I'm probably not smart enough for my phone, but....

I'm here anyway attempting to improve upon this. This is my first smart phone (samsung vibrant, t-mobile), and my first post in any forum on the subject.

I'll start by saying that I am 4 months into my journey with this phone, and it has been a rocky road. I am proud to say that I rather quickly adjusted to swyping, though just as quickly began to question the dictionary, and have made some major text faux paus in ther last several months (which never happened before, because I am simply the fastest, most efficient keypad texter this side of the mississippi, but alas we must move with the technological tide, for better or worse....)

I soon got excited about shopping in the android market, and downloaded just about every app that I assumed I would need for everyday convenience, as well as a few more for bragging rights. This excitement for free shopping may have been my biggest downfall, as I am now awaiting an entirely new (though likely refurbished, because that bullshit scam seems unavoidable) device to replace mine that seems to have been taken over by a data-munching poltergeist.

Please forgive my poetic language. All of your techy talk is foreign to me as of yet, but the reality is that I have a serious data problem that can't be linked to anything in particular, could be a defective device, server, or app, but all trouble shooting has led me nowhere... Here is what is happening currently:

I have an "unlimited"data plan through t-mobile, which costs me $35/month and includes 5G before "throttling" (to a pace that would drive even the most zen of person to insanity, and will not allow ANY youtube videos to load, for one glaring example). Since the first month I had the phone I have somehow, without doing any of the things many of you all seem to know how to do, managed to use all 5G within the first 2 weeks, with my record being just shy of 10G used in a month. All this without ever having downloaded movies, or tethered to a computer (terminology I only just learned of when being accused if such by a customer services rep when I inquired about my data usage). Up until today, I have naively assumed that my occasional watching of youtube videos and excessive scrabble playing was to blame, and though very annoyed, accepted responsiblity for my actions. However, after going into a t-mobile mobile store today and having all staff members baffled and intrigued by my excessive usage, I now recant my acceptance of responsibility, but am left with no solid explanation for it. Because this problem is not the only one I am having (others being a failure of gps location, phone freezing, and calls that end before they begin, to name a few) the reps decided to exchange my phone to hopefully remedy everything.

Now, after perusing some forums here I have been truly inspired. I plan to get my new phone running smoothly and efficiently, and avoid these problems the second go-around. I will likely have many questions, and do hope some of you wouldn't mind taking a lovely young woman under your proverbial wing and guiding her to a place of technological genius. Or somewhere nearby....

Thank you for reading this. Please fell free to be in touch with me...

-Cassandra
Cassandrarenee@gmail.com

 

Well bandwidth guy, this girl doesn't user her phone nearly as much as you, i'm sure, and has your average beat many times over. I occasionally listen to pandora, npr, watch some youtube, surf the web, play scrabble, and post to facebook. None of these things excessively, in fact not even daily. I was told that the amount that was being used could only be explained by tethering, which I have never done, or downloading/streaming movies about 24hr/7. In fact, it was peaking at times I wasn't even using it, liked the middle of the night...
I'm serious when I say I am not smart enough to know how to use that much data.

 

So I downloaded a data tracker, which doesn't display specifics but which has provided me with some information that could be helpful. I also uninstalled just about every app on my phone, targeting those that require internet access. Now, without downloading or streaming ANYTHING, I have in less than 4 days used over 300MB of data. It may be important to note that 50MB have been sent, and 250MB received according to the data tracking app. Also, as always, my gps is turned off.

Now, could anyone explain to me how this could be happening?

Thank you in advance, and more to come....

-cassandra

 

ok, I just did. I'll let you know what happens.
So I was just tapping the screen to respond to you and may have accidentally hit "report" and really really hope I didn't just report you, as you have been kind and helpful to me. Please let me know if my clumsy fingers failed me.....