new phone – high data usage

wifes had her new phone for about a week now (xiaomi redmi note 10) and just had a message from three stating that shes hit her 8Gb limit within a few days. previously shes always been around 1 to 2Gb as wifi’s always been enabled (and still is).

just had a chat with three who confirm the usage has ramped up from around the date of new phone. they said that this can happen if you dont switch mobile data off when using wifi as it sometimes uses the mobile data instead.
that sounds rubbish to me, im sure you shouldnt need to keep switching mobile data on and off whenever you leave the house say? and we’ve never done that before anyway and never had a problem.

apps are set to update by wifi only, and looking at my wifes data usage in settings, it confirms that facebook has used a few Gb this month so far, instagram about a gig too (yes i know :-D)
that aside, her ‘new phone usage’ is just the same as the old which used around 1Gb, so is it really just the phone ignoring wifi and using the mobile data unless its switched off manually?

if so it seems a faff to have to keep manually switching, is there a setting anywhere that will stop that happening?

thanks

Is there WiFi assist? So it uses the data to boost the WiFi connection. If so turn it off

never heard of it so just followed that up and yes it would appear that ‘wifi assistant’ was in fact enabled, so that could be it.
thank you very much 🙂

I’m on the same Redmi Note 10 Pro from that Amazon deal.

Go into Data usage and it shows data use App by App and system use.

Mines not used any more than I would expect.

I’m on the same Redmi Note 10 Pro from that Amazon deal.

Go into Data usage and it shows data use App by App and system use.

yep, thats where i got her FB/inst readings from. the issue is tho that whats normal use for her surfing away at home is now coming out of her data rather than the wifi. hopefully knocking off the wifi assistant will help. is yours on or off out of interest?

Mine was burning through data after an update. One culprit was Facebook had a setting to auto download videos and play them. Not sure who wants that but turning it off helped a lot. Maybe Instagram has a similar download thing going on.

im sure you shouldnt need to keep switching mobile data on and off whenever you leave the house

There’s a setting somewhere to the effect of “always use wifi if a connection is available”. You need to enable that, or the phone will use mobile data if it’s faster than the wifi.

I leave mine on that setting, but if I’m somewhere with very slow wifi I turn off the wifi to force it to use mobile.

There’s a setting somewhere to the effect of “always use wifi if a connection is available”. You need to enable that, or the phone will use mobile data if it’s faster than the wifi.

thanks but i cant find that setting on this phone, any idea where it is in the settings menu? its not in the wifi section.

There’s a “Always keep mobile data on” in the developer options that might be doing it.

I guess you’ve actually set up the WiFi connection and it’s not just been exclusively using mobile data all this time?

My Samsung shows mobile data (5gb so far) and down the bottom it shows WiFi data (25gb so far)

i cant find that setting on this phone, any idea where it is in the settings menu? its not in the wifi section.

They seem to have changed the wording, on mine (Android 11) it’s in Settings > Network and Internet > Wi-Fi > WiFi preferences > advanced > Switch to mobile data automatically (should be off)

There’s a “Always keep mobile data on” in the developer options that might be doing it.

thanks. did the ‘7 taps’ thing to enable, but that option was unticked anyway.

They seem to have changed the wording, on mine (Android 11) it’s in Settings > Network and Internet > Wi-Fi > WiFi preferences > advanced > Switch to mobile data automatically (should be off)

nope, this is different but no matter which menu i go to i cant see this option. there are a few different selections in the wifi section but ‘Switch to mobile data automatically’ or similar, isnt one of them.

I guess you’ve actually set up the WiFi connection and it’s not just been exclusively using mobile data all this time?

My Samsung shows mobile data (5gb so far) and down the bottom it shows WiFi data (25gb so far)

yep, wifi is set up, and looking at data usage i can see that mobile data today is 125Mb (it should be zero) and wifi usage 800Mb (probs about right)

i mention the mobile data should be zero, and when i looked at the top of the screen, the wifi logo was missing. checked, and its off. my wife insists she hasnt switched it off so it looks like the phone may be switching wifi off for some reason. we’ll keep monitoring it, see how often this happens.

cheers

I have 2 settings under WiFi advanced.

Switch to mobile data – Use mobile data whenever your Wi-Fi internet connection is slow or unstable.

Turn on Wi-Fi automatically – Turn on Wi-Fi automatically when you’re in places you use it frequently and turn it off elsewhere.

Plus a few others that don’t look like they’d impact mobile data vs WiFi usage.

Android 12 on a Samsung

update as this is still baffling us.

my wife and i both have the same redmi note 10 phone, as far as i can see all settings the same. yet she is being clobbered with data usage and im not,

it looks like the phone for some reason is still switching her wifi off totally and its not going back on until she notices and does it manually. today ive used 1 Mb data, shes used 277Mb yet not been out of the house!!!
i advised her to not use the facebook app but to go through the website on chrome, yet it still shows that the app has used 64Mb from the app and she hasnt opened it.

shes really disheartened by it as shes nearly used all of her data for the month within a few days and i really cant see any of our settings being different.

any ideas folks?

I’m afraid that I’m not really au fait with Android, and this is potentially a fix the symptom rather than the cause sort of thing, but can you turn off background data usage on a per app basis?

Is the WiFi faulty/inconsistant and turning off? Can you turn the 4G off ( if at home for a while) and see if you get good consistent WiFi?

Take a look on the data settings and it will tell you which app or process has been using data. Also check for app updates, only update over Wifi should be enabled – being a new phone, they will update all the pre-installed apps.

Something in the energy saving settings? My Samsung will turn off the wifi if you turn battery saving on.

Might also be a case of “ohh shiny new phone” -> play with it a bit -> short term addiction to facebook/instagram/tiktok videos scrolling. When I was bored on site my data went from <2GB to 20 and I was still running out before the end of the month, just from scrolling through crap videos.

The classic – have you done a factory reset, and then update the OS on Wifi before updating the apps on Wifi, before using?

Have you tried resetting network settings? You’ll need to reenter WiFi passwords and reconnect any Bluetooth kit.

How about swapping phones for a few days, see if the issue follows the handset or the user/SIM? MIUI allows multiple users on a phone I think.

as per matt_outandabout, I’d be doing a factory reset, make sure the OS is up-to-date and see where that gets you.

If nothing you try solves it, perhaps it’s a fault with the phone? If there is a fault with the wi-fi side of things, maybe it’s reverting to mobile data.

You mention 277mb already today. Does this seem legitimate based on her usage, regardless of whether it has come from wi-fi or mobile network data? It sounds like a lot of data to me, but then I don’t spend much time looking at videos etc. on my phone so not sure how fast you can burn through it.

it looks like the phone for some reason is still switching her wifi off totally and its not going back on until she notices and does it manually.

What happens if she switches off the data, so it’s WiFi or nothing? Does the WiFi still switch off?

Is it a contract phone? I’d be asking Three about a replacement.

Or, swap phones (shift sim cards) to see if its a billing/account problem, or a phone/user problem.

You should be able to individually set the data-hungry apps to only download over wifi.

Also check Youtube isn’t downloading full HD videos onto mobile.

but can you turn off background data usage on a per app basis?

ive just delved into the app settings and i can see that i can restrict data usage on apps to either mobile data, wifi or both. if i knock mobile data off tho that means she cant access those apps away from home. cant see anything about ‘background data’.

Is the WiFi faulty/inconsistant and turning off? Can you turn the 4G off ( if at home for a while) and see if you get good consistent WiFi?

shes been turning mobile data off when at home but sometimes forgets to put it back on, same with wifi and shes rightly saying she never had to do this with her old phone and shouldnt have to faff about like this now. yes it could be faulty wifi, but that still doesnt explain the still heftyish facebook app usage when she hasnt been on there, shes only accessed it through chrome.

Take a look on the data settings and it will tell you which app or process has been using data. Also check for app updates, only update over Wifi should be enabled – being a new phone, they will update all the pre-installed apps.

done all this thanks, thats how we know whats been using the data and the strange facebook thing. updates are wifi only.

Something in the energy saving settings? My Samsung will turn off the wifi if you turn battery saving on.

Might also be a case of “ohh shiny new phone” -> play with it a bit -> short term addiction to facebook/instagram/tiktok videos scrolling.

shes got the same settings as me, no energy saving. theres no doubt she uses the phone a fair bit, always has done. but its mainly wifi and she hasnt been out today, so there should be minimal data usage if any. 277Mb suggests a problem when mines 1Mb.

The classic – have you done a factory reset, and then update the OS on Wifi before updating the apps on Wifi, before using?

may have to resort to this.

Have you tried resetting network settings? You’ll need to reenter WiFi passwords and reconnect any Bluetooth kit.

How about swapping phones for a few days, see if the issue follows the handset or the user/SIM? MIUI allows multiple users on a phone I think.

will try resetting network settings. bit loathe to swap phones as im slowly getting used to mine with all my different settings now, constantly tweaking them to get it how i want it.

You mention 277mb already today. Does this seem legitimate based on her usage, regardless of whether it has come from wi-fi or mobile network data? It sounds like a lot of data to me, but then I don’t spend much time looking at videos etc. on my phone so not sure how fast you can burn through it.

not sure really. still seems too high to me, and the high facebook app data also bears this out when she hasnt been on the app itself. she doesnt watch videos, its just social media mainly.

What happens if she switches off the data, so it’s WiFi or nothing? Does the WiFi still switch off?

not sure, we only notice the wifis gone off now and then.

Is it a contract phone? I’d be asking Three about a replacement.

nope, bought both a couple of weeks ago on that amazon prime day after a nod from this forum. they were about half price i think.

You should be able to individually set the data-hungry apps to only download over wifi.

Also check Youtube isn’t downloading full HD videos onto mobile.

havent found that setting, and youtube usage isnt high.

thanks all.

I wonder if there’s a fault in the WiFi hardware on the phone that means it’s only getting a weak signal, and drops out completely in some parts of the house? You could test this by installing an app like WiFi Analyser on her phone and yours, and seeing if the signal strength is the same on both phones.

Check Google Playstore, it’s notorious for getting stuck in a loop and eating data (6 terrabytes in my case over 2000 devices).

Settings -> Connections -> Data Usage -> Mobile Data Usage -> List of what each app has used. If one is using massive amounts, click it and switch off background data usage. Will only use data if you are actually running the app, in the case of the Playstore only when you want it to download stuff and not when it feels like it.

You could test this by installing an app like WiFi Analyser on her phone and yours, and seeing if the signal strength is the same on both phones.

will do, thanks

Settings -> Connections -> Data Usage -> Mobile Data Usage -> List of what each app has used. If one is using massive amounts, click it and switch off background data usage.

these are the screenshots of her usage. firstly the data use itself, second pic is the screenshot when i look in the ‘system apps’ bit.

im not sure what the little red sign by facebook means, could be that i force closed it or something, but its still using data. if my wife goes into facebook from chrome, and then uses messenger from there, would that officially use the facebook app maybe?

thanks

What about uninstalling/blocking Facebook?

I found it uses more data than when on a browser. Unfortunately I wonder if it is FB gathering all the data on you they need…

I dont use facebook really any more, but if I do on mobile, I log in via a browser because it is a bit cheeky using data randomly using the app.

Although looking at the above screen shot, over 100mb of system apps data in one day? seems exessive unless android has done an update. What version of android is it? the newer ones let you lock that crap down pretty well by freezing things in system management.

instaleed the wifi analyser. didnt understand it but wifes phone came out roughly about the same as mine.

shes actually lost patience with it now and said it can go back to amazon. tipping point came when i saw she was using the facebook app again and i had a dig.
“well im on wifi and its faster”
“yes but im experimenting for you by not using it grrrr”
“well my last phone was fine so im going to swap back”

i realised we shouldnt be bickering about a phone so thats that.

so…..nowt to lose by trying it myself. just done a factory reset, stuck my sim in and ill give it a try. ill let you know how i get on.

thanks

Aside,

I had cause to look at traffic on my network today whilst investigating a fault (common path distortion, for the benefit of the comms nerds). The single biggest data user by a very long way was the Xbox, unsurprisingly. Second was Facebook on my partner’s phone.

You’ve made me look on my phone.

Facebook has used the same amount of data as Chrome today – yet I’ve spent way, way more time on Chrome. 🤔

well its not the phone. a day with my sim in and its used less than 1Mb of mobile data, so who knows whats going on. i did a factory reset first and copied everything over from my phone.

i suggested that we just factory reset again and stick her sim in again and see how it goes but she doesnt want it any more, so looks like its going back. bit daft if you ask me as her old phone has a knackered volume and she’ll just have to find another anyway, but im not going to argue about it.

ill stick my sim in my old one again, factory reset it and return it. ive still got 10 days left to do so.

thanks to you all for your help.

Do you have Facebook app?

i have it and dont use it, she has it and uses it. and even tho i added the webpage to her home screen instead, she insists on still using the app (“cos im on wifi and its faster and i didnt have this problem on my last phone”) 🤷‍♂️

So it does seem that the FB app is rather data heavy?

it is indeed, thats not been the issue tho really. shes been at home all day with wifi enabled and sometimes the wifis switched itself off, plus shes ended up using 300Mb in a day just casual/heavy surfing, no video streaming or anything like that.
shes been hitting her monthly limit within a few days with wifi enabled, shes never been anywhere near her limit before.

Is there not a setting in the fb app to disable auto play of videos.  That might help

Edit:settings->never auto play videos

Edited it: never mind, I see it’s going back anyway.  Tech has just got worse over the last 10years.

xiaomi

It’s probably sending data back to China. Nothing you can do about it.