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Why is my S7 using wireless data while connected to wifi?

Kimberlyg1983

I need help and the reps at Verizon can't seem to give me a straight answer. Let me start by saying I have 2 lines on my account both ate the S7 phones. We have a 3GB data plan. I work in the middle of a hospital where I have poor signal but we have Wifi so as soon as I show up my phone automatically connects to wifi. At home we have internet with a very nice multi band wifi router. On average we use about 2 gb per month, sometimes 2.5 GB.

At the beginning of this month I get a text saying we are about to go over. My Husband has messed up in the past and watched a video without connecting to a wifi spot where he is but it has been a long time. I check the data usage and it shows that my phone is the one using all of the data which is weird because I am usually the one that barely uses data. I spoke to Verizon the next day and was advised that Facebook is the culprit for all of the data use and that everything is correct.

I decided to do a little research and looked at my data usage in depth and was shocked. During times that I am at work and at home there is small bits of data usage. In the middle of the night there is data usage. I checked my settings again and sure enough I have smart network switched off. I have keep wifi turned on during sleep set to always. On the Facebook app I have restrict background data turned on and in the app settings I have HD turned off and have it set to where nothing plays unless I click on it.

I checked my Husbands line and I see data usage here and there when I know he is at home but nowhere near what mine showed for the last billing cycle. We have both been using our phones at the same time and I will check and it shows little bits of usage on my line but not his.

I have asked over and over why there is data usage when I am connected to wifi and all of these settings are in place to deter wireless internet usage. I have been told that maybe I got an MMS in the middle of the night which is not true. I have been told that my apple iphne automatically connects to the wireless network when it goes into sleep mode (I DO NOT AND NEVER HAVE OWNED AN IPHONE) I have been told that I am data roaming yet I am in an excellent coverage area and I'm connected to wifi pretty much all day except during the 10 minute drive to and from home. Now it is to the point they are just telling me that the data usage is correct and that there is nothing I can do except turn off the wireless data but I have never had this issue before so why do I have to make my phone an overpriced paperweight when I have done everything to make sure that wireless data is not being used when I have lovely free wifi and how I have done it has worked perfectly over the years up until this month. They keep offering to increase my data but I can't afford a higher bill and it just keps going up and up.

I need help trying to figure this out. I used to work in tech support for at&t many years ago and I know that these things can happen but Verizon refuses to listen to me. I have asked to escalate my problem but they refuse. I either need a valid answer as to why my phone is going nuts sucking up data when I am at home or work and connected to wifi or I need to know that there is something that needs to be fixed.

Comments

Ann154

At home, have you ever considered turning off the cellular data connection to stop the phone from ever connecting to the Verizon Wireless network for data?

Kimberlyg1983

I don't see why I have to turn cellular data off if I am automatically connected to wifi and I have it set to not automatically go to wireless data. I have it turned on right now to see what happens. I'm still seeing usage today but they want to give it a full 24 hours.

Kimberlyg1983

Update*** I have had wireless data turned off since 6 am this morning. As of 8 pm there has been several small amounts of data usage. There is something wrong.

dexman

When the data was turned off, what does the phone indicate was consuming more?

With my Samsung Galaxy S4, I keep 4G/LTE disabled most of the time. The phone, for whatever reason, will backup my contact list and whatnot only via 4G as opposed to WiFi, so I do have to turn it on every so often.

Kimberlyg1983

So I turned off my wireless data yesterday around 6 am and it is still turned off. I checked my usage and it is still showing data usage on my account all day yesterday, all night, and this morning. How is that possible??? It's not much compared to the data being turned on but it adds up after a while.

dexman

A few more questions...

Is the data consumption being checked in the phone itself or online? Is a particular app responsible for the rising data usage? Are there any other devices associated with the account such as a tablet or jetpack?

Kimberlyg1983

I am checking the usage online and I have downloaded an app that I am trying to figure out that monitors what kind of data is used. We only have 2 Samsung S7 phones nothing else.When I look on my phone in settings it shows that Facebook is the big user but I have everything turned off in Facebook settings.

dexman

For experimenting purposes, could you either disable or delete the Facebook app to see if that makes a difference?

My S4 is running Lollipop, but, things should be similar between our models.

SETTINGS->Data Usage will show a breakdown of data as the phone sees it. Google Play (app store) is on the top of my list. I just restricted the app to force it onto WiFi.

Kimberlyg1983

I've always had restrict background data turned on for facebook yet they keep telling me that it is constantly running in the background. I downloaded Data Usage Monitor today and just in the past few hours it shows 3.7 KB has been used on mobile data even though mobile data is turned off. I checked to see which app is using it and it shows none of my apps are using mobile data. I know it's just a little bit at a time but it adds up when it happens on 2 phones and that little bit caused me to go over my 3GB last cycle so I had to move over to a higher plan.

dexman

Currently, I don't have the Facebook app on my phone. I'll add it and see how it behaves. I have a 1G plan, so I keep the 4G/LTE disabled except when backing up to the Cloud.

Kimberlyg1983

I went ahead and deleted facebook this morning and I have turned on mobile data to see what happens. There has been small bits of usage on both phones last night, more on my phone that had mobile data turned off. I am in my office now which is in the middle of a hospital and does not have very good signal so I have to be connected to wifi or I can't use the internet. Let's see what happens today.

Also I have been told by 2 reps that the data usage shown on Verizon's site can be behind by 6 hours and one yesterday told me it could be 24 hours. I tested it and turned on my data a few times yesterday for a few minutes while connected to wifi and not connected to wifi and wrote down when I turned it on. I checked online and the times are exact so it is matching up. I know from previous experience with working with a cll phone company that if the data usage is delayed then it is usually because of roaming but I have roaming turned off and where I live has excellent coverage.

MiiHere

I'll admit, I only scanned all of these messages so this may have been mentioned, but in order to really test it out, you need to turn mobile data off for an extended period of time (days even.) Unless Verizon has stepped up their game, data use doesn't get reported instantly. What shows up at 3am as data usage could have been used hours earlier, on your drive between work and home etc. If you're ever on an extended network, it can even take days to show up. Some phones also have the option to use data while on Wi-Fi, so you want to make sure that's not selected either.

Kimberlyg1983

I turned mobile data off for 2 days but did turn it off and on a couple of times to see if Verizon was showing usage at those times and they did.

If they want us to be able to check our usage then they need to put a notice on the site and advise that the times are not accurate and that it can be behind for several hours or even days. They also need to stop using the data usage as proof of our usage if that is the case. When I 1st called in the rep said that my usage was primarity on 2 day one of them being September 1st and started naming off all of the times I used data. I disputed it because on the 1st I was at home a lot during that day except during breakfast and when we went out for 3 hours but my phone had no reception where we were and I never used it. I've had other reps tell me that they show usage and give me the times on the site as well but then when I counter with my information they say that what I see is not accurate.

I have all of the settings on all of my apps set to use as little as possible and I have background data turned off yet they keep saying that facebook is using background data. All of my settings are in place to make sure we do not go over and it has worked perfectly up until the last billing cycle. Honestly if they had not treated me like I didn't know what I was talking about and give me 30 different answers I would not be as upset but it seems to me all they want me to do is move over to a new data plan that costs more and not fix the issue at hand.

MiiHere

Unfortunately that's just the nature of the beast when dealing with a large company, or even a small company. They can only follow a script for so long before offering up their own input based on their experience; some correct, some incorrect information.

Another option is to download your own data usage app (though it will use data as well I'm sure) and monitor your usage with a 3rd party. I can't remember, but I think there was one that was pretty popular because it kept track of it in real time and I'd think if it did that it would always be higher than what Verizon shows (because of the delay in reporting.) Just something to consider.

MiiHere

My coffee is kicking in and I see you mentioned turning your data on for a brief time and it matched up with Verizon; this may not be the case with larger uses.

Something else I didn't ask, under Settings>Data Usage, what are the top 5 applications and their usage amounts?

Kimberlyg1983

Originally Facebook was 1st but I have deleted it. Now it is removed apps and users 0.07 gb, messages 0.01 gb, iheart radio 0.01, chrome 0.01, and gmail 0.01. Funny thing is they keep accusing facebook but I stream music on iheart radio through wifi way more than I use facebook. I haven't been using my phone much and my cycle started last week which is why the usage is so low.

Ann154

What was the usage from the previous billing cycle according to the phone? The data usage on android phones does allow you to view a couple of different billing cycles worth of data usage so you can compare the usage from month to month.

dexman

I just checked my data usage stats and Facebook isn't showing up on the list. Google Play Store (49.30MB), Google Play Books (3.06MB), Google Services (1.41MB) and Google App (1.41MB). Below that everything is using data in the KB range. :smileyhappy:.

MiiHere

Turning off mobile data is definitely working then. Those are very minuscule amounts. Perhaps Facebook was stuck sending something for a lengthy amount of time; I've had that happen to me when uploading to dropbox. Keep an eye on your data usage via your phone and I think you'll be alright, eventually you won't have to baby it.

JAMJAC34

You may have your download booster turned on. If so it uses Wi-Fi and 4g to speed up downloads.

Kimberlyg1983

So here is my usage for the past few months. June 17- July 16 0.87 GB. July 17- Aug 16 0.98 GB. Aug 17 to Sept 16 1.86 GB. My current usage for the month is 0.12 GB. There was no change in my usage and I didn't go anywhere. One of the data monitoring apps I downloaded shows that the Android OS system is using wireless data even with wireless data turned off. It shows a lot of activity last night even though I was asleep and wireless data was turned on at the time. I know it is small and I keep getting the same attitude from the verizon reps that I am wasting time over a small thing but my bill has increased $30 in the last 3 months because of expired promotions and it will go up again next month because I'm losing my last promotion. We are on a single family limited income and I can't afford a huge bill. Other carriers are cheaper but Verizon and AT&T are the only carriers that get signal where I live and I refuse to use the deathstar since I worked for them and I know they are evil lol.

Ann154

So there was an increase. However you didn't mention what were the top five applications for each of those billing cycles. You need to look at that to figure which app you are using more or it using more in the background.

Kimberlyg1983

Since I removed facebook and added it back on it changed the usage for all of the apps. It did have facebook at the top but now they have all changed. Originally it showed how much usage facebook had but now it just shows restricted. Right now it shows removed apps and users as the top for each cycle then chrome, iheart radio, offender search, and google services.I'm assuming the removed apps and services is the usage from Facebook. june- july is .54 GB, july- aug is .69 gb, aug-sept was 1.21. I still don't get how facebook could have used all of that since all of the settings were set so nothing was used and background data was restricted and the fact I was usually connected to wifi. Now that I have this new usage tracking app it doesn't show facebook or any apps using wireless data it just shows android os using wireless data.

Ann154

Videos, gif, emoji's all use data.

Htucker77

I'm having the same issue with my daughter's Samsung S7. In less than 2 weeks (while on wifi at home and school) has used over 14G of data. I'm refusing to up my plan again and getting seriously [Removed] Nothing should be using data if on wifi! This is cmplete nonsense and after many months up upping my plan, I'm putting my foot down. I've been a loyal Verizon custmer since day 1, but I'm ready to switch!

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Ann154

In all that time did you ever manually turn off the cellular data while you were using the wifi?

Verizon_Support

Htucker77,

We would never want to see you go anywhere. Your loyalty means the world to us and I want to make sure we find a solution for you. There are certain things that can cause the phone to still use data while on wi-fi but that does seem like a lot. When did you first notice the phone doing this? If you check in the phone's settings under data usage what shows as using the most data in that time?

AndrewT_VZW

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jrh4054

Why don't you just turn your phone off at night and move on?

Htucker77

I have noticed it increasingly ever since I upgraded my daughter to a smartphone. She is assuring me that she has wifi turned on at all times and is rarely anywhere where she isn't tied to to, so this baffles me. I have since upgraded to an Unlimited plan, but I shouldn't have to pay so much when I'm also paying to internet at home and the phone should use that before using her data. Any suggestions on where to look in her phone would be of some service!

Htucker77

She doesn't want to do that if it's going to mean that she won't receive calls/texts.

Ann154

Htucker77 wrote:
She doesn't want to do that if it's going to mean that she won't receive calls/texts.

Turning off the cellular data connection will not stop the phone from receiving calls and text messages. I turn mine off all of the time when I'm home.

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