How much data does a phone use in 'standby'?

ThisIsWeird

Hi all.

I use my phone just to be contactable, and on WiFi when at home (as now). The simplest and cheapest SIM deal for me was therefore a PAYG type, which has worked fine for a couple of years - the odd top-up would keep me in calls for months. Recently 'three' not only upped their per-minute rate by a silly amount, but their website had problems when I tried to top up, so enough of that malarkey - I now have 3GB of data and limitless calls/texts for around £2.50 pm with Lebara. All good.

I recall, tho', when I first started with '3', even tho' the 'don't use mobile data' box was always ticked, it did go on at one point and a silly bill was run up very quickly (can't recall - something like £30-odd in a week or so) - but it was not due to data 'use', but contact 'packets' as the phone kept in contact with the mast - something like that. It was made up of a huge list of 250kb packets every few minutes or seconds (can't remember now).

I noticed, even with this new SIM, when I simply flicked the 'use mobile data' switch on and then off, that was ~250kb in that second!

So Q is, what would happen if I left my phone on 'use mobile data' but never actually used it other than via the home WiFi? How long would it take to waste the 3GB of available data on these 'contact packets' (or whatever they are)?!

(I do intend to keep the mob-data off, of course, except when I might need it when out. But just curious about this, and trying to understand what's going on a bit better. Incidentally, the original problem with the mob data seemingly turning itself on by itself was shared by a number of other users and the provider did actually wipe the resulting bill.)

Cheers.

MikeJXE

It depends what apps you have that auto refresh when mobile data is on 

also if your email is set to push rather than fetch

Switch off all the apps you don't want to use on mobile data 

EssexExile

I've no idea what "contact packets" are but I leave mobile data on all the time but it hardly uses any, I only top up £20 every 6 months or so.

ThisIsWeird

Thanks, both. Yes, I don't know what contact packets are either - it was just a kind of explanation given on a forum. The gist was that, even when not actually downloading data, the phone keeps 'in contact', and this has a minimum ~250kb 'packet' size.

So, if I shut off all unneeded Apps (which I tend to anyway), tell my Gmail to stop pulling, and basically try to shut everything down to background, 3GB should actually be ok for a month unless I 'download' stuff?

savergrant

I have an allowance of 750mb (from rwg) and I rarely use more than 100mb a month, and that is usually from the occasional need to check something online while out of wifi. I understand some things like security updates can override your preferences but I doubt if that has ever amounted to more than 1mb a month.

ThisIsWeird

Cheers. I'll chance it and see how it goes. Pretty sure I can set a limit anyway, so worst case is I use the 3GB and no more.

savergrant

You should be able to set a warning and a limit. You should also be able to see either your usage or your remaining allowance in your account. They are likely to be different figures as you are likely to be charged daily (and rounded up to nearest mb or unit) while your phone will give the total for the month. So set your warning at about 70% of allowance then you will likely have a little in reserve if worst happens.

If you use up your allowance it can only charge you if you have a credit balance, so best practice Is to keep autotopup off and purchase a monthly bundle by card payment rather than having unnecessary money on your account.

RumRat

If you leave your data on all the time, with your usage you will struggle to even use 1GB of data. You are gaining no advantage by turning off the data. Stop worrying about it and get on with enjoying life...😉😁

savergrant

Now I come to think of it my oh once burned through £20 of credit balance on 1pmobile by turning off wifi by mistake when she meant to turn off mobile data. How we laughed! Maybe something similar happened to you?

savergrant

I do wonder if "a huge list of contact packets" relates to their charging structure, bundling up data into 1p increments perhaps? Otherwise it is a lot of data just checking the mast is still there.

ThisIsWeird

Yeah, not sure what was actually happening that time. It was a fair while ago.

Right, dammit, I'm gonna live a little! Mob data is GO!