Help My phone is eating lots of data.

[PhoneMatt]

I have had my Captivate for a month. I have the smaller AT&T data plan, because I usually use wifi. From the first of the month until the 25th, I used 82.5M of data. On the 26th I suddenly used 66 M of data, most of which while I was asleep and my phone was charging. (No, nothing was online while this was happening.) Since then, I have been steadily using 10-15M a day. I had not installed any new aps, right before this started. I have shut everything off except for the Swype keyboard and the anti-virus, and I'm still using data. AT&T has been extremely helpful (sorry, but the sarcastic tone just doesn't make it through my typing). Every rep that I have spoken to keeps telling me to use wifi. Well, DUH!, just look at my records for the beginning of the month, I tell them. I am waiting for a tier 2 tech to call me, but it's been 3 days with no response.
Has anyone else had this problem? Am I doing something wrong or is there some key I should press to make sure that everything is turned off? Is my phone defective? Is there some way to track, not just the amount of data used, but the applications that it is being used for? (AT&T reps tell me that they can only see the amount used, not what it is used for.)

Matt

 

[fldude99]

Im not sure if this is the problem..but if you go into wifi settings>menu>advanced...go to the sleep policy and see if its set for never. If not, then it could be your wifi is turning off and the device is reverting to 3G

 

[Endoran]

Im not sure if this is the problem..but if you go into wifi settings>menu>advanced...go to the sleep policy and see if its set for never. If not, then it could be your wifi is turning off and the device is reverting to 3G

That is a good idea but I don't think that is his problem. If it was it would have been doing it from day one. I know you said you didn't install any new apps but it sounds like one is your culprit. You can't track which particular app is using what data in the current build - when froyo comes out you will (can't wait). Til then I would get 3G watch dog and uninstall any apps you a) don't use or b) don't trust. Also you could turn off syncing etc. I'd try to do each thing one at a time and see if things change; that way thru the process of elimination you might find out what is drawing your data.

 

[PhoneMatt]

Thanks for the help. By yesterday, I had removed everything except for my antivirus and was only running it and the Swype keyboard. It didn't help. After many calls to AT&T, I finally got a tech who knew what he was talking about. (Yeah, it seems like there may be one or two still there.) After going through the entire script of questions, then asking his own questions, we both came to the conclusion that an app that I had deleted, didn't delete completely and was probably still going to the internet in the background. All that was left was the dreaded factory reset. I backed up my data and reset the phone about 3 hours ago and did the reset. It seems to have worked. I have had no data usage in that time. Hopefully, this will solve my problem. If not, then the phone is defective and will have to be replaced.
Yes, I can't wait for froyo either. I really miss bluetooth voice dialing.

 

[sremick]

Data Usage - CapFAQ

 

[Endoran]

Thanks for the help. By yesterday, I had removed everything except for my antivirus and was only running it and the Swype keyboard. It didn't help. After many calls to AT&T, I finally got a tech who knew what he was talking about. (Yeah, it seems like there may be one or two still there.) After going through the entire script of questions, then asking his own questions, we both came to the conclusion that an app that I had deleted, didn't delete completely and was probably still going to the internet in the background. All that was left was the dreaded factory reset. I backed up my data and reset the phone about 3 hours ago and did the reset. It seems to have worked. I have had no data usage in that time. Hopefully, this will solve my problem. If not, then the phone is defective and will have to be replaced.
Yes, I can't wait for froyo either. I really miss bluetooth voice dialing.

Word. By chance know the app that caused the problem? Or a guess?

 

[LimaI896]

I am having this problem too

My iPhone was hard to just use a gig in a month, This phone I use 100mbs easily a day with not much downloading... get close to 200 depending on what I download.

I think I will delete some apps to see if it calms down, I would like to avoid a factory reset...

 

[PhoneMatt]

Sorry, Endoran, but I have no idea what app caused the problem. Since I reset my phone, I'm back to using 2 megs per day. I will admit that I'm a lot more careful about the apps that I'm putting on it, even though all of my apps, including the one that screwed up my phone, came from the Android Market. (I haven't had the guts to Root or sideload- yet.)

 

[Roze]

@ Matt what was the anti virus you were using? I have lookout and I have it set up to back up and scan my phone every night. Though it was never more than a few MB. For some reason it sounded like it was caused by the anti virus since it was the few apps you had left.

 

[Evil Joker]

And dont forget that there are several apps on the AT&T phones that use data in the background that you CANNOT disable or uninstall (unless you root your phone), so you'll just have to deal with ATT using some of the data that you are paying for.