia) was gracious enough to give me a credit on my account. Thank you for helpful information.

Snn5

My phone LG G2 uses either WiFi OR Mobile Data. Not both at the same time. OP also stated they have Fios. It is entirely possible that this may have been thought as WiFi and mobile used at same time, but Fios is also an internet service and if the OP was using that and had Verizon wireless phone service, then they were always on the Verizon network and therefore using Verizons data.

rcschnoor

Data from Fios would show up as wifi data from the Fios router. The phone makes no distinction that it is Verizon data, only that it is wifi data and not billable as cellular data.

nontracau

I have the LG G3 and I thought it would only use wifi or mobile data, and that the default would be wifi if available. I did not think it would use both at the same time. However, both of the CSR that I talked to at Verizon informed me that I needed to manually turn off the mobile data in order to not be charged. I had both mobile data and wifi turned on at the same time.

rcschnoor

I have never had that problem with my LG G3. I have always had wifi and cellular data both turned on and it always defaults to wifi when available. I have not once had a problem with unexpected data usage with both turned on and I have never seen an example where it was using both at the same time. In fact, when I sometimes wasn't able to download an item, I would turn wifi off when it was available in order to download over cellular. Sometimes the phone would simply have a miscommunication with the wifi router which eventually would work itself out.

Child Item