The time has come, do we make a change?

[SallyMagpie]

You have probably heard this a million times before, but, any help will be gratefully received. 

My sister upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini last novemberish. Since then her data has been stripped constantly, to the point that when she is out of the house ( and out of wifi range) she has to switch data off all together.

Obviously, for a smart phone this doesn't really give you the benefits of having the damn thing, because if you had it switched on in the house, you may aswell use the laptop/pc/tablet.

I have contacted O2 about this on numerous occasions and no one has been able to tell me anything about why this is happening. I just get the standard, well its your data, you must be using this.... But this is where the plot thickens, as it only happens DURING her drive to work. As soon as she leaves the house, if she leaves the data on the damn thing sucks it all out and she has used the lot. 

Add to this, my husband and I are due to renew our contracts on 5 December, and I am not going to stay if we can't get this issue sorted out. 

Can anyone give me any ideas about how to stop this, or at least find out what is sucking all the data out of her phone, I would be most pleased, and probably stay! ( I have been with you for about 15 years, so I am not a fickle creature of change)

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Settings >Connections >data usage will tell you what is using it.
Apps refreshing, email polling, weather, news facebook, twitter etc all use data and if not in range of WiFi will default to mobile data.
Find out what is the highest user and we can direct you to control it, or turn off the mobile data connection completely and just rely on WiFi when in range.

[jonsie]

There are data settings on the phone which will show what is using the data. Something is running and drawing the data maybe a rogue app that needs uninstalling. Facebook and it's auto playing of videos can use lots of data.

[Anonymous]

Yeah this isn't o2's fault, it's clearly an app on your phone causing it to eat data, as already said you can check your usage settings.

Also assuming you have facebook app go to the settings on the app and turn off auto play videos setting to wifi only.

[viridis]

Google location services?
Maps?
Spotify?

Most common used data huggers in cars

[Anonymous]

Maybe if you can re post with the stats from your phone on data usage and what apps are downloaded then more tips etc can be given.

Smartphones as you know cry out to be connected to data. Apps updating in the background etc.

May I ask What is the data allowance amount in the tariff.

[Anonymous]

Also check for any emails stuck in the outbox. The phone will constantly try and resend it and will consume data.

[Bambino]

What the OP also hasn't said, is the amount of data her sister has on her tariff. If this is happening on the drive to work, there's no need to have data switched on while she's in the car, unless there's something vital she needs the data for while she's driving. Just keep it switched off until it's needed, particularly if she's on a small allowance.

[MI5]

---

@Bambino wrote:

What the OP also hasn't said, is the amount of data her sister has on her tariff. If this is happening on the drive to work, there's no need to have data switched on while she's in the car, unless there's something vital she needs the data for while she's driving. 

---

Navigation app with live traffic updates (although should be smal amounts of data)...?

[Bambino]

---

@MI5 wrote:

Navigation app with live traffic updates (although should be smal amounts of data)...?

---

Yes, I would think that's about it if she's driving, but if she's doing that every day and has a small data allowance, it will get used up.

---