Only thing, I can tell you is either leave AT&T, because they are the worst when it comes to installing all kinds of crap on the phones that do god knows what, or get an unlimited plan.
I have an unlimited plan and I use about 2GB of data a month and I'm on the phone constantly and I have almost every service turned on.
If you're not browsing the web, watching youtube or tethering your phone and downloading all kinds of stuff 24/7, there is no way the phone would use 2GB of data a day. As far as background services go, yes they are there, but they don't use this much data.
Also, if you don't have an unlimited plan, call AT&T back and tell them those background services, you refuse to pay for them since they are using your data plan allowance. I'm not sure what your actual situation is, since you said your phone is thru your employer, but keep fighting AT&T on this.

 

You could be like me, and just use it very carefully until Android 2.2 "Froyo" is released at which point we can run the utilities that can track data usage by application.

Data Usage - CapFAQ

 

Everyone knows there is lots of data leakage in ATT phones. thats thier main stretegy to make money, which is so annoying and wrong. So if you dont want to root.

Just disable your 3g, when you dont want to use it. Here are some cool ways to do it.
http://androidforums.com/captivate-tips-tricks/202943-disabling-3g.html

 

Buy Advanced Task Manager and set it to auto-kill the processes you don't want/need running every half-hour or so...
As far as which apps to "exclude" from the auto-kill, I exclude my home app (TWLauncher) and any widgets and any apps that I want notifications from and the live wallpaper you are using (if you are using one) and my phone had been running great.

 

1. yes they do.

2. Normally no they do not, you have to ask them to do it and they (telco) is not setup to monitor all data or serivices. Which is why you have to report problems they do not know you have a problem untilo you tell them.

3. No since it is not done until you or the person/company paying for the service asks for it.

 

3 GBs over 2 days... that's alot of pron in full HD

 

Why do you guys think it is AT&T? Normally i stay away from these "paranoid" threads...


If AT&T was the one sucking up all your data, why is it only you and maybe a few other people who have this problem? Could it be your phone maybe? or something you installed that you forgot? Have you tried a factory reset?

3gb in 2 days is not normal, and there is no at&t app that can even pull that much data in 2 days.

If many people had this problem, then it would be safe to point our fingers at AT&T. But because it is so isolated, it seems like its a problem else where.

Remember, AT&T is out to make money, but they aren't going to screw over their customers by doing so. And keep in mind, AT&T is not the only company that loads their apps on their phones, and soon wont be the only company with tiered data plans. Im curious to see what happens then.

 

I'm no fan of AT&T but most of the "data creep" is from third-party apps that people install. Android makes it trivially-easy to load up on these apps, with people often forgetting how many they've piled up over time. People install stuff, stop using it, then forget it's there trickling in data.

On one hand users need to pay more attention to what they install and learn to uninstall what they don't use. On the other hand, we need Froyo ASAP so we can install the utilities that allow us to track data usage by app.

 

My self I run pandora all day at work M-F and one hour or so in the gym each evening. I have yet to get over 1GB a data in any month now I am not going to day this is a at&t issue or a customer issue, though from my personal experience it looks more like a user issue. The standard apps on here should not pull anywhere near 100MB a month much less multiple gigs. Though the only way to clear it up is to report the problem and keep pushing it and maintain that you are still using too much data than you should be using.

 

If your phone is transferring that much in a day, your battery life must be horrid! I listen to music on my phone at work and one day I forgot to put a new album on my phone that I wanted to listen to. I logged into my VPN and downloaded the album via FTP, which was about 135 MB. At the end of the day, I needed to charge my phone much earlier because of that download. If your phone is transferring 2 GB in one day, I would expect that you would need to charge your phone 2 or 3 times a day.

 

I agree... You should look into why your handset is utilizing such a large amount of data. I have never exceeded 2 GB in a monthly cycle so for you to accomplish that in a 24 hour period without you knowing is rather concerning. Try running NetCounter or another data logging app to see what is going on.

 

I don't know the answer to the original question.

I am grandfathered into unlimited data, and I am definitely switching carriers if they start charging me after my contract expires. I just don't want to have to worry about it. My comparable plan with T-Mobile was $50/month less, and I only switched because I didn't get a signal in my new building.

 

If you are nearing the end of a contract term with a grandfathered unlimited data plan, your data package will NOT change once you contract ends, and you begin a month-to-month contract.

 

To the OP:
Run a data counter app (there are several available for free) for a couple of days, then request the records and compare their numbers for those days with your own data off the phone. I'd wager it is an issue with the algorithm AT&T is using to calculate usage, or one or two apps apps are constantly refreshing (i.e. Widgets) and have a massive data leak.
Take this question over to the Captivate forums at xda-developers (forums.xda-developers.com/captivate ?), download "Cat logger" from the market and run it to generate some log files of your normal usage, post the log files with your question, and some dev on there will be able to identify problems/data leaks.

 

You don't have to be doing anything, and it's _NOT_ AT&T !

In addition, I'm not advocating for AT&T nor defending them.

Wrong! Bad, very bad advice!

Have you done any research at all? Have you read about what's really going on?

More really BAD advice! It has NOTHING to do with 3G. Nor AT&T

It's time for users to _take the time_ to educate yourself about Android Phones, and how they operate.

The facts are Android phones on Verizon consume way more data than the ones on AT&T and it's NOT Verizon either!

I know. From personal experience. I have been with both Verizon and AT&T for over a decade with all kinds of phones. Even before there was such a thing as a "smartphone".

As a long time hard core mobile communications and computing specialist I have studied this and I can tell you that it's several things one of which is how Android backs up the phone, polling it when you are not using it, as well as when you are.

There are many factors that come into play and none of them are part of some evil scheme by either AT&T or Verizon.

Come on people instead of going along with the heard, and blindly bashing the carriers, educate yourself.

Stop guessing, stop propagating this paranoia and "WAR with AT&T BS" and get real!

Google? ever hear of Google? You know the search engine?

Use it... educate yourself.

You will be amazed at the way Android phones operate. You will have accomplished something and you will be better prepared for the future.

You will be able to manage your data usage, decide what you want based on knowledge not guesswork or hearsay from the people at the AT&T or Verizon call centers that know very little.

Cheers...

 

@3g Android

In that long ass reply of yours, you have just said its not ATT. you tell us what it is? I don't know what it is either. thats why I disable my data when i dont wanna use it and enable it when I need it. So I can be careful about my data usage. Its just a way around it. many people use Juice defender to do the same thing.

And I agree with Goerge0211, ATT is worst for installing so many bloatware..i know other company do that too. But ATT is just bad enough. T-mobile is way better.

Also the person who initiated this thread has ofcourse googled and came to this forum website? or the URL for this forum came with his captivate phone? no?
Ofcourse he couldnt find any answers in Google thats why he asked here.

If you have any information please educate us too. If you think we are wrong than please tell us why we are wrong.

Just saying bad bad advice doesnt make any sense to me.

 

The reason for the strong, detailed response by me was the title of the thread.

WAR?

That's a pretty strong stance to take when one doesn't know what the problem is but freely attacks AT&T, I suggest you re-read the OP's post.

Second, it's not my job to educate you.

Especially when it's an issue that is very involved, and there are multiple mitigating factors all of which contribute to data usage.

I contribute to this forum as my time permits, but to tackle something as large and general as how Android phones operate is not my job.

If I can find the time to educate myself, then you can too. I've already given you a good source, yet instead of doing the work, you want me to do it for you? Who are you kidding?

ALL the carriers install bloatware on their devices. Just some more than others. I already said I use the two biggest carriers in the US. Verizon installs even more stuff that AT&T, if you do a little research you will see. They are more locked into selling you stuff than AT&T. Yet AT&T is bad too.

Still that has nothing to do with your data consumption. My Captivate came with just as much AT&T bloatware as anyone else, I simply don't use it.

Why do I get great battery life when others may not? Simple I know how to manage the device.

When people ask for help without declaring WAR .. when they take an open honest approach I'm far more inclined to help then when they go on the attack.

 

I love my unlimited data...so much less hassle...

You have the 2g of data per month??? OR

 

You haven't given any good sources, you sent everyone to Google, to plow through and find a needle in a haystack. In your vast pool of knowledge you've accumulated from Google you couldn't come up with one or two good starting points, to show that you really did do all this searching to educated yourself? People come here to learn, lording over them with your supposed knowledge instead of sharing it (as I have done in my own noOb way when I find something out, as have many, many other people here) doesn't prove anything but that you like to make people feel small.

 

Where is the source? google? now who is kidding? you or me? Lol..Google is not a source, its a way of finding sources. Get it?

You simply dont use it. But not everyone here is experts like you. These bloatware relaunches itself, and if your data is on they suck data. Thats what I said in my post to disable it (which you think is bad advice, idk why).So that data usage can be monitered and used efficiently. I have lowest 200MB plan, and I still manage to save some by end of month. Juice Defender is used by mostly everyone using android phones for the same reason.

Dont think you are very smart because you get great battery life or you know how to manage your device. Its not a big deal and you also learned it by googling and reading what others did for thier phones.

First read what has been written and asked, before giving smart ass replies and saying others are wrong.

 

@3GAndroid Actually, I'm a scientist and study things too, and I have to say that your post as a "studied" approach is laughable at best (for the reasons pointed out above but basically it is an opinionated rant- Glenn Beck would be proud- be glad you're not one of my students ) because this situation is an outlier, an irregular instance that indicates that something is very wrong here. If something is wrong, it is either in the phone or on the service side. This huge amount of data use is unrealistic, I challenge anyone to try to use 2-3 gigs in a couple of days- it becomes a full time job (in other words, it is something you would have to go out of your way to try to do; the OP wasn't trying to and hence the fact that it is an unusual instance).
I have had Android since the G1 and have never seen anything like 2-3 gigs of data in under a week, either myself or on any of the forums I frequent (except once there was a motorola blur port rom that was stuck in a loop using the blur widgets/service). I even tether about one a week and run Pandora and Youtube to kill time, I rarely break 1 gig a month. Also, if the AT&T bloatware apps do not use a lot of background data, why does removing them reduce monthly data usage for similar use (as I've seen, by about 150 mb, give or take)? The DATA doesn't support your THEORIES :/ ...
As the OP said, the "WAR" is over the customer service surrounding this very real and valid issue, there is a program running somewhere that is stuck in a loop and constantly polling something, or the algorithm used to determine data consumption is misreading something or giving the wrong output for some reason.
So if you don't mind, we would like to get back to trouble-shooting this issue so the user can have the usual great experience with his/her phone...

 

This is false. My phone on ATT doesnt use any data when I dont use it. I've never used more than about 200mb in a month, and that's with me doing frequent 3G websurfing.

Multiple GIGS is just absurd. Something very wrong there.

 

May be I am not using task killer and I might left some apps open. So it used my data. But now as I can disable data, I dont have to worry abt it. I also have 200 mb plan. But not just me, many others also experienced random data leakage.