Data usage while connected to WiFi

[bpdylan89]

Hi,

This summer (2020) my husband and I upgraded to the S20+ and for the first two months we used an average of 2.5gb of data. That was during a time when we used the phones frequently.. they were new.

Like most we have seldom left our home for the past few months and nothing has changed. I drive into town at most twice a week to shop and regularly walk the dog. Often not even touching my phone when out of the house.

Beginning last month my data charges jumped to 8.3gb and this month it actually used all our data! It is definitely my device as I can see it in the line usage breakdown. 

When I contacted Verizon they told me the phone will use cell data even when connected to WiFi?!

.. and that I would have to manually turn mobile data off every time upon entering WiFi if I want it to not use my data! 

Can someone explain this shenanigans? I'm using more data now than ever before while also leaving the house the least in my life.

Something seems very wrong about this Verizon!

Sincerely, disappointed customer

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello, we are here for you. The last thing we want is for you to be disappointed in Verizon. If you do not mind us asking, how are you using the service? Aside from yourself, anyone else using the device (friend/family)? What recent changes have you made (new apps, software update)?

[bpdylan89]

No one else uses the phone, just me.

My S20+ has system updated several times since purchasing it in June. So I couldn't tell you if that caused this problem.

As for new app, it's hard to say. I'm always downloading new stuff.

[vzw_customer_support]

bpdylan89, we certainly want to make sure that you can get this all settled for your phone. So we can help look closer into this, please send us a Private Note. 

JoseL_VZW

[bpdylan89]

I left my house today for the first time in a few days and was immediately charged for another GB of data. In total I've been charged for 2 extra GB of data this month at $15 each. 

This is unbelievable. 

Before this phone I would regularly use my device outside of my home and never used this much data. What is going on Verizon! I can't even listen to spotify or send a snap without worrying about going over.

I can see that it's not just one app using my mobile data. Basically all of them, have to manually disconnected from towers when I connect to WiFi. Still not sure if this is Verizon or Samsung issue.

Technical support is useless, verizon treats their customers like garbage. Really wishing I had kept my prepaid account. 

[vzw_customer_support]

bpdylan89, This is not the experience we wanted for you. We would be glad to go over our options, perhaps we can add the Safety Mode feature to ensure this doesn't happen in the future. It would not cost anything to add this feature, and would ensure that you did not accrue any data overages. Please reach out to us in a Private Note so that we can resolve the issue. 

CelesteR_VZW

[bpdylan89 · Accepted solution]

I have left private messages for Verizon customer service with no meaningful response. Limiting my data with safely mode does nothing. The problem is my phone using data while at home connected to Wifi.

This is garbage. I am leaving my mobile data off indefinitely. It's cheaper to have a second prepaid device with unlimited data for $30/mo when I leave the house.

The worst part is Verizon won't acknowledge this problem and isn't willing to remove the $30 charge I encurred for their error.

[vzw_customer_support]

I would love to look further into this and all your usage. I saw other customers provided great tips as well. Did any of those helped? Were you able to check your data usage? Do you know what is using the most data?
JavierD_VZW

[bpdylan89]

Thanks for responding on Thanksgiving Day. I hope all is well. I initially posted this to the forum some days ago. 

I have answered this for multiple customer service agents via private message.

Sorry they didn't pass this info on to you. I can easily see the apps using the most data. The issue is that these were apps I was using at home when on WiFi.

[DMathews1]

If you go to data usage screen, at the very bottom is "Wi-Fi data usage"... this corresponds to your WiFi Billing Cycle and NOT to your Verizon billing cycle... the usage there "should only be" data used while on WiFi;  

If you select "Mobile Data Usage" (which can be/should be adjusted to the dates in your billing cycle) you should see apps that were used on your LTE data....  if you are saying you are getting "data  used" there when you're not using data, I'd recommend calling 611 and asking for Tier-2 support.  They "should be able" to work things out for you.

I would not count on the Verizon tech people who pop in and out of this forum;  it seems one doesn't know what the other one was told and vice versa.  - - They don't have one tech person stay with your issue which is what one would expect.

So call into and get Tier-2 tech  support (611);  whatever you DO NOT let tier 1 spend time trying to fix your problem... They don't have the knowledge/tools to figure out your problem;  you'll waste a half hour easily if you let them try to figure out your problem!

[Klick01]

Same problem..my husband is connected to our WiFi and still uses data. Even at night when we are alseep and data is turned off

[DMathews1]

Sorry to hear of your data troubles;  my wife and I had similar experiences.  We were on a  data sharing plan and always used a small amount of data; and then we went to an unlimited data plan, Verizon was saying we were using 50+ Gb with similar usage as before the plan change!!!  Talk about crazy!

And I'm almost never surprised anymore from the "help" Verizon tech here provide... almost useless!!!

Let me give you a couple tips which could help some...    For starters go to your phone  settings/connections/data usage/mobile data usage;  that will tell you which apps are using your data...  You can go back several billing cycles to see exactly where the data is being used.  Keep in mind, if you happen to be using hotspot data, that comes out of your data usage as well.  (listed as hotspot and tethering).

Next tip:  Go to settings/battery/app power management/deep sleep apps

Put most/all of your apps in this category, so they aren't being used in the background;   you can also go to "sleeping apps" instead of "deep sleeping apps" and put some there, but I choose to put most in the deep sleep category.   The only 2 I keep in sleep category are email & Alexa, figuring I use them more often... Doing the above should help save on battery & data usage;

Finally, if you have a little time to spend researching on YouTube, look up Bixby Routines.  This is one of the "best kept secrets" of some of the newer phones.  It has NOTHING to do with the Bixby button, but is a great tool for controlling the use of your phone, battery, data, etc...   In about 30 mins on Youtube you should be pretty knowledgeable about Bixby Routines.   - - Good luck!

ps:  If you are using Google Photos Backup or Verizon Cloud, make sure you have your settings set to "Backup with Wifi Only".... If set to "Backup on data" that can use up lots of your data unexpectedly!

[9wood]

In addition to the great advice by other user would check your Google play store setting it probably is download apps in settings set to on wifi only and should help with that