data usage suddenly increased taking me over limit don't know why?

[gedandcaro]

I have had my phone since Feb 2021 without any issues. Then last month and this, it suddenly began to exceed my data allowance. Message I received was that my apps were using high amounts of data. I ended up paying over £40 in data charges.

I have checked my settings and they hadn't changed from before, I have now disabled my face book account as that was the main culprit, but I don't understand why this happened. I've never had this issue with any other phones. Is there something I should be doing to stop apps accessing my data in this way?

I have set my phone to only access the internet on wifi, but this defeats my having 4G when I need it.

Gedandcaro

[Beth_G]

Hi Gendandcaro,

Thank you for posting on the Community Forums!

One thing I would definitely advise to check on your device if your data is being drained easy, is if you allow background app usage/refresh turned on. Turning this feature off will help reduce any data usage. Can you please confirm the make and model of your current handset? 

On an Apple handset, you can access these settings by going to Settings > General > background app refresh. You can select which apps you'd like to have this feature turned off/on.

You mentioned that it's seemingly Facebook that is the culprit, have you checked to see whether you agreed to a particular update or new T&Cs around the time that your data usage increased?

To prevent any additional charges outside your mobile plan in future, you can set a spending cap on your account from the My Virgin Mobile app. We can also get that set up for you from here if you get a little stuck.

I hope that helps 🙂

Beth

[gedandcaro]

Beth,    Thank you for responding.

My phone is an Android Xperia 5 11.

I will check the apps for background refresh and updates. Not sure about FB changes in T&C's but if I reinstate my account I will check these before leaving it active. 

I have never had to set a data limit on any of my other phones in all the years I have had mobiles as I don't usually use my monthly allowance. Up until last month I always had a carry over of data.

I will have to set one now I suppose. 

[Zoie_P]

Hi Gedandcaro, 

Thanks for getting back to us,

Has anything happened in the last month? Any updates on the high-usage apps or on your phone?

Have they asked to allow you to use your location? This uses data also.

I know I get more useless notifications on Facebook, and it notifies me when using data so such as "we thought you would be interested in" which was recent, I turn off notifications and it seemed to not pop up at all.

keep us posted if the data limit helps with this.

Zoie