Strange internet charges

chabsey

I 've an IPhone 3Gs on PAYG and have noticed my credit dropping steadily over the last few days. Checking my account online I see that at 10:34 and 22:34 over two days there's been charged internet access which I didn't do. The exact times are too weirdly similar to be anything but a scheduled event.

I've turned off 3G and edge on the phone and have it on wifi at home so have no idea what could be causing this. Any ideas anyone?

chabsey

don't think so, is there a central place to turn off push? I've turned off push in the email area and have Fetch set to manual. Still getting those charges though.

Delirium

Try disabling the wifi. A friend of mine had a problem with credit disappearing. Told him to disable the wifi and that seemed to sort the problem.

spoongibbon

This is quite a common complaint isn't it, the iPhone just isn't really designed as a PAYG phone really, there are too many sneaky ways to covertly use data. But yes, make sure fetch is set to off in your mail preferences and all push notifications too. Also be aware that the weather app, app store and stuff like that will use data as soon as you open them. Some people just associate data usage with browsing the internet. I wasn't aware that you could switch the edge network off without jailbreaking your phone but could be wrong on that one.

mad muffin

chabsey wrote: »

I 've an IPhone 3Gs on PAYG and have noticed my credit dropping steadily over the last few days. Checking my account online I see that at 10:34 and 22:34 over two days there's been charged internet access which I didn't do. The exact times are too weirdly similar to be anything but a scheduled event.

I've turned off 3G and edge on the phone and have it on wifi at home so have no idea what could be causing this. Any ideas anyone?

Have a read here.

http://forums.o2online.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=4908

chabsey

koth wrote: »

Try disabling the wifi. A friend of mine had a problem with credit disappearing. Told him to disable the wifi and that seemed to sort the problem.

Unfortunately I use wifi all the time. On my 1st gen iphone this wasn't a problem once I'd disabled edge it stopped the drain.

I had notifications on for one app so I've turned that off, we'll see what happens.

mad muffin

chabsey wrote: »

Unfortunately I use wifi all the time. On my 1st gen iphone this wasn't a problem once I'd disabled edge it stopped the drain.

I had notifications on for one app so I've turned that off, we'll see what happens.

Please read the link I provided it will explain everything you need to know. Oh and don't be disabling the wifi that's just stupid lol.

Tom Dunne

koth wrote: »

Try disabling the wifi. A friend of mine had a problem with credit disappearing. Told him to disable the wifi and that seemed to sort the problem.

You are not charged for WiFi, so disabling it will have the effect of the iPhone using the data (2G/3G) network, therefore incurring charges.

w@ll3gurl

As Tom Dunne will vouch for, i had this problem too! LOL I went to O2 customer care and gradually worked out the problem

Basically (not saying this is ur problem, u might be a bit more clued in than i was!!!) it was Apps. So many apps use little itty bits of data, and even if u just open them you're going to notice a few kb here and there on the account.

I had push, location services, 3g....everything...all turned off! So Daryll in O2, and Tom Dunne here, and *finally* me worked out that it was apps, plain and simple.

hope that is of some use. would definitely recommend asking o2 to work out what application/email/thing was being used at a certain time.

note down a time, what u were doing etc, then the next day they will tell u and see does it match. Like, at 9.45 you used xyz app or whatever

chabsey

w@ll3gurl wrote: »

As Tom Dunne will vouch for, i had this problem too! LOL I went to O2 customer care and gradually worked out the problem

Basically (not saying this is ur problem, u might be a bit more clued in than i was!!!) it was Apps. So many apps use little itty bits of data, and even if u just open them you're going to notice a few kb here and there on the account.

I had push, location services, 3g....everything...all turned off! So Daryll in O2, and Tom Dunne here, and *finally* me worked out that it was apps, plain and simple.

hope that is of some use. would definitely recommend asking o2 to work out what application/email/thing was being used at a certain time.

note down a time, what u were doing etc, then the next day they will tell u and see does it match. Like, at 9.45 you used xyz app or whatever

Thanks, unfortunately Talk2O2 won't let me join the forum, tried and got a generic dis-allowed message saying my membership to the forum wasn't permitted, which is of course greatly helpful on O2s part, but to be expected really.

So yesterday I turned off notifications, push, deleted a bunch of apps, messed with the MMS APN settings so they wouldn't work and have both 3G and edge turned off. I only ever use Wifi to connect to the net and yet again this morning at 7:45am I lose another euro!

Around that time I may have checked my mail, I'm not sure. In the absense of knowing and what with being persona non grata on the O2 forums for some reason, I'm left somewhat in the dark.

w@ll3gurl - Does the fact that it was apps causing your credit to go down mean that you can't use those apps? What happens if you're in a wifi zone, do you still incur charges?

Tom Dunne

chabsey wrote: »

Thanks, unfortunately Talk2O2 won't let me join the forum, tried and got a generic dis-allowed message saying my membership to the forum wasn't permitted, which is of course greatly helpful on O2s part, but to be expected really.

Have you tried the old fashioned method - ringing them? Sounds a bit odd why they wouldn't allow you to join their forums. Did you get a solid reason?

chabsey wrote: »

So yesterday I turned off notifications, push, deleted a bunch of apps, messed with the MMS APN settings so they wouldn't work and have both 3G and edge turned off. I only ever use Wifi to connect to the net and yet again this morning at 7:45am I lose another euro!

Around that time I may have checked my mail, I'm not sure. In the absense of knowing and what with being persona non grata on the O2 forums for some reason, I'm left somewhat in the dark.

Turning off 3G and messing up MMS settings won't help your predicament - the phone will just revert back to 2G, so you will still be charged. If the screen goes blank (i.e. it goes into standby mode) it also switches off WiFi. If there is an app running that uses the net, it will stop using WiFi and revert to the mobile phone network (i.e. 3G or 2G in your case).

That is most likely what happened you.

chabsey wrote: »

What happens if you're in a wifi zone, do you still incur charges?

Tom Dunne wrote: »

You are not charged for WiFi, so disabling it will have the effect of the iPhone using the data (2G/3G) network, therefore incurring charges.