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

[Technique]

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.

[Buttus]

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?

[Blackhearted]

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.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

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.

[Vader76]

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

[Pupik]

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.

[Technique]

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

[Detection]

Ask her what she does on FB and Internet

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

[Kerm]

Not sure how she's using so much with mobile data turned off? Unless it's all data usage including wifi data.

Just a predictable quick shout out towards Giffgaff. ?12 per month for 250 mins and unlimited internet.

[Richteralan]

Um....take advantage of free WiFi everywhere?

And get off facebook?

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

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.

[Technique]

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?

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

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

[Detection]

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

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

Install adaway this kills data use by ads and the like ^^

[Detection]

Install adaway this kills data use by ads and the like ^^

Yea or AdFree - but the phone would need rooting first

[spikey_richie]

As said previously, turn off the FB auto-sync features. If she's on 4.x she can set a cap in the phone to stop it going over the allowance (afaik)

[Technique]

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.

[Detection]

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

[hobsgrg]

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

[Detection]

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

[Aasum]

I have an S3 and only have 200mb but at home it is on wifi and the same at work. I got facebook on mine to and it has only used 2.03MB in the last 6 days.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

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.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

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 :)

[javagreen]

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.

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?