On verge of selling S3 - too much data being used. Help


Recommended Posts

The wife is on the verge of selling her S3 although she doesn't want to.

She has a 500mb/month plan like i do. We were both iPhone 3GS users & would both use approx 200mb max per month - not even going over the half way mark, nevermind the full allowance.

I bought an iPhone 4S, she got the Galaxy S3.

My usage remains the same & i'm using the same MB per month as i always was.

Her usage remains the same however last month she went over her 500MB. This month she topped up 1st Dec & she's used over 300MB so far. She used 80MB in the last 2 days.

She's tried turning mobile data off but this seemingly didn't help. She's had a look at what app is using what. Apparently she says the Facebook app has a rep for eating data? It seems to be that way from her screenshot, although i've no idea why her Facebook app on the SGS3 uses so much more than mine on my iPhone when we always did the same.

She wants to keep it but will have to sell if the data usage keeps going on like this.

Help.

IMG_0853.jpg

IMG_0852.jpg

IMG_0851.jpg

You seriously bought a highend phone and then paired it up with the budget data plan? Rather illogical move to be honest.

Anyway, how much of facebook's auto-sync stuff do you have turned on? If it's all turned on it'll likely use quite a bit of data.

I use Facebook every day and I've only used 13.14MB data so far since the beginning of the month, but I connect to WiFi networks whenever possible. If you can connect to The Cloud anywhere, then you should.

I try to limit heavy data use as much as possible.

  • Like 1

i can't help you, but i did hear that the facebook app just got a huge update yesterday or today, so that might help?

Probably not - she has all auto-updates turned OFF

You seriously bought a highend phone and then paired it up with the budget data plan? Rather illogical move to be honest.

Explain that please.

At the time it was released, would you call the iPhone 3GS a high end phone? I would.

Would you call the iPhone 4S a high end phone? I would. Ok it may not be the biggest & baddest out there right now, but when it was released...

And as i said, i don't come anywhere near the 500mb allowance. Neither did my wife when she was running her iPhone 3GS.

So again ...... i'm at a loss as to what relevance your statement has?? It was ok before & after for me. It was ok before for her, but with the Galaxy S3 it's not. Her day-to-day usage hasn't increased, therefore it has to be something within the SGS3's makeup.

Anyway, how much of facebook's auto-sync stuff do you have turned on? If it's all turned on it'll likely use quite a bit of data.

Not sure. How do you check & i'll get back to you on that.
but I connect to WiFi networks whenever possible.

As does she.

Going in to the facebook settings, here is what is turned ON...

Notifications: Active

Messages: Ticked

Everything else is OFF. Refresh interval is "NEVER", Sync Contacts are "DONT SYNC"

Make sure the Facebook app is not set to automatically sync photos taken.

It isn't

Make sure "Show Wi-Fi usage" isn't ticked in "Data Usage". Might be the problem, is that it's showing the data usage with wi-fi included.

It isn't

The data use in general is a bit much in my opinion (as in, it sounds like there may be a problem). Web browsers using around 150MB...! I use my web browser every day at work and at home and I've used under 1% of 150MB.

Ask her what she does on FB and Internet

Sharing / Viewing videos / pictures is bound to use a lot

She just checks facebook - statuses & the like. She doesn't upload or download.

Web browsing is just like 15 minutes worth of browsing for e.g. She doesn't stream videos.

She pretty much uses it to check facebook (read statuses), send a few text messages, browse a few pages, doesn't stream any videos & that's it. Comes home & turns on WiFi. She only uses it for 1hour tops on mobile data through the week. WiFi after 6pm & on weekends.

She's just used 3MB while the phone was sat on the sofa, mobile data turned off, WiFi turned on.

When you look at the apps running in the background once everything has been shut down, there's LOADS. Settings alone was listed as 45MB. Facebook was 18MB. Swiftkey3 was 20+MB. Will this make a difference - all this background work, or is that nothing to do with mobile data & more to do with processor hogging or whatever?

The data use in general is a bit much in my opinion (as in, it sounds like there may be a problem). Web browsers using around 150MB...! I use my web browser every day at work and at home and I've used under 1% of 150MB.

What would you suggest there may be a problem with? Phone or SIM?

I doubt it will be the SIM... It must be the phone. For some reason it's devouring data like it's nobodies business.

I'd suggest installing a logging app if the phone is rooted to see what exactly is going on. Otherwise I'm not sure what to suggest. :s

You sure she doesn't play things like that farmville thing, flash games will probably use quite a bit too

You could also set the browser to make plugins/addons (ie. flash) be "Ask Only" as in they will not just load every banner and advert / video that is on the page unless you click the ? on the flash placeholder

I doubt it will be the SIM... It must be the phone. For some reason it's devouring data like it's nobodies business.

I'd suggest installing a logging app if the phone is rooted to see what exactly is going on. Otherwise I'm not sure what to suggest. :s

Her phone isn't rooted i'm afraid.

You sure she doesn't play things like that farmville thing

Positive.

You could also set the browser to make plugins/addons (ie. flash) be "Ask Only" as in they will not just load every banner and advert / video that is on the page unless you click the ? on the flash placeholder

How does she do that?

Also seahorsepip - it says her device needs to be rooted for that. She doesn't want to root.

It's looking like this is going to be an unexplained complicated matter :( Hope we can get a solution as she really likes the phone, but am not getting a good vibe over this one. Nothing seems to be working. Facebook as has already been said - has damn near every auto thing turned OFF.

Positive. How does she do that?

Goto Browser Settings > Web Content > Addons > Set it as "On Demand" or something similar to that

It's looking like this is going to be an unexplained complicated matter :( Hope we can get a solution as she really likes the phone, but am not getting a good vibe over this one. Nothing seems to be working. Facebook as has already been said - has damn near every auto thing turned OFF.

Try uninstalling the facebook app and reinstalling it

Or when shes not using it, goto Settings > Apps > Disable Facebook

Explain that please.

At the time it was released, would you call the iPhone 3GS a high end phone? I would.

Would you call the iPhone 4S a high end phone? I would. Ok it may not be the biggest & baddest out there right now, but when it was released...

And as i said, i don't come anywhere near the 500mb allowance. Neither did my wife when she was running her iPhone 3GS.

So again ...... i'm at a loss as to what relevance your statement has?? It was ok before & after for me. It was ok before for her, but with the Galaxy S3 it's not. Her day-to-day usage hasn't increased, therefore it has to be something within the SGS3's makeup.

A 500Mb allowance is a very small these days which is what they were referring to. A modern smartphone makes it extremely easy to use way more than this and to use it to the maximum you'd need more than that

A 500Mb allowance is a very small these days which is what they were referring to. A modern smartphone makes it extremely easy to use way more than this and to use it to the maximum you'd need more than that

Agreed, I have my Lumia on wifi and dread to think what I would use if it was on a data plan, Live tiles, background apps that update, email on push, always using the browser, always downloading new apps, streaming video

A smartphone without the internet is a dumbphone, half of my apps only work if there is a connection, probably more than half

How much of the Facebook data is used when the app is in the background? compared to the foreground?

If the majority of it is in the foreground then its her looking at photos / video i would guess, if its the background its Facebook syncing something.

You could try re installing the app and see if that helps, the usage does appear a little high.

In the last week i've used about 50mb on Facebook, that's 100% on 3g, watching videos and generally not caring about how much data it uses.

30aay9s.png

swap phones and then check after a month, if the data has mysteriously swapped around you know that it is something to do with FB or whatever your missus is doing with the phone.

I have an S3 here and never have anything like that, it looks like a user problem rather than the phone. I have data on contantly and watch a bit on the sky app and have nowhere near as much data usage as that!!

If not just jib facebook off, its **** anyway :)

How much of the Facebook data is used when the app is in the background? compared to the foreground?

If the majority of it is in the foreground then its her looking at photos / video i would guess, if its the background its Facebook syncing something.

You could try re installing the app and see if that helps, the usage does appear a little high.

In the last week i've used about 50mb on Facebook, that's 100% on 3g, watching videos and generally not caring about how much data it uses.

30aay9s.png

Unrelated to the OP's question, but which ROM has this app?

I ask because I'm on the Paranoid Android JB 4.1.2 ROM and I don't have this?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I don't use Edge, I don't even use Windows these days as my main driver. Mac these days I use and Zen browser
    • Apple releases iOS 26.5.2 with dozens of security fixes for iPhone by Karthik Mudaliar Apple has released iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2, which are security-only updates for the iPhone and the iPad. The update brings a bunch of security fixes for WebKit, WebRTC, WebKit Storage, WebKit Canvas, Web Extensions, libxslt, IOGPUFamily, and even the kernel. Some of the WebKit issues that were fixed could have allowed malicious web content to disclose sensitive user information, exfiltrate cross-origin data, crash Safari, or process restricted web content outside the browser sandbox. One notable WebKit Storage bug could let a malicious website to silently hijack clipboard data, according to Apple’s description. Other WebKit-related flaws involved memory corruption, use-after-free bugs, type confusion, out-of-bounds writes, permissions problems, and cross-origin data handling issues. The update also includes three kernel-related fixes. Apple says one of the flaws could let an app write kernel memory or cause unexpected system termination, while another may leak sensitive kernel state, and a third could corrupt kernel memory or terminate the system unexpectedly. Although Apple hasn't described them as remote web attacks, kernel bugs are still important to fix, as they can sometimes be chained with other flaws to escape app or browser restrictions. The updates are available for iPhone 11 and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation and later, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 8th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later. Similar security fixes also came with the latest update to macOS Tahoe 26.5.2, which Apple released on the same day. That overlap is not surprising, since Safari, WebKit, WebRTC, and other underlying components are shared across Apple’s platforms. Users are advised to update their devices sooner rather than later as these security fixes are crucial. iOS 26.5.2 can be installed from Settings > General > Software Update. Similarly, Mac users can find macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 through System Settings > General > Software Update.
    • Taken them long enough, that is one good thing. I still refuse to have a Whatsapp account, because it still need a phone number to have an account. don't want to give Meta my phone number
    • Good think I still have SDRAM and FP RAM sitting around.
    • Fitbit Charge 6 fitness tracker with Google apps is now at its lowest price with 47% off by Fiza Ali Amazon is currently offering the Fitbit Charge 6 fitness tracker at its all-time low price with a 47% discount. The device features an AMOLED touchscreen display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 that should offer improved scratch resistance and durability. The Charge 6 is equipped with a range of sensors including an optical heart rate sensor, a 3-axis accelerometer, built-in GPS with GLONASS support, red and infrared sensors for SpO2 monitoring, a skin temperature sensor, an ambient light sensor, a vibration motor, NFC, and multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with the ECG and EDA Scan apps. Heart rate is recorded every second during exercise tracking and every five seconds during normal daily use. The device requires the Google Health app for setup and synchronisation. Furthermore, Bluetooth provides wireless connectivity for syncing and communication with devices running Apple iOS 16.4 or later and Android 11.0 or later. The tracker stores up to 7 days of minute-by-minute activity data and retains daily activity totals for the previous 30 days. In terms of water resistance, the Fitbit Charge 6 has a 5 ATM rating that should make it suitable for swimming and water activities. The tracker operates in temperatures ranging from 14°F to 113°F and at altitudes of up to 28,000 feet. Moreover, the included Infinity band is made from a flexible silicone material and features a loop-and-peg fastening. The small band fits wrists measuring 5.1 to 6.7 inches, while the large band fits wrists measuring 6.7 to 8.3 inches. Both small and large bands are included in the box. When it comes to battery performance, the Fitbit Charge 6 should deliver up to 7 days of battery life under typical usage conditions. Features such as the Always-On Display, built-in GPS, and SpO2 monitoring increase power consumption and may require more frequent charging. The rechargeable lithium-polymer battery should take approximately two hours to charge from empty to full. Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker with Google Apps: $85.45 (Amazon US) - 47% off Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      BA the Curmudgeon earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Conversation Starter
      rosiecharles earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      KMilenkoski1202 earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      536
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      266
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      98
    5. 5
      macoman
      61
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!