Hi people, new HTC Desire user here. I've downloaded 2 different apps, 3g watchdog & netcounter which both show the amount of 3g data usage for the phone. Just yesterday, I managed to apparently use nearly 20mb of 3g data, although I was barely on the web. I must've checked my facebook a couple of times, read a few emails, and that was it. I've also installed a task manager app which closes all running apps, which I always use before locking the screen and putting the phone in my pocket. So as far as I know, there shouldn't be any apps running or using any data at all. It may be that push email may be using a bit, but surely not 20mb in one day?? It's also only one email account and the full html version of the email is never shown. I'm with Vodafone, and their supposedly "Unlimited" internet is capped at 500mb, which means at the rate that my phone is apparently going now, I would have maxed that out in a month hardly using the internet at all! I doubt that the data counter apps are wrong as they are both showing the same usage. They've both had really good reviews by other users as well. However, I find it extremely hard to believe that I used 20mb in one day when I only looked at possibly 3 web pages. The counters actually show that I used over 1mb after 30 mins, even when I wasn't running any apps.
Please let me know your views on this, whether there's something that I need to tweak on the phone, whether you think that both the 3g data apps are wrong, whether there are apps using data that aren't identified by the task manager, anything really! It'll be such a shame if I'm restricted with using the phone to its full potential by its excessive need for data usage. Thanks!
I use the following standard HTC Desire widets. This lets me control when it uses the data connection.
1. Power Control
2. Mobile Network (found in the Settings widget pull down)
3. Sync All
Power Control lets me turn on/off wifi and auto sync
Mobile Natwork turns on/off the mobile data connection which enables/stops you
3G/GPRS data connection (this can also be done from the power switch menu - hold it down to see this menu)
Sync All lets me manually kick the sync off (alternatively just toggle the auto sync button on the Power control widget)
Last edited by SurfXombie; May 21st, 2010 at 08:51 PM.
Not perhaps Latitude, Maps or google earth? Those are the only items I am aware of that can use that amount of data without u actually surfing the net or downloading apps.
__________________
Owner of an HTC Desire and fastest 13"Macbook tested on GeekBench (Last time I checked either way)
OK found it. The apps using the network are: '0', 'Android System', 'Dialer' and '1002'. Not very meaningful! Any idea which one of these may be the culprit? What do the red and blue bars signify?
i chose 'total since boot' because i've just rebooted and know that it has downloaded data (used watchdog to monitor it). the funny thing is that I haven't used the dialer at all since reboot!
I had been having the same problem so i turned off (in location under settings) use wireless networks and it sseems to have solved the problem, I think that Google maps is constantly downloading data over 3G whether you are in the programme or not.
Same here .... worried about this. I used to have a Blackberry with all these options on all the time. It worked better to with regards to notifications etc .. and that only had a 250mb mthly limit. With this desire i am on course for blowing my 500mb limit out the water. Surely something not right here!
I wouldnt worry about the 500mb cap, vodafone say you will be charged the standard rate if you go over, there isnt a standard rate so that is £0.00, if they do try and charge you, you have grounds to have the contract cancelled.
Theres a massive thread about this on the vodafone eforum and also on MSE if you want to look into it.
Sounds like a silly question but have you changed your refresh period of things like email, facebook, twitter etc as I noticed that they are by default set to refresh quite regularly. I changed mine to a much longer time period and some like facebook to manual.
OK found it. The apps using the network are: '0', 'Android System', 'Dialer' and '1002'. Not very meaningful! Any idea which one of these may be the culprit? What do the red and blue bars signify?
The bigger the bar the bigger the network use. So which of yours is bigger? Do you have facebook contacts continually syncing?
Go to : menu, settings, location and uncheck use wireless networks.
I was hitting around 40 mb a day but now with this turned off i'm averaging around 12mb not ideal but better.
The Following User Says Thank You to whittall1 For This Useful Post:
You can check the same and other stats directly on the desire. Just enter *#*#4636#*#* into the phone/dialler. This brings up some menus to check the phone information and Battery History has several option to look at.
Go to : menu, settings, location and uncheck use wireless networks.
I was hitting around 40 mb a day but now with this turned off i'm averaging around 12mb not ideal but better.
This seems odd as I have it checked and if i dont use my phone much then it does not use any data. Yesterday for example I only used 100kb.
I had the same problem and discovered it was the e-mail downloading huge amounts of data (Used the Spare Parts App someone else suggested) even tho I don’t get that many emails (1 or 2 a day!). In the end I turned the standard email app off (So it never auto synced) and downloaded another email app to use instead (I got K9 Mail). Since then it has been much better with the data usage.
At one point 3g Watchdog said I was on for 2000mb by the end of the month.. Now with my 500meg limit, and oranges 99p/MB after that I would have had a nice £1,000+ Bill!!!
- I did enquire with Orange to stop my data if i hit the 500meg mark but apparently they don’t have a system for that!...
I had the same problem and discovered it was the e-mail downloading huge amounts of data (Used the Spare Parts App someone else suggested) even tho I don’t get that many emails (1 or 2 a day!). In the end I turned the standard email app off (So it never auto synced) and downloaded another email app to use instead (I got K9 Mail). Since then it has been much better with the data usage.
This could be the problem as I also use K9 and have not used the default email app
Wow, this thread made me worry as I'm getting my htc Desire this week, I have to pay 3$ for each MB of data usage xD I'm gonna get broke pretty soon I guess...
Is it possible to use 0MB of data?
It is if you switch everything off, but you're really wasting your time getting a Desire if you don't have a good data allowance. This phone is about apps and data, without them you may as well just get a 1990's phone in a fancy case.
The Following User Says Thank You to Morat For This Useful Post:
The bigger the bar the bigger the network use. So which of yours is bigger? Do you have facebook contacts continually syncing?
Im sure all my applications (including facebook,email,weather) are set to 'manually update' and 'use wireless networks' is turned off.
During the past 15mins my phone has sent (and received) approx 350bytes of data each way. In the network usage screen, 'Dialer' is 50% blue 50% red, '0' is 25% blue 75% grey, 'Android System' is 1% blue, 5% red and 94% grey, 'Google' is 100% grey. I accessed the network usage screen via the dialer.
What on earth is '0'?!
Edit: I've just realised that 'Dialer', 'Android System' and '0' appear under network usage even if 3G and Wi-Fi are off. I suspect that 'Network' refers to the telephony network too not just data.
Last edited by lambada; June 1st, 2010 at 06:21 PM.
Jusnt incase anyone is interested, ive just called orange about my 500mb limit and got the normal schpiel ,, "oowh we didnt know the phone would use so much data, no one else has brought this to our attention" etc....
but....
Theyve bumped me accross to a patnther tarrif now for no extra charge that gets me unlimited data with a 5gb FUP. Don't think i have any risk of passing that amount
strange I was told by the girl at Orange customer support that 500Mb is the limit that they give to their business customers and that there is no other limit to opt for. She also said that as long as I didn't go over the allocation every month then Orange wouldn't be imposing any extra charges on me.
Wow, this thread made me worry as I'm getting my htc Desire this week, I have to pay 3$ for each MB of data usage xD I'm gonna get broke pretty soon I guess...
Is it possible to use 0MB of data?
It's more than possible to use 0MB of data, and you can do so and still use the phone for what it's meant for if you have access to WiFi and just disable Mobile data.
I use mine all day every day for email, internet, streaming and browsing the app market. I've only used 2.63MB in the last two weeks, and that's only because I turned on Mobile data to see how well it worked and spent a little time browsing the web, otherwise I'd still be at 0MB.
Of course, if you don't have access to WiFi either then it does become a little pointless having a Desire, although I guess it's still perfectly possible to turn off both WiFi and Mobile and just use it as a basic phone.
strange I was told by the girl at Orange customer support that 500Mb is the limit that they give to their business customers and that there is no other limit to opt for. She also said that as long as I didn't go over the allocation every month then Orange wouldn't be imposing any extra charges on me.
They are full of sh*t! I was told that with my 500mb limit i would definitelty be charged if i go over.
You get told something different everytime. When i bought the phone i was offered a deal i was going for but the girls pc crashed and had to be transfered to someone else. New woman had to start all over again and without me even pushing her (had to push the other to get the deal i was going for) I got an even better deal, dropped another £5 a month. And now after questioning them on this data issue i get an even better deal for the same price. Ive not got unlimited internet, and 50 free MMS messages a month also.
Takes the p155 that you have to complain or question them on there logic before you get the best bang for your buck!
If its wrong its wrong but at least now i am on an unlimited tarrif instead of a hardline 500mb. The guy told me 5gb fair usage, i have his name and extension number to.
Ah ok. Well I'm still going to pop in today and have a chat in store if I dont have any luck then Ill phone them.
If you don't mind me asking what tarrif were you on before they put you onto panther? How much were you paying and are there any other changes with being on panther?
Ok yeah I just did the same thing, went into the orange store asked about panther and the guy said to phone up and they will swap me onto panther no problem.
Just rang orange now and with no fuss the woman has swapped me from
Dolphin 30
500 minutes
3000 txts
unlimited internet (500mb)
TO
Panther 30
400 minutes
3000 txt
unlimited internet (5gb FUP)
free orange sat nav
and something about free picture messages
No charge and I was impressed by how simple and fast this was to do.
Nope, I've had the phone 2 months now which is how long I've been with Orange. I think you can upgrade from your Orange account online or phone 150 and have them sort it for you.
is there any app that let me choose wich app can use data and wich one doesn't?
I am traveling a lot and roaming is quite expensive but I use webtext to send text while roaming as it's cheaper. but everytime I connect the data to send the text the phone use a lot as all the app use data. any ideas how to allow only webtext to connect to the internet?
thanks
Bought a HTC Desire last month. Had the same issue: lot of data usage without using it or some minutes. 100MB in 4 days.
I found the main issue: not apps (even if certainly better to oversee them) but Wifi. If Wifi is on but not connected, the 3G connection becomes mad. I guess that the worse situation is when you move in a city full of wifi spots.
Advice: use "3G watchdog", put the "wifi on/off" and "3G on/off" widgets on your main page. Use one or the other but not both at the same time.
Does it help?
The Following User Says Thank You to Renardo For This Useful Post:
Hi. I have a serious issue with this – my phone (desire HD on O2) is using abou 8MB every hour consistently. I’ve got all syncing turned off. I’ve set the email to 25kb limit. The monitor app tells me that “Mail” is using all the data – but I haven’t received any emails during the time the usage keeps happening! What is going on???
Device(s): Samsung Galaxy SII - HTC Desire - GT-i7500 for my sins (on way back to o2! :D)
Thanks: 17
Thanked 10 Times in 8 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by flashsam
You can use TrafficStats to see which apps are using your data connection.
If you look at it TrafficStats itself is an absolute monster for connection use. I couldn't work out why, except for the ads. I just use spare parts now instead.
__________________
Never give a sword to a man who can't dance
I had a similar problem and found out the main culprit was the standard HTC Mail app, which only had my Hotmail account set up in it. I'm guessing this was because it was checking every 15 minutes and pulling down the same stuff over and over. I logged into Hotmail on my PC, set it to forward my mail to my gMail account, and disabled the HTC Mail app (removed the Hotmail account and set it to manual) and just use the gMail app now, and my data usage is probably a third of what it used to be (typically 4 or 5 MB a day, on a 500MB tariff you need to be under 15MB).
Do Orange text you when you are nearing/at your monthly limit?
O2 text you when you reach 80%, then when you hit it, slow your connection down til you enter a new billing month. That sounds a lot fairer than just letting you go over then charging you like mad when you do, which is what it seems it what Orange do?
I'm newly on Orange and haven't had my first bill yet; I'm careful to only d/l apps when I'm at home connected to my WiFi, but I do have Friendstream, Gmail and weather widgets running on my phone. I do a little bit of light browsing during the day at work (usually checking one or two forums or news sites). Sometimes when browsing I click -menu - windows, and find that I have several web windows open that I didn't realise I had open.
Reading this thread has now got me a bit worried about much data my phone is munching through without me knowing.
When I was on the phone to O2, cancelling my old contract, the guy on the other end was going through the details of their contract that I didn't end up taking, and he assured me that 500mb was more than enough and most people don't go anywhere near it.
Two different sales staff in Carphone Warehouse told me the same thing.
Here is a table on the O2 site which shows how much you can do with 500mb here It does seem quite a lot.
What is the best data monitoring app out there?
Last edited by JayJayW; November 25th, 2010 at 02:02 AM.
I'm on Orange, and have been since April, and after my first month I've never even approached the 500MB (I usually end up around the 250/300 mark). However my friend has gone over (on the same Dolphin plan that I'm on), and they apparently put you on a daily rate for every day you use data once you're over your limit, and it's like 60p a day. Of course that has a fair use too, but you'd have to be really going for it to go over your own limit AND the daily limit too. I think you'd have to be really stupid to rack up a massive bill, even if you were on the daily rate all month that's only an extra £18.
I thought it was too good to be true, but check it out for yourself:
Downloaded 3g watchdog. And found the amount of background data my phone is using is quite modest - nothing much to worry about.
However, I went online and browsed a couple of forums - literally scanned through a thread on each, was online less than 10 minutes - and was shocked to see I used something like 15mb. Bearing in mind my 500mb-a-month limit, that's almost a day's worth of data in 10 minutes. That's shocking.
I'm going to install tapatalk or forumrunner to solve that problem, but have a problem with watchdog;
It's telling me I've used 18mb of my allowance since I installed it, BUT says that's 0% of my total - I even altered my monthly allowance from 500mb to 160mb since I was 10 days away from my billing date but it still said 0%
I'm not the best at maths but even I know that 18 is more than 0% of 160, or even 500!
why won't the percentage figure go up with the usage?
Last edited by JayJayW; November 27th, 2010 at 05:20 AM.
If you look at it TrafficStats itself is an absolute monster for connection use. I couldn't work out why, except for the ads. I just use spare parts now instead.
What ads? The only 'ad' in mine is one asking you to buy the paid version (which I'll probably do as its pretty useful).
Nice that when you buy the phone they tell you that your HTC is going to be a datahog. I used 50mbs today without doing anything. So I'm going to try some of these things and see if it works.
I am wishing I didn't upgrade from my blackberry at the moment.
The HTC Desire is one of the latest high end phone by HTC bringing a huge 3.7" inch high quality AMOLED screen for crystal clear viewing, powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs on, you guessed it, Android.
We first heard a... Read More
HTC Desire constant data use
So which of yours is bigger? Do you have facebook contacts continually syncing?
