o2 Charged for Internet that I haven't used!

babelfish

I don't know if anyone else has had this happen but my latest monthly mobile phone bill has had £15 added on to it. When I looked at my bill it shows that this extra charge is due to being on the mobile internet day after day around 1.00am and 2.00am in the morning. This is strange because my family and I are always in bed at this time of night! My daughter has her own mobile phone with internet and we have broadband at home anyway, so I know that no one is sneaking down in the night to use my phone in this way!

I have contacted o2 and explained this and they are now crediting the money back on my bill. Does this mean that they know full well that it is their fault? I was wondering if this is something that is happening to other people - perhaps o2 have changed something to do with their mobile bill system?

Im glad they're giving me the money back but its very annoying. Ive got them to bar my phone from the internet so that it can't happen again.

grumbler

What phone? Many handsets use the internet on their own unless you set them not to.

babelfish

grumbler wrote: »

What phone? Many handsets use the internet on their own unless you set them not to.

:eek:

Sony Ericsson W995

grumbler

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/w995?cc=gb&lc=en#view=features_specifications

Always online

Your 3G phone has an ‘always on’ Internet connection with high-speed data transfer. This gives you a fuller mobile Internet experience, making it practical to access large files or use complex remote services, no matter where you are.

Time to read the manual I guess...

Techhead_2

And the reason its in the early hours is because if you don't have a data plan then there is a per day rate (See your tariff). So it's not that you've been using the internet in the middle of the night!

I expect you've (accidentally) started one of the background data tasks like email, updates, social networking, syncing etc.

Wintermute

Techhead wrote: »

And the reason its in the early hours is because if you don't have a data plan then there is a per day rate (See your tariff). So it's not that you've been using the internet in the middle of the night!

I expect you've (accidentally) started one of the background data tasks like email, updates, social networking, syncing etc.

Pretty much that, the credit will be purely a goodwill gesture so you can't expect it every month. If you're phone's been connected to the internet all day the amount of data you've used will be consolidated and displayed on your bill with a timestamp around midnight, it's just the way O2 display their bills. Here's a few days from mine;

23 Mar 11	21:49:12	mobile.o2.co.uk	747	0.000	
24 Mar 11	00:00:00	mobile.o2.co.uk	11365	0.000	
24 Mar 11	21:26:27	mobile.o2.co.uk	1006	0.000	
25 Mar 11	00:00:00	mobile.o2.co.uk	13658	0.000	
25 Mar 11	22:04:20	mobile.o2.co.uk	678	0.000	
26 Mar 11	00:00:00	mobile.o2.co.uk	11301	0.000

babelfish

Ive had this phone for a year and this has never happened before, which was why it surprised me. My daily internet limit is 100MB but Im not interested in using my phone for this anyway.

o2 said I have to pay the £34.50 and they will credit my next bill with the extra added on for the internet. I complained and asked if my present bill could be credited instead as I don't want this amount going out of my account. Of course they said they couldn't.

However, when I insisted that I didn't want to pay the full amount because it would send me overdrawn they said I could cancel my direct debit with them and send a cheque for the correct amount I owe them. I can then restart my direct debit with them for next month. Amazing what you get when you stand your ground.:cool:

Techhead_2

I don't know why you've disregarded what every one has told you - but that's your right. Of you don't stop your phone from using data then you'll have the same charge next month and they are unlikely to waive a the charge two months running.

Just one more thing, you haven't got a daily limit of 100megabytes, that's the old fair usage policy for the per day rate we mentioned above.

babelfish

Techhead wrote: »

I don't know why you've disregarded what every one has told you - but that's your right. Of you don't stop your phone from using data then you'll have the same charge next month and they are unlikely to waive a the charge two months running.

Just one more thing, you haven't got a daily limit of 100megabytes, that's the old fair usage policy for the per day rate we mentioned above.

I haven't disregarded what everyone has told me. I also told o2 to bar my phone from the internet so that this wouldn't happen again, as I said in my first post!

I probably did accidentally click something that put my phone on the internet without realising but its strange that Ive had the phone for a year and have never done this before. It also threw me that the times were the early hours of the morning - I thought this meant the actual times the phone was on the internet. Plus, on my account on o2 it clearly states that my daily limit is 100MB. If I go over this limit then I can't use the internet any more that day. As you can see below my max charge is £1.02 but it happened over a number of days which is why it added up to £20 more on my bill.

Copied from my o2 today:

"You can use data at your standard rate but you'll never be charged more than £1.02 a day.
Daily limit
100MB
You've used
0KB
Remaining
100MB "

Techhead_2

You've misunderstood what that means, because you don't have any data plan, when you use mobile data you are charged the daily rate of £1.02. The 100megabytes is the fair use policy. You won't get cut off if you go over 100megabytes, you'll be charged at £3 a megabyte on the excess.

Asking O2 to turn off data on your account isn't going to help much if you go abroad as your phone is still trying to connect. Plus it will run your battery down. The best option is to do as previously advised and stop whatever is using data.

babelfish

Techhead wrote: »

You've misunderstood what that means, because you don't have any data plan, when you use mobile data you are charged the daily rate of £1.02. The 100megabytes is the fair use policy. You won't get cut off if you go over 100megabytes, you'll be charged at £3 a megabyte on the excess.

Asking O2 to turn off data on your account isn't going to help much if you go abroad as your phone is still trying to connect. Plus it will run your battery down. The best option is to do as previously advised and stop whatever is using data.

It states on the o2 site that I will receive an email/text if I go over this limit, which I never have. I haven't actually gone over that limit at any time. I understand the fair usage. My bill is made up of £1.02 over a lot of days, which is why I had £20 added to my bill.

The o2 advisor has barred my phone from connecting to the internet and I have tried to do it to make sure I can't. He assured me that this meant I would no longer be charged for data.

I took my phone out of my bag Friday and it had a message on it saying "Connection failure. Check settings. If problem persists please contact your operator for support". So I must have pressed something as I put it in my bag and it had tried to connect to the internet. This is perhaps what Ive been doing without realising.